Michael J. McGuire along with Marie S. Pearthree has authored: Tucson Water Turnaround: Crisis to Success. Twenty-two years before the tragedy in Flint, MI, Tucson, AZ, delivered treated surface water from the Colorado River resulting in broken pipes, rusty, smelly water flowing from customer taps, and damaged home appliances. This book chronicles what happened and why, how Tucson Water changed its management practices, solved the corrosion problem and restored its lost credibility, and the “lessons learned” that are applicable to any water utility considering modifying sources of supply and/or treatment methods.

McGuire has also authored a book entitled: The Chlorine Revolution: Water Disinfection and the Fight to Save Lives. The book was published in April 2013 by the American Water Works Association. The Chlorine Revolution is about a courageous physician and his partnership with the greatest sanitary engineer of the time to plan, build and operate the first, large-scale drinking water disinfection system in the U.S. It is also about a court case that extended over two trials (1906-10) that pitted engineering and scientific experts of the day against one another. The verdict approving the use of chlorine for the Jersey City water supply caused an explosion of its use, which led to the conquest of waterborne disease in the U.S.

McGuire was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1947. He has a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1969), and both M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1977) degrees in environmental engineering from Drexel University. A registered professional engineer in California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Texas, McGuire is a widely published author who has authored over 200 professional articles and co-edited five books and collected works.

For his entire career, McGuire has worked for drinking water utilities and consulting engineering firms advising water utilities on methods to provide safe drinking water. He worked for the Philadelphia Water Department right after college, and, over a 13 year-period, he held increasingly responsible positions at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He has worked for consulting engineering firms for about half of his professional life. He founded and managed McGuire Environmental Consultants, Inc. from 1992 to 2005.

He has been active in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) over the past 40 years and is an Honorary Member. He received the George Warren Fuller Award in 1994 and the Publications Award for 2001 for the Journal article entitled "Using Chlorite Ion to Control Nitrification." In 2007, he received the Best Paper Award from the Water Quality and Technology Division of AWWA. In 2009, AWWA presented him with the A.P. Black Research Award, and he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, for "scientific contributions that have improved the safety and aesthetics of drinking water."