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ABOUT MET THIS WEEK

A weekly newsletter by and for Metropolitan employees
August 17, 2020
REMINDER: The Ethics Office will host the final session of its three-part series “Ethics Rules at a Glance” at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. Register here. Recordings of past sessions are on the Intramet.
Metropolitan Responds to Current Power Emergency
Californians used so much electricity this past weekend that the agency that oversees much of the state’s power grid declared an emergency and - for the first time in 19 years - shut off power to customers to avoid a damaging overload.

WSO staff decided to reduce pumping on the Colorado River Aqueduct from a 7-pump flow to 4-pump flow on Saturday in anticipation of a potential call by the CAISO for Metropolitan to reduce energy use on the CRA.
    
“Reducing CRA pumping in a measured way, in advance of a call for electrical load reductions, is the best option to balance operational needs and help with the stability of the electrical grid,” said WSO Group Manager Brent Yamasaki. Some of the considerations for the reduction in pumping were:

·        Dropping three pumps reduces the load on the system by nearly 110 megawatts, or enough energy to power about 80,000 homes

·        CAISO is likely to ask for load reductions over the next several days as high temps continue in many areas

·        Water system operations would not be impacted since Lake Mathews is currently over 85% full and easily able to meet demands

·        Water not pumped this week can be moved at a later date or stored in Lake Mead

·        Reducing pumping for several days in a row will result in less wear-and-tear on aging equipment than cycling pumps on and off each day

Additionally, this change is predicted to save Met about $1 million over the duration of the heat event, by avoiding the energy price spikes. 

WSO Asst. Group Manager John Jontry said, “Power Operations and Planning staff responded quickly to these events, coordinating with Water Operations and Planning and CRA operations to reduce demand on the electric grid while maintaining reliability for water operations. They are also working on the supply end to increase hydro generation output during this heatwave.”

Learning and Teaching in a Time of COVID-19
Working from home while keeping young children fulfilled and inspired is no easy task. But it’s become the new reality for many employees.

Joe Chavez, an Administrative Analyst III in Administrative Services, shared that his 7-year old daughter and 5-year old twin boys had noticed the homeless problem on their regular visits to the LA Flower Mart.

“They wanted to do something to help, so they dug deep into their piggy banks,” said Joe. The money paid for toiletries and snacks to create 50 ‘Love Bags.’ The kids then added homemade art cards to each, and the bags were distributed by the LA Mission to those in need. Video.

Paul Gonzales, an O&M Tech IV Welder at Lake Mathews, and Annette Gonzales, an Administrative Assistant III in WSO at the Mills Plant, have two children, ages 13 and 8. “During this pandemic we’ve allowed our kids to embrace their creative minds,” Annette says.

To do that, they've tried to implement some structure while Paul and Annette are both working and it seems to be doing the trick, they report. “We do fun things like read, play games, paint, and watch family movies,” Annette adds. Two projects they’ve recently completed are building a new dog house as well as a big Lego table which keeps the kids busy and fulfilled most of the time.

Jami Decker, a Senior Administrative Analyst with Legislative Services, has three children, ages 10, 8 and 5 (shown in the photo above with butterflies). "I’ve enjoyed finding ways to make learning fun while focusing on subjects they enjoy (food and animals being high on that list),” says Jami.

Cooking projects have been great for math and following step-by-step directions. The family also tends to a large vegetable garden. “It’s practical and we all enjoy eating the results,” she notes, “and our butterfly habitat has gotten more use than ever before as we’ve hatched butterflies, kept an albino praying mantis and even raised a baby lizard.”
They Met at Met

A lot of Metropolitan employees form lifelong friendships with co-workers. But only a few special ones have found their soulmates.

Add to that lucky list Johanna and Keegan Clemens who met shortly after they both were hired by Metropolitan five years ago and are now married. They are also the proud parents of two girls, ages 2 years and 2 months old.

Johanna, who interned at Met while earning her Civil Engineering degree at USC, is an engineer in the Construction Management Unit.

She is currently on a rotation as the Plant Engineer for Water System Operations in the Conveyance and Distribution Section covering the Western Region of Metropolitan's system.

“It’s great that Metropolitan provides these opportunities to work both on the engineering side and also the WSO side,” Johanna says. “This is a very dynamic process and it helps to be able to understand the level of cooperation and coordination that’s needed on these projects.”

Although Keegan is a second-generation Metropolitan employee, he didn’t expect to work here. But when the opportunity to be a construction inspector came up, he went for it. For the first three years, he worked on CRA projects and the pumping plants. Now, Keegan is inspecting work on the Second Lower Feeder Project.

“Even with COVID-19, the project has kept moving along, We’re taking extra precautions to stay healthy and people are working well together so there hasn’t been much of a hiccup in our progress,” according to Keegan.

Johanna and Keegan both worked on the CRA shutdowns and they’ve worked together on the Second Lower Feeder. 

“It’s sometimes a little tricky to talk to each other in our role as co-workers,” Johanna admits, “but we both understand the importance of our jobs and we make it work.”
New hires, transfers, promotions & retirements are posted here each month.
NEXT ISSUE: September 8
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