With the Water Education Foundation now accepting applications for the 2014 William “Bill” Gianelli Water Leaders Class, are you curious to learn about Mr. Gianelli — who also has a powerplant named after him? Aquafornia’s Water Word of the Week from sister site Aquapedia is William R. “Bill” Gianelli, whose bio is included in the Historical Water People section of the Foundation’s free online water encyclopedia.

According to an excerpt from the Aquapedia entry, “William R. ‘Bill’ Gianelli is a civil engineer who served not only as director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) from 1967-1973 during Governor Ronald Reagan’s administration but worked as a civil servant under Governors Earl Warren, Goodwin Knight and Edmund G. ‘Pat’ Brown during all phases of the California State Water Project (SWP): its design, planning and construction. From the get-go, he was a strong proponent of completing the SWP and its promised water deliveries.

“From 1981-1984, he served under Reagan’s presidential administration as assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works overseeing water resource development activities. …

“Born in Stockton, he shared some of his early experiences of the Delta during an interview with the Foundation for the 1992 publication, Memories of the Early Days of California Water Development. He was president of the Water Education Foundation from 1985-1989.”

As background, the Water Leaders Class is a yearlong program that educates young professionals from diverse backgrounds about water issues. The deadline to apply is Dec. 13 and the class begins January 2014.