Time to Replace Those 1930s CRA Power Poles
|
When you think of maintaining Metropolitan's infrastructure, you probably think about pipes, canals or pumps. But there's so much more.
Last week,
Janet Nguyen
, an engineer with the Program Management Section of the Engineering Services Group told the Board's Engineering and Operations Committee about plans to replace a three-mile stretch of old wooden power poles that traverse mountainous terrain from the Intake Pumping Plant on the Colorado River, to the Communications Tower, to Gene Wash to Gene Camp.
The poles were installed in the 1930s to carry telephone lines. In the 1950s, electrical lines were added. But as
Nguyen
told the committee, the 2.4 kV Powerline poles have deteriorated over time and from harsh desert conditions. Some parts of the alignment are not even accessible by vehicles.
The Board approved staff's recommendation to invest $7.7 million to relocate the power line to new alignment (shown on the presentation), install 50 new steel power poles with power, fiber optic & telephone cables, and grade new access roads.
Metropolitan staff will manage construction inspections, contract administration and project management activities. Some of the work is in environmentally sensitive areas, so experts will do field surveys and provide Met staff with technical guidance.
The construction of the power poles will be completed by mid-2019.
Click here
to see the full Board Presentation.
|
|
Helping Fish Find Their Way Home
|
Hundreds of miles north of Los Angeles, a new fish passage project is going to have big benefits for the environment and our water supplies.
Construction has started on a new Fremont Weir. A weir is a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow.
When the original Fremont Weir was built nearly 100 years ago to release overflow waters from the Sacramento River and prevent flooding in nearby cities and towns, it disconnected fish from their natural habitat in the Yolo Bypass.
The Yolo Bypass is the largest seasonal floodplain in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The new weir modernizes the structure and widens the channel so fish -- mainly Chinook salmon, steelhead, and green sturgeon -- will have an easier path to upstream habitat and their spawning grounds.
It is the first of six California EcoRestore projects that will break ground this year. Three of the six projects are required mitigation for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. The other three support tidal and floodplain restoration in the Delta. EcoRestore is a multi-agency effort, strongly supported by Metropolitan, to restore 30,000 acres of Delta habitat.
Officials, including Metropolitan staff, gathered last month for the groundbreaking of the project.
|
|
Working at Met Was His Destiny
|
Dave Murphy
, a treatment plant operator at Diemer, has a long history with Metropolitan that started when he was a baby. Several years after he started working at the Diemer Plant, his mother found a photo (above) of him in the arms of Robert Diemer at a Met picnic in 1959.
“After seeing the photo," explained
Dave
, "I think I was destined to work here.”
Dave's
dad was an employee in Met’s Engineering Group. As a child, Dave and his family would visit Metropolitan’s headquarters on Sunset Blvd. and attend company picnics.
In college,
Dave
enrolled in a water utility class and soon decided to make a career of water. He took his water treatment plant operator exam, received a Grade II license, and then got a job at the Diemer plant in 1982. He’s been there ever since - minus a short stint at Weymouth from 1989-1992.
When he’s not working,
Dave
is woodworking, doing home improvement projects, and traveling. He recently took a trip to Israel, Egypt and Jordan with his mom. “Even after 36 years, she is still so proud I chose this job,” said
Dave
.
|
Note on the back of the photo:
David,
Your mother and father had you tied up until I picked you up. You and your sisters were having a good time. Best wishes to all.
Robert Diemer, Gen Mgr and Ch. Engr, MWD of SC
|
|
