Matthew Ries

Chief, Water Quality and Watershed Management, DC Water
Past Speaker: AWS 2018

Biography

Dr. Ries works in the Office of the General Manager and is the first Chief of Water Quality and Watershed Management at DC Water. He is responsible for providing strategic direction, technical information, and stakeholder engagement to improve watersheds serving the District of Columbia.
Prior to DC Water, he worked for 12 years as Chief Technical Officer at the Water Environment Federation (WEF). His work at the Federation included development of and oversight of programs innovation, sustainability, stormwater, resilience, and nutrient management, among others. Before WEF, he worked as a consultant in the planning, design, construction, and startup of municipal and industrial water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities.
He recently served for five years on the Board of Directors of Alexandria Renew Enterprises, the water resource recovery utility in Alexandria, Virginia. He also was a Director at the Alliance for Water Stewardship, a global network that promotes responsible use of freshwater that is socially and economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable.
Dr. Ries has a Bachelors of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Valparaiso University, a Masters of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of South Florida where he is also a courtesy professor at the Patel College of Global Sustainability. His recently-completed dissertation focused on the development of an urban water sustainability index and the connection between urban water utility organizational attributes and sustainability. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.