For the third straight year, Irvine Ranch Water District has been honored with J.D. Power’s award for Highest Customer Satisfaction. The award recognizes IRWD as the best midsize water utility in the Western United States, as rated by its customers.

Contributing to the overall first-place finish, the J.D. Power customer survey ranked IRWD No. 1 in five categories central to the District’s core values: quality/reliability, ease of doing business, people, trust, and information provided.

“Providing water these days is all about service,” IRWD General Manager Paul Cook said. “So it is rewarding to hear that our customers appreciate not only the safety and quality of their water, but the service and information our staff provides. I see this as a tribute to the hard work of the IRWD Board and employees, who truly value our customers. I appreciate the trust our customers place in us.”

IRWD received the highest customer satisfaction score of any water utility nationwide, and is the only agency with three straight wins.

The U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, in its ninth year, measures satisfaction among residential customers of 92 agencies that deliver water to populations of at least 400,000. Results are reported in four geographic regions (Midwest, Northeast, South and West) and two size categories (large and midsize).

Overall satisfaction is measured by examining these eight core dimensions (listed in order of importance): information provided; quality and reliability; level of trust; ease of doing business; total monthly costs; people; resolving problems or complaints; and digital channels. This year’s study is based on the responses of 32,833 residential customers and was conducted from June 2023 through March 2024.

IRWD recently honored students representing the top water-related projects from this year’s 43nd annual Irvine Unified School District Science Fair.

Innovative topics ranged from improving solar distillation to applying the Horton Infiltration Model. 

The following students received a framed certificate during a recent IRWD Board of Directors meeting, but we congratulate all students who participated!

• Anchit Sinha and Neil Sundaray, Deerfield Elementary - Project: Improved Solar Distillation with a Fresnel Lens
• Joy Yan-Li, Deerfield Elementary - Project: Plastic Replacement Using Sodium Alginate 
• Yunwoo (Ellie) Song and Colette Oentojo, Portola Springs Elementary - Project: Operation: Clean the Ocean
• Sharvil Buradkar, Lakeside Middle School - Project: Solar Powered Desalination Unit
• Sharanya Rao, Venado Middle School  - Project: Can addition of hydrogels in soil truly reduce a plant’s dependence on water?
• Madison Price, Rancho San Joaquin Middle School - Project: It Must Be in the Water: The Effect of Stream Substrate on Water Chemistry and Plant Fertility
• Alexis Wong, Sierra Vista Middle School - Project: Calcium Carbonate Fights Ocean Acidification
• Joshua Malar, Jeffrey Trail Middle School - Project: Tapping Into Ocean Power
• Justin Pollack, University High School - Project: Forming Flash Floods: Changes in Infiltration Rates and Applying the Horton Infiltration Model Through an Arroyo’s Stream Course

IRWD participated in the annual Children’s Water Education Festival at UC Irvine last month as a sponsor, and hosted a booth teaching local students about the importance of pollinators and the benefits California-native plants provide for those species. More than 250 students participated in an activity to plant their own poppy seeds to take home.

IRWD’s Water Efficiency Department recently hosted its annual Fix-a-Leak Workshop, inviting customers to browse several booths to get one-on-one time with IRWD staff about finding and fixing leaks in their home, along with billing and leak adjustments information.