From Watersheds To One Water: Reflections On A Career In Integrated Water Management
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Key Takeaways
- Michael Drennan, P.E., is Vice President and Business Development Leader for Parsons, reflects on a career rooted in water management, beginning with early experiences fishing in Northern California.
- He emphasizes the shift from water quality compliance to integrated water management, addressing both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.
- Today, climate change intensifies pressures on water systems, making urgent funding and regulatory approvals essential for sustainable projects.
Receiving a lifetime achievement award from ASCE this year has prompted me to reflect on my career to date, and how my perspective on water management has evolved over the decades.
I was always drawn to water. I loved camping and the outdoors. As a small boy, my dad often took me fishing in Northern California. We would get up before the sun rose and find our spot on a creek or a small mountain lake and catch our limit of rainbow trout before sunrise. That upbringing served as a foundation for my interest in water treatment classes in college. As a young engineer, my work focused on water quality compliance and cleanup at the California Water Quality Control Board. I drafted permits to regulate pollutant discharges from “point” sources such as oil refineries and wastewater treatment plants.
From Water Quality to Integrated Water Management
As pollution controls improved on point sources, it became clear that nonpoint sources such as stormwater runoff, land use, and watershed conditions were driving many of the remaining water quality challenges. Managing runoff, pollution, and flooding as separate issues was no longer enough.
At the same time, I was struck by a paradox in Southern California. We had designed flood control systems to move stormwater runoff to the ocean as quickly as possible, while simultaneously building sophisticated water conveyance systems to bring water from hundreds of miles away to support the growing population. That paradox raised a simple but important question:
Could we manage water in a way that simultaneously reduces flood risk, improves water quality, and strengthens local supply?
That question shaped much of the rest of my career.
The Power of Watershed-Based Solutions
Over the following decades, I worked with public agencies, academic institutions, nonprofits, and community organizations to advance watershed-based approaches to water management. These efforts demonstrated that projects could be designed to achieve multiple objectives at once, reducing flooding, improving water quality, capturing stormwater for local supply, restoring habitat, and creating community benefits.
These early efforts evolved into a concept within the water industry which is now widely known as the One Water approach, an integrated framework that recognizes the interconnected nature of water systems and the value of coordinated multi-benefit solutions.
Today, climate change is reshaping hydrology across California and the western United States, creating urgent pressures on water systems and increasing the importance of long-term planning and quick actions in the face of inflation. Projects that we know are needed after years of planning now cost multiple billions of dollars. Urgent regulatory approvals of these projects are needed to move them forward to construction before they become unaffordable.
Driving Integrated Solutions at Parsons
Today, I see firsthand how One Water principles guide the work we do at Parsons. Our teams deliver multidisciplinary solutions that help communities and entire regions to convey water efficiently, improve water quality, capture and reuse stormwater, manage flooding, restore ecosystems, and strengthen local water supplies.
By integrating engineering, planning, technology, environmental expertise, and funding, we help clients develop solutions that address multiple challenges while creating lasting value. This approach reflects Parsons’ commitment to advancing integrated water management and helping communities adapt to an increasingly complex water future.
Looking Ahead
One Water is no longer an emerging concept. It is a proven approach that has matured through decades of practice and implementation. The challenge now is funding. We struggle as a society to approve projects that are on the books because they cost multiple billions even though our industry can show that these projects are the most affordable. Our industry routinely demonstrates we are providing high quality drinking water to homes for less than a penny per gallon. We know how to design and build resilient, affordable water systems. Water is life so by definition these projects are affordable.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to this evolution and proud to be part of Parsons, where innovation, collaboration, and integrated thinking continue to shape the future of water management. The opportunities ahead are significant, and I remain optimistic about what can be achieved when we bring people, disciplines, and ideas together in service of a common goal. Water is life.