Southern California Legacy Award Winner John Helminski: Shaping California’s Clean Water Future

Helminski’s path into project and program management started as a teenager in New Jersey, where he spent early years in building construction and carpentry work—first in high school, then as a side job while attending college. “That hands-on experience gave me a deep appreciation for how thoughtful design and skilled construction can improve people’s lives,” Helminski says.

“It set the foundation for my interest in vertical construction and the commercial and industrial projects that shaped the early part of my career.”

A key part of the $1.96B first phase of San Diego’s Pure Water Program was constructing the North City Pure Water Facility and Pump Station, slated for completion this year.
Photo courtesy the City of San Diego

While studying at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, he interned with Turner Construction, which exposed him to the technical rigor and coordination required to deliver major projects. Turner hired Helminski full time after graduation, but after a few years, he moved to Southern California and began working at the city of San Diego, where he managed large mechanical contracts for HVAC and chiller replacements at city facilities. He quickly gained a deep understanding of systems that directly affect indoor air quality, occupant safety and facility resilience.

“The defining shift in my career came when I joined the city’s Metropolitan Wastewater Department,” he says. “That transition introduced me to the water sector, and it fundamentally changed how I viewed engineering’s role in society. The water sector stands out because it ties engineering directly to public health, environmental stewardship and quality of life.”

In the early 1990s, Helminski led multiple city projects, including building pump stations, rehabilitating aging pipelines and installing new pipeline systems. Upgrading treatment plants and supporting the operations of critical wastewater facilities helped him recognize that “water projects have immediate consequences for disease prevention and ecosystem protection,” he says.

Bringing water resources and energy efficiency together, Helminski represented San Diego as the renewable energy program manager at the Environmental Services Dept. in 2001.

“Back then, renewable energy wasn’t the mainstream [and] widely adopted solution it is today,” he says. “Solar was still expensive, and public agencies were only beginning to explore alternative financing structures like power purchase agreements.”

Former U.S. Congresswoman Susan Davis tours the San Diego Pure Water project with Helminski.
Photo courtesy John Helminski

Unfamiliar Territory

He says when he became part of the city’s first sustainability and renewable energy effort, “it required stepping into unfamiliar territory and helping the city think differently about how it managed energy at its most critical facilities.” He then spent time researching how power purchase agreements (PPAs) were being used in the private sector and translated those lessons into a framework that would work for a municipality.

“On a personal level, John was an exceptional mentor who taught me the value of thoughtful leadership [and] collaboration and knowing when to leverage outside expertise to strengthen outcomes.”

—Peter S. Vroom, Deputy Director of the Environmental Monitoring & Technical Services Division for the City of San Diego

This led to the implementation of two large-scale solar projects: a 1-megawatt photovoltaic array at the Alvarado Water Treatment Facility and an 800-kilowatt array at the Otay Water Treatment Facility. The Alvarado system produces 20% of the plant’s power and currently saves the city an estimated $1 million annually, while the Otay system saves approximately $100,000 per year. These projects were some of the first municipal power purchase agreements in the nation.

In 2014, Helminski became assistant director for the Pure Water San Diego Program. Phase 1, which is approximately 85% complete with an estimated cost of $1.96 billion, includes the North City Pure Water Facility and major pipeline infrastructure designed to produce 30 million gallons of purified water daily. The entire program, including Phase 2, is estimated to cost between $5 billion and $9 billion and aims to supply nearly 50% of the city’s drinking water locally by 2035.

Helminski says he quickly learned that engineering alone wouldn’t deliver a project of this scale.

“Pure Water had to be built on partnerships with the public, environmental organizations, regulators and elected leaders,” he says. He viewed Pure Water as a public outreach program before it was an engineering project. His role was to provide the vision, create the structure and guide the team through complexity.

Keli Balo, deputy director of San Diego’s Public Utilities Dept., says that when Helminski led the Pure Water Program, he organized coordination meetings that proactively invited stakeholders from across the city. Helminski made sure to include representation of not only engineering and technical staff but also operators, contract support staff and environmental technicians.

“Often large projects are led by a core group that is hyperfocused on the outcome, and sometimes this can come at the cost of alienating other members of the team,” says Balo. “This seemingly simple approach is an example of John’s incredible inclusionary leadership style.”

Solar panels at the San Diego Alvarado Water Treatment Facility produce a fifth of the plant’s power.
Photo courtesy the City of San Diego

Juan Carlos Guerreiro, director of San Diego’ Public Utilities Dept., adds that the way Helminski organized monthly Pure Water coordination meetings for the billion-dollar project, set the stage for success.

“He set up these routine meetings with over 20 attendees to make sure subject matter experts were in a room together,” says Guerreiro. “This process allowed each team member to understand their role in a larger project and help foster collaboration and communication.”

Helminski’s policy of always finding time for all members of the project was a sign of great leadership to Douglas M. Owen, program adviser at Stantec.

“When he wasn’t in his office, John walked around to the program staff cubicles,” remembers Owen, who worked as the consultant program manager on Pure Water. “We always felt like a part of the city team. We didn’t feel like outsiders. John set that tone—one team for the program.”

“We always felt like a part of the city team. We didn’t feel like outsiders. John set that tone—one team for the program.”

—Douglas M. Owen, Program Adviser at Stantec and Formerly a Pure Water Program Manager

Vroom notes that Helminski’s legacy goes far beyond infrastructure.

“On a personal level, John was an exceptional mentor who taught me the value of thoughtful leadership [and] collaboration and knowing when to leverage outside expertise to strengthen outcomes,” says Vroom, describing the “John Helminski mark” as a “generation of public servants who approach high-stakes projects with rigor and humility.”

Besides Pure Water and solar projects, Helminski led the effort to help San Diego develop its first LEED Green building policy. This required all new city facilities to be designed to LEED Silver certification standards. He also developed an in-house training program for city engineers so they could understand and apply LEED criteria effectively.

Currently the senior vice president of water resources at WSP, Helminski is working with the Los Angeles County Public Works to evaluate 15 pump stations to support the county’s capital improvement program. Additionally, as part of the Los Angeles Measure W initiative, WSP is providing conceptual design for stormwater diversion, capture and reuse for community gardens. Helminski was the project manager overseeing the project, which evaluated stormwater capture alternatives for multiple watersheds in Los Angeles and developed conceptual designs for the watersheds that have the best topography for success.

Patti Boekamp, WSP senior vice president, describes Helminski as a calm and steady leader who helps his team operate through adversity.

“He doesn’t panic. He communicates well, and people can talk to John about problems. He is a strategic leader and helps his teams find solutions to keep moving the project to completion,” says Boekamp.

Helminski brings his expertise in water systems to WSP’s Southern California team.
Photo courtesy John Helminski

What Determines Success

Helminski remains active in industry organizations such as the American Water Works Association and WateReuse California. When advising young engineers, he emphasizes that technical challenges are rarely what determine success.

“It’s the people you work with—your clients, your team and your partners,” he says. He advises them to invest in relationships, listen to mentors and treat every interaction as part of their reputation.

As he looks back on his career and the projects, the programs and the thousands of decisions and late nights, he says it is not a piece of infrastructure that he remembers most.

“It’s the people. It’s the journey. It’s the teams I’ve had the privilege to work with and the collaboration that made all those projects possible,” he says. “If this Legacy Award represents anything, it represents them. They’re the ones who made the work meaningful. They’re the ones who will carry it forward. And that, to me, is the truest legacy you can leave.”