Municipal Water Leader June 2020

Volume 7 Issue 6

June 2020

Andy Fecko: PCWA’s Plans for Resilience and Rebuilding

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STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Abbey Lloyd, Media Intern Milo Schmitt, Media Intern

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Andy Fecko: PCWA’s Plans for Resilience and Rebuilding

Contents June 2020 Volume 7, Issue 6

5 S afety and Preparation

By Kris Polly 6 Andy

Fecko: PCWA’s Plans for Resilience and Rebuilding 12 How

EMWD Successfully Pursues Grants and Loans 18 K eeping Metropolitan’s Employees Safe on the Job

24 D WA’s Supervisor Training and Succession Planning Programs 30 H ow Geneva Pipe Will Help Grow Northwest Pipe’s Business 34 P lanning for Tarrant Regional Water District’s Future

Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

ADVERTISING: Municipal Water Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or municipal.water.leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, or if you would prefer to receive Municipal Water Leader in electronic form, please contact our managing editor, Joshua Dill, at joshua.dill@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright © 2019 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

MunicipalWaterLeader.com MuniWaterLeader

COVER PHOTO:

Andy Fecko, General Manager, Placer County Water Agency (PCWA).

Photo courtesy of PCWA.

4 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF PCWA..

Coming soon in Municipal Water Leader: July/August: David Montaigne of the Sabine River Authority

SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or municipal.water.leader@waterstrategies.com.

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Safety and Preparation

S

afety and preparation are two sides of the same coin. A water agency always needs to be thinking about the future in order to prevent possible mishaps and to promote strong and sustainable growth. This issue focuses on proactive plans to build infrastructure, seek grants, and pursue strategic mergers, and on safety and training measures that aim to ensure that this development occurs in the most secure way possible.

In our cover interview, we speak with General Manager Andy Fecko of California’s Placer County Water Agency about the infrastructure and relicensing tasks the agency is tackling at the moment and why infrastructure work promises to be an important part of the economic recovery after the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also speak with John Ward and Bonnie Wright of Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, California, about their agency’s grant and loans program, which pulls in 25–50 percent of the district's total funding and has played a key role in several recent infrastructure programs.

Focusing squarely on operational safety, we speak with Mickey Chaudhuri and Dan Guillory of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the nation’s largest water wholesaler, about how the agency proactively addresses a huge array of safety concerns—including injury prevention, hearing and respiratory protection, high-voltage electrical safety, and much more—and promotes employee buy-in through employee-run safety committees, training, and manageremployee collaboration. We also talk to Kris Hopping of Desert Water Agency, centered in Palm Springs, California, about that agency’s safety training and supervisory training programs and how it handles succession planning.

By Kris Polly

Northwest Pipe, North America’s largest manufacturer of steel water pipe systems, recently announced its acquisition of Geneva Pipe Company. We speak with President and CEO Scott Montross and Vice President Mike Wray about this strategic acquisition and the benefits it stands to bring to Northwest Pipe.

We also speak with Jack Stevens, the president of Tarrant Regional Water District’s (TRWD) board of directors.

Mr. Stevens’s fascinating background includes time working on space shuttle components and military aircraft. After retiring from his engineering career, Mr. Stevens turned his attentions to public service as a member of TRWD’s board.

He tells us about how the Texas district is planning for the future amid rapid population growth and urbanization.

At the forefront of all our minds is the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for safety. Municipal Water Leader and its sister publication, Irrigation Leader, will be publishing special, online-only issues focusing exclusively on how water professionals are overcoming the challenges of the pandemic. I invite you to keep your eyes on our website and social media accounts for this important forthcoming information. M Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

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Andy Fecko: PCWA’s Plans for Resilience and Rebuilding

PCWA's Hell Hole Reservoir and Dam.

P

lacer County Water Agency (PCWA), located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, California, provides water to about 35,000 treated water customers and around 4,500 irrigation customers. The region has a varied history that includes mining and some of the earliest transnational shipments of fresh fruit on the transcontinental railroad. While some of PCWA’s infrastructure dates back to mining days, the agency is aggressively pursuing certification and funding for new storage, delivery, and recreational infrastructure.

In this interview, PCWA General Manager Andy Fecko tells Municipal Water Leader about how PCWA is continuing its operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic and planning to be part of the nation’s recovery when the crisis recedes.

Andy Fecko: I’ve been with PCWA for nearly 14 years.

