Earthquake Planning in the Coachella Valley One of DWA’s steel reservoirs.
D
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Steve Johnson: After graduating from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 1993, I interviewed and
18 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
was hired by Dames and Moore, a geotechnical engineering firm in Los Angeles. I was a field inspector and worked on several projects, including monitoring subsidence along Hollywood Boulevard during the construction of the red line of the L.A. subway. In 1995, I joined DWA as a staff engineer. Over the past 24 years with the agency, I have worked my way up through the engineering department, and now I am the assistant general manager. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about DWA. Steve Johnson: DWA was formed in 1961 and is one of only 29 state water contractors in California. A state water contractor has the authority to purchase water from the State Water Project (SWP). Prior to the formation of DWA, the City of Palm Springs was served by a privately owned water agency, the Palm Springs Water Company. The citizens of Palm Springs realized that the groundwater levels were dropping fast, and to remedy this, they decided to form DWA to purchase SWP water and replenish
PHOTO COURTESY OF DESERT WATER AGENCY.
esert Water Agency (DWA) serves 64,000 people in a service area in California’s Coachella Valley centered on the city of Palm Springs. This area of Southern California is vulnerable to natural disasters of several kinds, primarily earthquakes and wildfires, both of which have occurred in DWA’s service area. As a major utility that provides a life-sustaining resource, DWA has been carefully building its resiliency to natural disasters by modernizing its reservoirs’ earthquake shutoff valves, eliminating fragile pipes, and strengthening its relationships with the local fire department and other agencies. In this interview, Steve Johnson, DWA’s assistant general manager, speaks with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about how his agency is building up its disaster resilience.
