Gary Darling Accomplishments
Darling H2O Consulting Inc
Leadership Experience
- Fourteen years managing all aspects of the $450 million Los Vaqueros Reservoir Project. The 100,000 acre-foot reservoir project took ten years to secure 100 permits (including 19 water right decisions and six biological opinions) and only three and a half years to construct (300’ tall earthen dam, 250 cfs intake, and 20 miles of 6’-8’ diameter pipeline). It was completed under budget and received the 1999 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers
- Project Manager during the planning and environmental review phases for the $1 billion Freeport Regional Water Authority, a Joint Power of Authority between the County of Sacramento and EBMUD. The project involved constructing a new 285 cfs intake on the Sacramento River, a treatment plant and 34 miles of 7 foot diameter pipeline
- Eleven years as General Manager of Delta Diablo, providing services to a population of 200,000; and as one of the largest industrial recycled water provider in CA, serving recycled water to two power plants that serve a population of over one million people, two golf courses and ten city parks
- Six years serving on the Board of Directors for the California Association of Sanitary Agencies (CASA). While serving as the CASA President in 2011-2012, secured the 12 person Board of Directors approval and managed the recruitment process to hire a new Executive Director. This has resulted in new directions for the organization at the state and nationwide level
- Directly have managed the activities of a lobbyist firm in Sacramento (Edelstein Gilbert, etal) and 4 firms in Washington DC (Federal Advocates, ENS, Van Ness Feldman and The Ferguson Group) in pursuit of funding and legislative incentives for recycled water and biosolids to energy
Partnership Building Experience
- Led a 21 agency coalition to secure over $40M of state and federal financing for recycled water projects. Governance through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Go to www.westernrwc.org for more details
- Led a 19 agency coalition over the past 7 years to develop new biosolids management options for the Bay Area. Governance through a Joint Exercise Power Agreement (JEPA). Go to www.bayareabiosolids.com for more details
- Led 12 agencies in the East Contra Costa County Integrated Regional Planning effort. Secured over $12M in Proposition 50 funds, and $2M from Proposition 84 funds. Governance through the East County Water Management Association with By-Laws. Go to www.eccc-irwm.org for more details
- Lead negotiator from EBMUD to establish the Freeport Water Authority with Sacramanto County to build the Freeport project. Governance through a Joint Powers Authority (JPA)
- Lead negotiator from EBMUD to establish the EBMUD-Hayward-SFPUC Intertie Project. Governance through a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), staff only
Innovation and Early Adopter
In partnership with the Garaventa Enterprises initiated the planning, permitting and advocacy for the East County Bioenergy Project that will include the early employment of gassification technology from PHG that will combine biosolids and woody waste to create new energy; and early employment of pyrolysis from Anaergia that will process foodwaste in a new way and combine it with biosolids to create new renewable energy.
In partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Lab to bench top a revolutionary approach to desalinate brackish water using flow-through capacitive desalination
In partnership with start-up company Porifera of Hayward to demonstrate a new brackish water desalination technology using forward osmosis
In partnership with Stanford University to demonstrate a new technology to convert ammonia to nitrous oxide fuel
In partnership with the California Energy Commission, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and startup company Chemergy from Florida to demonstrate a new technology to extract energy from biosolids
Board Member on the advisory board for ReNUWit, a four university partnership (Stanford, UC Berkeley, the Colorado School of Mines and New Mexico State) that has received $4M/year over 10 years from the National Science Foundation to “reinvent water and wastewater”
Experience in Testifying
Testified three times before the U. S. Congress since 2008, and built close working relationships with Senate and House staff and members
Presented the case to the full State Water Resources Control Board to secure an $800M low interest loans from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund in 2014
Leadership on Delta Issues
Over 25 years of experience working on Delta issues
Actively involved in providing input to the Bay Delta Conservation Planning (BDCP) process and have made a presentation to the Delta Stewardship Council
Led the negotiations of two major water supply contracts (serving over 2 million people) as well as the Municipal and Industrial (M&I) Shortage Policy for the Central Valley Project with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)
Regulatory Agency Network
Maintain close personal working relations with top officials at the USBR both in Sacramento and D.C., EPA Region 9, CA Department of Water Resources, State Water Resources Control Board, and San Francisco and Sacramento Regional Water Quality Control Boards among others
Region and Statewide Leadership
Board member of the East Bay Leadership and co-chair of the Water Task Force
Board member of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) since 2006
Board member of the CA Utility Executive Management Association
Education
University of California, Davis
Bachelor of Science, Engineering 1982
University of California, Davis
Post Graduate Studies, Engineering 1984-85
University of California, Los Angeles
Engineering Management Program 1990
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Water and Wastewater Leadership 2009
License
Registered Professional Civil Engineer: RCE 41999