Employees

SJW President and COO Andy Gere was recently inducted into the University of Connecticut Academy of Distinguished Engineers alongside notable honorees such as a former economic and technology policy advisor in the Obama Administration and a retired senior executive at ExxonMobil. We had the opportunity to sit down with Andy to ask him a bit about his time at UConn and how it sparked his lifetime of dedication to the water utilities industry.

While we are committed to providing clean drinking water to the communities and families that we serve, we wanted to also let everyone know of the steps we are taking to keep our employees safe.

As part of normal operations, we plan for emergencies such as earthquakes and wildfires. We have business continuity plans in place to make sure our operations are maintained in the face of adversity. COVID-10 has created some unique challenges.  Below are some details of critical steps to keep our employees safe:

While the entire community is under a shelter-in-place order, essential San Jose Water (SJW) workers are on the job to make sure your water is flowing safely and reliably.

Distribution Service (DS) Inspectors perform critical work day in and day out. Just a few of their responsibilities include marking existing water lines before any excavation begins, locating leaks in mains and service lines, performing hydrant and valve maintenance, and operating the vacuum excavator truck.

San Jose Water typically uses an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for inspections and sediment collection in our tanks. However, the team found a new use for the ROV when a large tank sprung a leak.

On March 2, 2021, José “Joe” Villagomez celebrated 50 years of service at San Jose Water (SJW). As a Crewleader A in the Distribution Systems (DS) Department, Joe leads a crew of 3 every day to maintain the company’s water mains, valves and hydrants.