At the time I joined, the agency was in the early stages of a complex federal relicensing effort on our Middle Fork

6 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PCWA.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and experience.

American River Project (MFP), which required a lot of stakeholder meetings in coordination with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other state and federal agencies. I was brought on to help organize that effort and to provide key technical background.

My educational background is in fisheries biology. I was lucky enough to study under Peter Moyle, a world-renowned fisheries biologist, at the University of California, Davis.

When I graduated, I went to work for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), doing transmission-line siting work. From there, I moved to work for the State of California, doing research work on the effects of herbicides, particularly forest herbicides, on fish. When that job concluded, I moved on to the State Water Resources Control Board and learned the regulatory machine from the inside. I spent some time at the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), working on the Sites Reservoir project during the old CALFED days. PCWA hired me from DWR. I brought a lot of regulatory knowledge, scientific and technical skill on the fisheries front, and management experience from my work on the Sites Reservoir.

ADVERTISEMENT Municipal Water Leader: Where are you from originally?

Andy Fecko: I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up in the East Bay, out near Livermore—an area that used to be rural, but isn’t anymore. My wife and I have lived in Placer County for over 20 years.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the history of PCWA. Andy Fecko: We’re a special district that was formed by special act of the state legislature in 1957. We came into existence because the people of this county thought it was important that they control their own destiny when it came to water. During the previous 50 years, from the turn of the century onward, rural mountain counties in California had folks from more developed, more urban areas moving into their watersheds, building infrastructure, and then transporting water supplies to faraway places. The people of Placer County decided they were not going to let that happen. Through the construction of the MFP, which was really the purpose for the creation of PCWA, they were able to build a reliable supply and control their future.

Municipal Water Leader: Where does your water come from, and how big is your service area?

Andy Fecko: In Placer County, we are fortunate to have one of the most productive watersheds in the state. We have two primary sources of water in the American River basin.

One is the MFP, which the people of this county voted to float bonds for and build by a margin of 25 to 1 in the early 1960s. We finished that project in 1967. It involves two major dams, five smaller dams, and five powerhouses.

We store about 340,000 acre-feet of water in two major reservoirs. Thanks to those five hydroelectric powerhouses, the MFP also generates about a million megawatt-hours (MWh) per year of clean, renewable energy.

Our second source, which is older than the first, is a series of PG&E-owned reservoirs on the Highway 80 corridor in the Yuba and Bear River watershed. For a long time before PCWA existed, PG&E was a water service provider for Placer County. It bought Gold Rush–era reservoirs that were originally used for hydraulic mining and attached hydroelectric energy generation facilities to them. As a side business, it sold water from those facilities to Placer County residents. When PG&E decided to get out of the water business, we purchased its water facilities and became the service provider. PG&E continues to own and operate those original reservoirs and powerhouses, and it sells us water under a long-term contract. We treat the water and deliver it to Placer County residents.

PCWA is the primary water resource agency in Placer County, with a service boundary of 1,500 square miles. municipalwaterleader.com

Municipal Water Leader: What is the status of PCWA’s relicensing efforts?

Andy Fecko: We’ve broken some ground there. We finished our official efforts back in 2012. Since then, like many licensees across the nation, we’ve been waiting for the state to issue a Clean Water Act (CWA) certification. You’ve probably heard about certification delays in the national press.

After a recent DC circuit court opinion (Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC) that essentially said that if a state hadn’t acted on certification within the 1‑year time frame granted by the CWA, the state waived its authority, we filed a brief with FERC asking it to waive state authority, which it did. We’re now close to having our license issued—as far as I know, if it weren’t for the pandemic, we would have our license now.

In any case, I understand that we’re close to having a license issued. It’s important to note that we weren’t asking to have certain license conditions eliminated or anything like that. We came to a stakeholder-agreed set of license conditions, and we intend to live by those. The state didn’t ask for anything additional. It was just caught in a bureaucratic mess that made it impossible for it to act in a timely manner. But for PCWA and its customers, every year of delay is money spent. We had people on staff who were ready to implement the license and consultants who were ready to go. That was one of the points we made to FERC, and it agreed with us.

PCWA's Middle Fork powerhouse.

Municipal Water Leader: How many years will the relicensing be for?

Andy Fecko: The minimum term is 40 years; the maximum is 50. We have asked for 50 because of the investments that we plan to make in all our facilities, including our recreational facilities. We hope FERC grants that.

