Mehul Patel Elected President of American Membrane Technology Association

Aug. 7, 2012
Patel has served on the AMTA Board of Directors since 2010

Mehul Patel, P.E., Orange County Water District (OCWD) principal process engineer and program manager for Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS), was elected to serve as president of the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) for a two-year term ending in 2014. He has served on the AMTA Board of Directors since 2010.

OCWD is a member agency of the AMTA and was one of its founding members in the 1970s. Patel joined OCWD in 1996 and prior to his current position he was in charge of the day-to-day operation of all OCWD applied research treatment processes, including microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet (UV) systems.

“It is outstanding that OCWD is able to uphold its leadership in the industry due to the hard work and dedication of employees like Mehul,” said OCWD General Manager Michael R. Markus, P.E., D.WRE. “Mehul’s leadership skills and desire to improve upon water treatment technologies will benefit not only OCWD, but the industry as a whole.”

Patel has extensive experience in pilot, demonstration and full-scale operation of microfiltration, ultra filtration and reverse osmosis technologies, and advanced oxidation systems.  He also worked as a process engineer assisting in troubleshooting for operation of OCWD’s renowned Water Factory 21 facility that operated from the 1970s until 2004 when it was demolished to make room for the GWRS advanced water treatment facility.

Patel’s expertise is in the use of advanced technologies for water reclamation and recycling. He has written, presented and published a number of technical papers relating to the use of membrane and ultraviolet light technologies for wastewater reclamation.  

Patel is currently overseeing the 30 million gallon per day Initial Expansion of the GWRS. The $142.7 million expansion project will create an additional 31,000 acre-ft per year (AFY) of new water supplies to serve northern and central Orange County bringing the total production of the GWRS to 103,000 AFY, enough water for 850,000 people. Construction is estimated to be completed in September 2014.

Patel, a registered professional civil engineer in the state of California and has taught classes for the Civil Engineering Department at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University Pomona and a master’s of science degree in civil engineering from California State University Long Beach. 

In addition to the AMTA, Patel is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Southwest Membrane Operator Association (SMOA), for which he served as president from 2010-2012.

Source: Orange County Water District

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