Irvine Ranch Water District web site now online

August 1998

U.S. Water News Online

IRVINE, Calif. -- Customers of Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) can now access their water account online through IRWD's new Web site at www.irwd.com. Customers may check their account balance and review their water usage history electronically through a password-protected portion of the site.

Besides account access, a few of the site's features include:

Water quality information, including complete water quality reports for both domestic and reclaimed water
Rate information and how to avoid penalties
Information on free services such as voluntary water audits, conservation devices, and workshops
A "virtual tour" of the Michelson Water Reclamation Plant
Meeting agendas and minutes
News releases
Online signup for the IRWD Resident Tour program
Online order forms for free brochures
Online order forms for teachers to request free water education materials
Online request form for a lending library of water-related videos
An extensive water education section for children, including interactive games and quizzes, and resource information for teachers
District publications
Variance forms which may be printed from the user's computer
Maps

The Web site was a joint venture between a cross-departmental team of IRWD employees and a student team from the Harvey Mudd College Engineering Clinic. The water district has participated in the clinic at the Claremont engineering school for the past several years. Designed to give the graduating students "real world" experience, the clinic brings together advanced students with corporations and agencies throughout the Southland who assign the students detailed projects.

"We felt that making the technical aspects of the Web site part of the annual university project would be a cost effective way to reach our goal of providing an interactive Web site to our customers," said Marilyn Smith of IRWD's community relations department who headed up the Web development project for the district along with Information Services Manager Tony Mossbarger. "We sought to make the site a user friendly, interactive and entertaining way to learn more about Irvine Ranch Water District."

In addition to catering to the needs of its local customers, the water district was mindful that the site will be viewed worldwide. As a leader in the fields of water reclamation and water conservation, IRWD holds numerous tours and discussion sessions for water professionals from around the country and many foreign countries each year. Some of the information on the Web site is geared toward cost-effectively providing the information most sought by these visitors.

"As with any effective site, the IRWD Web presence will never be finished," said Smith. "We are constantly updating the site to keep it current and our team is already compiling a list of features that we'd like to add in our second phase. Feedback from our customers and other users will play the major role in determining what is added to the site in the future.

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