Metropolitan Launches Its Advertising and Outreach Campaign
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT MET THIS WEEK
A weekly newsletter by and for Metropolitan employees
July 9, 2018
Water Conservation,
365 Days a Year
Conservation. Every Day. 

That’s the goal of Metropolitan’s new water conservation advertising campaign that officially launches today, July 9. 

Using '365' as a call to action, it will help encourage Southern Californians to save water each and every day.

The campaign focuses on changes we can make indoors and outside, including Metropolitan’s new landscape transformation program that will once again provide rebates for turf removal. Here’s a preview of the campaign. Link to video

The campaign will be seen on hundreds of billboards, buses and trains, social media, and features a new television commercial from an award-winning director. Watch the commercial  here.

Later this summer, we will introduce programs with the LA Dodgers and special community events. And local street artists will get in on the act by bringing their creativity and unique vision to original urban artwork that promotes water conservation.

The campaign will be in six languages – English, Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese - and a revamped bewaterwise website is brimming with info about rebates, native plants and how-to videos.

Metropolitan has long been a leader when to comes to inspiring Southern Californians to save water. Our new ad campaign will help us all do even more, every day. 365.
Met at the Movies: Collateral Damage
This is the second in a three-part series about filming at Metropolitan facilities. The next story will run in August.

“Can we drive a motorcycle down your tunnels?” This was the request Dave Yagers , WSO Team Manager received from a Hollywood production company one day in the late 1990's. Another large water agency had denied the company a similar request and the location scouts were desperate for an authentic tunnel location.

Even though the request seemed ridiculous, Dave didn’t rush to say no, especially after learning that none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in the film. He set up a meeting to discuss. After much negotiation and agreement by the production company to pay six-figures for the opportunity to use the tunnels at Jensen under strict safety conditions, a deal was made.

The film was Collateral Damage and the scene (watch it here ) was a particularly intense one at the climax of the film in which Arnold defeats the terrorists who killed his family. As the villains race through an underground tunnel on a motorcycle, Arnold takes an ax and punctures a gas line. The rest is movie history. 

“He had his own gym on set,” recalls Dave , who was responsible for driving the star in a golf cart from one end of the tunnel to the other. Even though Schwarzenegger was focused on his scenes and not particularly talkative, he did appreciate Dave's help and gave him an autographed photo (shown at the top of this story).
Learning About Water: Employee Inspection Trips
For many years before Jose Lozano worked at Metropolitan, he would pass the Jensen Water Treatment Plant on his way to his job at Advanced Bionics on San Fernando Road. One day, he got curious and did some research about Met and the facility.

That research paid off and in 2007, Jose joined the Metropolitan family. Today he works as an Instrumental and Control Technician, maintaining all of the instrumentation at the treatment plant. He calibrates and maintains meters from Castaic Lake to the Palos Verdes Reservoir, and Manhattan Beach all the way to La Mirada.

Due to his heavy workload and busy schedule, Jose didn't think he had the time to attend one of CRA inspection trips for employees. But after much encouragement from his co-workers, he attended one of the trips this past spring. “We get so caught up in our day-to-day work, we can forget that we all contribute to the success of this great organization,” he admits.

Whether it’s admiring the architecture at the Whitsett Intake pumping plant, touring Weymouth or driving across DVL’s West Dam, the trip connects employees and their work to those who contributed to the construction and operations of one of the greatest water projects of its time – the Colorado River Aqueduct and Metropolitan's distribution and delivery system. Jose said during the tour he “felt an overwhelming pride to be part of Metropolitan's legacy and history.”
New hires, transfers, promotions & retirements 
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