WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, has announced the selection of Mr. Rudy Chow as the new general manager (GM) of the Washington Aqueduct. Chow will oversee the production of drinking water for approximately one million citizens living, working, or visiting in the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, and other areas in northern Virginia to include portions of Fairfax County.
“We are excited to have Rudy Chow join the Baltimore District team as the General Manager of the Washington Aqueduct,” said Col. John T. Litz, Baltimore District commander. “Mr. Chow has significant experience in the water infrastructure industry, and he is the right person to serve the public, work alongside our partners and lead the men and women who proudly operate and maintain this historic and vital infrastructure.”
Chow previously served as the Aqueduct’s chief operating officer and interim general manager following the retirement of Mr. Thomas Jacobus in September 2020, who served in the role for more than 25 years.
“I am honored and humbled by this appointment and am appreciative of the confidence of the leadership in entrusting me with Washington Aqueduct,” said Chow. “I look forward to working with the staff to bring about performances that will propel Washington Aqueduct to the next level and live up to the rich and proud history of the Aqueduct.”
Chow comes to the Aqueduct from the City of Redlands in California in which he served as the director of the Municipal Utilities and Engineering Department. He was previously appointed as the director of Baltimore City’s Department of Public Works and also spent more than 20 years with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, serving Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. In 2019, he was named “Top Ten Public Works Leaders” by the American Public Works Association, among several other awards.
The Washington Aqueduct provides 135 million gallons of safe, reliable and cost-effective drinking water per day to more than one million people in D.C. and Northern Virginia. All funding for operations, maintenance, studies and capital improvements for Washington Aqueduct comes from revenue generated by selling drinking water to its three wholesale customers: DC Water, Arlington County and Fairfax Water.
The Washington Aqueduct is the U.S. Army’s only public utility. It has been owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more than 160 years. Capt. Montgomery C. Meigs, an Army Corps officer and an 1832 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was personally directed by Congress to design and build an aqueduct to provide Potomac River water to the nation’s capital. Service began Jan. 3, 1859, supplying fresh water via gravity from Great Falls for domestic and commercial use, as well as for firefighting.