Experts

Ron Wildermuth
Manager of Public and Government Affairs
West Basin Municipal Water District (Carson, California)

Ron Wildermuth is Manager of Public and Government Affairs to West Basin Municipal Water District in Carson, California.  His current focus is on communicating West Basin’s Water Reliability 2020 plan in which the District will reduce its dependence on imported water from 66 percent today to 33 percent by 2020.  Wildermuth worked the previous 10 years at the Orange County Water District, where he served as Director of Communications, and was in charge of the outreach efforts for the Groundwater Replenishment System, a 70,000 acre-feet per year wastewater purification project that recharges Orange County’s large groundwater basin.  Wildermuth served 23 years in the Navy as a Public Affairs Specialist, eventually retiring as a Navy Captain, and was public relations advisor to General Norman H. Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War.  He earned a B.A. in Sociology and International Relations from St. Ambrose University, a Masters degree in Public Relations from American University, and is a graduate of the Naval War College and honors graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Communications Short Course.