Helpful, But No
"March Miracle"
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Throughout each winter, the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program and the California Department of Water Resources perform manual surveys of hundreds of snow courses in the Sierra Nevada.
On April 2 the snow survey measured 32 inches with a water content of 12.5 inches - about half of the long-term average for this time of year.
By comparison, a month earlier, the snow depth at the same location was 13 inches with water content of 1.7 inches (just 7% of normal).
Frank Gehrke, chief of the snow surveys program, told reporters, “despite recent storms, we're still playing catch-up when it comes to our statewide water supplies.”
What exactly does that mean for Metropolitan and Southern California?
-- It’s very likely that the current State Water Project allocation will go up from the current 20% allocation. An increase could mean more water deliveries to Metropolitan and its member and retail agencies.
-- State and federal water agencies will try to maximize pumping in the Delta during high flows from rains and melting snowpack, while still taking care to protect fish species.
-- However, officials also warned that conditions at Lake Oroville, along with planned State Water Project shutdowns and operational issues could limit what Metropolitan can export from the Delta in the coming weeks.
To learn more, the latest MWD water supply update is
here
.
Bottom line: It was not a March Miracle. But there’s always hope for an Awesome April. Stay tuned.
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Marching On and Continuing the Legacy
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For
Quinn Conant
, advancing economic equality and speaking out against injustices are important to him. So when
AFSCME Local 1902
made a call out to its membership asking for delegates to attend events in remembrance of the 50
th
anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, the O&M Tech at Metropolitan’s Soto Street Facility, put his name in.
“To be able to meet accomplished people who are the direct results of what happened in Memphis 50 years ago is an opportunity of a lifetime,”
Quinn
said. “Nothing is more inspirational to me.”
Quinn was one of five AFSCME Local 1902 members, who work for Metropolitan, who joined the thousands gathering in Memphis, Tennessee from April 2-4 in recognition of the 50
th
anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. Instru-
mentation & Control Tech Specialist
Dovard Howard
, Real Property Group’s
Dora Williamson
and
Judy Holland
, and WSO Planner Scheduler and AFSCME President
Alan Shanahan
also participated.
I
t was 50 years ago that the Memphis sanitation workers unionized after their concerns were not being heard. They went on strike and used the term, “I am a Man” to signify the fight for workers’ rights is a fight for human rights.
Dr. King joined these workers at a rally in 1968, telling them: “Now our struggle is our genuine equality, which means economic equality."
The march and rally on April 4 was organized by “I am 2018,” a movement by AFSMCE and the Church of God in Christ.
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Preparing for
the Big One
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Dave Clark
, Design Section Manager in Engineering Services, takes seismic risk seriously. For the past few years he has been working with colleagues to refine Metropolitan’s seismic resilience strategy that helps ensure our system can deliver water and keep our employees safe following a major earthquake. The work now passes to Interim Manager of Engineering Systems Planning Unit
John Shamma
since
Dave’s
recent move to the Design section.
Dave
notes that seismic resilience is part of Met’s history. It was even factored into the original design of the Colorado River Aqueduct at fault crossings. Met has a team that looks at planning, engineering, operations and reporting functions to provide system flexibility, emergency supplies, resilient facilities, and robust emergency response capabilities.
Met is also collaborating with DWR and LADWP to improve the seismic resilience of the California Aqueduct and Los Angeles Aqueduct. “We can all be proud of how proactive Metropolitan has been about seismic resilience from the beginning,” says
Dave
. “We have applied lessons learned from the San Francisco (1906), San Fernando (1971), Northridge (1994), and even New Zealand (2011) earthquakes to mitigate the risk of seismic events impacting our water deliveries.”
One of those lessons learned is that interruptions to water deliveries can be devastating to the post-earthquake recovery effort. "Often, damage in the most powerful quakes is caused by resulting fires, not structural failures,"
Dave
said.
When
Dave
isn’t helping to prepare Met for the 'Big One' he is spending time with his family who enjoy traveling and camping.
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