(Above) New leadership at Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Left to right, Frank Avila, chairman of finance, Mariyana Spyropoulos, president, and Barbara McGowan, vice president. (Click on image to view larger version.)

January 10, 2015 – The agency that manages Chicago’s storm water and water treatment has a new president.

Mariyana Spyropoulos was elected president of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the MWRD announced on Monday.

Spyropoulos is a lawyer and former Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney. She was appointed to the MWRD board of commissioners in 2009, elected to a full term the next year, and in 2013 was elected chairman of finance.

Goals for the MWRD, says Spyropoulos, include “energy neutrality,” when facilities produce at least as much energy as they consume, and “becoming the leading resource recovery organization.”

Barbara McGowan, who has been on the MWRD board since 1998, is chairman of two committees, and was a delegate to two Democratic National Conventions, was re-elected vice president.

Frank Avila is the new chairman of finance. He has been a commissioner since 2002 and is chairman of two committees. An engineer and land surveyor for 45 years, Avila was named Citizen Engineer of the Year in 2012 by the Illinois section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The district covers 883 square miles in Cook County and includes the entrance to the Chicago River from Lake Michigan at the Chicago River Controlling Works.