Water Agreement with Sycuan Tribe
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The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation has one of the most successful gaming operations in Southern California. The tribe has businesses that employ nearly 4,000 San Diegans. And it has a $260 million resort, hotel and casino just weeks away from opening.
But what it did not have was a reliable water supply. That was until an historic agreement
celebrated last week
allowed Metropolitan to deliver water reliability to the tribe’s reservation, east of El Cajon.
“The agreement is about delivering water, but it brings so much more. It also allows for the long-term sustainability and
self-sufficiency
of the Sycuan tribe,” Chairwoman Gloria Gray said at the celebration on the Sycuan reservation, which was also attended by General Manager
Jeffrey Kightlinger
, chief deputy general counsel
Cathy Stites
and special projects manager
Meena Westford
, who all helped make the agreement a reality.
For years, the tribe relied on its groundwater supplies. And it used those resources wisely – conserving and recycling as much as possible. But they faced the same challenges seen in some other communities – declining groundwater levels and water quality issues.
So about a decade ago they began seeking a more reliable supply. They found it thanks to a new state law and a
unique agreement
forged between Metropolitan, the Sycuan tribe, San Diego County Water Authority and Padre Dam Municipal Water District. It is the latest in Metropolitan’s established record of finding cooperative ways to deliver water to tribes in the district’s service area.
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Innovating the Future of our Water, Today
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Metropolitan was born out of innovative thinking.
Over 90 years, ago, we built the Colorado River Aqueduct, an unparalleled engineering feat at the time. In the decades since, Metropolitan has stood out as a leader in the water industry, not just for the size and scale of its endeavors, but for innovative solutions and the creative thinking that drives our ability to deliver water, from the source to the tap.
This week, we have the opportunity to help shape our future as a forward-looking organization. Every employee will be invited to take a survey about innovation at Metropolitan.
The survey was developed by the Water Research Foundation and ARCADIS, a consulting organization that has worked with dozens of utilities in the U.S. and around the world.
Here’s a short video by COO
Deven Upadhyay
on the importance of the project to Metropolitan:
Employees will receive an email from the General Manager with more information and link to take the survey.
The survey has been designed to take about five minutes to complete, and individual survey results are completely anonymous.
With the input, we can better understand how employees view our current approach to innovation, and how to foster a work environment that will encourage even more innovative and creative thinking in the future. Thanks for participating.
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You Name it, He Can Build it, Fix It and Make it Shine
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“I’ve been around so long that all the jobs and years just kinda melt together,” says facility maintenance mechanic
John Myers
, who will celebrate 30 years at Metropolitan this spring.
John
started as a porter at Soto St. ferrying cars and trucks to the local car wash. John didn’t like the quality of work he saw and so he started doing detail cleaning work on the vehicles himself.
That kind of dedication caught the eye of his supervisors. A trained machinist when he arrived at Metropolitan in 1989,
John
was promoted to run what was then known as the “tool crib” at LaVerne. For the next five years, among his other duties, he built new cabinets and made custom holders for specialized tools.
“Safety,”
John
answers, when asked what his top priority is on the job. “I’ve worked in some tight spots.”
John
notes that it’s critical to let co-workers know where you are with neon-orange cones and work zone tape.
When he’s asked to do customized work, he always starts with a set of drawings.
John
, who loves the challenge of fixing something he hasn’t worked on before, laments that some young people don’t have the drafting skills he learned in his high school drafting classes, “You need a solid plan to get the work done right.”
What is he known best for?
John
is a self-taught leathersmith. Wanting to keep his work space well organized, he started making small leather tool pouches. Now, dozens of leather tool pouches later, his work cart accessorized with custom leather pouches is a LaVerne trademark.
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