David A. Rowley, P.E.
Vice Chair, Water Utility Council
NYS AWWA
Mr. Rowley has been the Chief of Water Quality Operations for the City of Rochester since 2014. He directly supervises the operations staff at the Hemlock Water Filtration plant and the City’s NYS ELAP certified environmental lab, as well as oversees special projects related to water quality throughout the City. Mr. Rowley also leads the Rochester Water Bureau’s Lead Task Force. The Task Force is charged with ensuring the City complies with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, through enhanced corrosion control treatment studies, and lead service line replacement.
Mr. Rowley is actively involved in the New York Section of AWWA, where he serves as Vice Chair of the Water Utility Council, Chair of the Regulatory Review Committee, and is an incoming member to the Board of Trustees in 2023. In those roles, he authored the Section’s comments to the EPA Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, and developed the Section’s educational webinar series on the topic. He is currently leading the Section’s effort to provide comment on the recently published NYS Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water Regulations. He is also a regular presenter at NYSAWWA’s Tifft Water Quality Symposium, having presented on topics ranging from harmful algal blooms to lead in drinking water.
Before his tenure at the City of Rochester, he spent 10 years with the NYS Department of Health providing technical assistance and insight to hundreds of water treatment plant operators in Western New York. Prior to entering the public sector, Mr. Rowley spent 12 years working as an engineering consultant, providing design services to municipalities for water and wastewater treatment systems. He has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, a professional engineer’s license, and an NYS Grade IA Operator Certification.