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David St. Pierre
Executive Director
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
of Greater Chicago
Chicago, IL

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
Greater Chicago (MWRD) Board of Commissioners unanimously appointed David St. Pierre as the MWRD’s executive director from among 50 candidates after a nationwide search in June, 2011.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

As the Executive Director, Mr. St. Pierre manages a staff of nearly 2,000 to effectively protect the health and safety of the public, protect the quality of the water supply source (Lake Michigan), improve the quality of water in watercourses, protect businesses and homes from flood damages, and improve the environment for the MWRD’s 883.6 square mile service area.

Mr. St. Pierre has more than 25 years working in the water industry in various cities. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Commissioner of the City of Atlanta, Georgia Department of Watershed Management, where he was responsible for the city’s drinking water supply system and water reclamation treatment facilities. During his tenure, operating costs decreased by $37 million per year - a reduction of nearly 40 percent – while at the same time Atlanta wastewater treatment facilities earned four Platinum, nine Gold and three Silver awards from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). Water reclamation facilities across the country compete each year for NACWA awards, which indicate that the facility is discharging effluent which meets or exceeds National Permit Discharge Elimination Standards, a national benchmark for determining that wastewater facilities across the country consistently discharge high quality effluent.

Prior to working in Atlanta, Mr. St. Pierre was the operations director for the Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri Sewer District, where he managed the city’s collection system and wastewater treatment facilities. He initiated and implemented an innovative sewer maintenance program that reduced sewer backups and increased customer satisfaction to above 90 percent. The success of the program was determined through an independent customer satisfaction research agency who called customers who had received District services and had them rate the service.  Before implementation of the program satisfaction scores were in the 60 percent range.

Earlier in his career, Mr. St. Pierre worked on the design and installation of instrumentation control panels at water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities in Eugene, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. He continued his work in automation in St. Louis developing and programming four of the seven plant control systems.  He is a member of the Water Environment Federation, the American Water Works Association and the Georgia Association of Water Professionals.