Municipal Water Leader: What steps is PCWA taking to protect its customers and workers during the COVID‑19 crisis, and how has the response changed your operations?

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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PCWA's Ralston Afterbay Dam on the Middle Fork American River.

8 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

allow telecommuting as much as possible. For instances in which work can only be done in the office, we are rotating staff. Our ability to deploy a robust mobile computing network that allows folks to work securely from home has become crucial. They need access to our network and our servers. We know employees have a lot going on: They’re trying to stay healthy, and many of them have to watch their children because the schools are closed. We want them to be productive when they can be productive and to take care of their families when they need to. But we’ve got to keep the business running, we’ve got to keep water flowing, and we’ve got to keep delivering safe drinking water.

Municipal Water Leader: What is the most important thing PWCA has learned during its response to the pandemic, and what advice do you have for other water agencies?

Andy Fecko: It’s critical to be in regular communication with your entire workforce. We have around 240 employees, and I e-mail those employees once a week, usually so that it’s the first thing in their inboxes on Thursday morning. I update them on everything that’s happened and everything they need to know. It’s critical that our workforce knows that we care about their health and that we care about the job they’re doing. Everybody is an important player in a small agency like ours. municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PCWA.

Andy Fecko: The first thing I think all water providers in the United States have to tell their customers is that we treat water to the highest level required by law and beyond. The water is safe to drink, especially here in Placer County; it is not necessary to stock up on bottled water.

We got a lot of questions about that from our customers early on in the pandemic.

That leads to the next question: How do we keep supplying safe, high-quality water under stay-at-home orders? Back in February, we designated some of our talented, highly trained individuals—water treatment plant operators, distribution operators, hydroelectric operators, and so forth— as critical employees. These were the people whom we needed most urgently to keep healthy so that we could continue providing drinking water to all our customers and maintain our hydroelectric system. We had to completely change our operations to make sure that our critical employees weren’t in the same place at the same time. We are having them do a lot of work from home and making sure that only one operator is assigned to each treatment plant to reduce the risk of more than one being exposed to an infection in any given plant.

The balance of our employees were designated as essential. Essential employees are our business employees: accountants, receivables people, customer service employees, engineers, people who design infrastructure, and so forth.

The right solution for them has been to use technology to

ADVERTISEMENT We communicate even more with our department heads and the directors who manage various areas of our business.

We have 15‑ to 30‑minute situational awareness calls on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to get us up to date on what our employees are doing out in the field. Nobody has been in this situation before, so we are learning as we go along and developing protocols. Communication is an important part of that.

The same goes for our customers. We’ve got about 35,000 treated water customers and around 4,500 irrigation customers who grow everything from rice to mandarin oranges. Our irrigation customers are coming up on their business season—they’re going to start irrigating as spring comes around. Our irrigation customers should know that their business can continue; we’re going to be there for them.

While they will not be able to have personal contact with our employees for the time being, we’re going to deliver irrigation water to their farms, orchards, vineyards, and livestock.

Similarly, the most important thing for our drinking water customers to know is that the water is safe to drink and that we have plenty of water for their needs.

treatment capability and water storage capacity. We think the federal government has an interest in that: If the federal government can help us secure low-interest financing or grants to work on infrastructure like treatment plants, pipelines, or energy infrastructure, we can put people to work right away. Those things may not otherwise be built on the back of a tough economic situation caused by uncertainty. We have our eyes on what the situation after the pandemic is going to look like and how we can help the nation recover by building infrastructure. We think that we and other water agencies can be a big part of the federal economic stimulus response.

We’re also increasing the size of one of our major reservoirs and adding new spillway gates to provide water for recreation and ecosystem needs. We’ll be working on a lot of infrastructure over the next decade. That is going to be expensive to implement, but we’re prepared to do it, and we’re prepared to do it even faster if a stimulus bill comes along.

Additionally, once we get our FERC license, we’re going to be rebuilding the campgrounds that we built 50 years ago as well as other public recreation infrastructure.

Municipal Water Leader: How many acres do you deliver irrigation water to?

Municipal Water Leader: What is your message to Congress?

Andy Fecko: We serve about 7,000 acres of agriculture; a lot of it is smaller parcels. The biggest single commodity is probably rice. A lot of people don’t know that, at one time, Placer County was the largest fruit-growing region in the whole nation. That was made possible by those reservoirs that PG&E turned into a source of irrigation water; our favorable weather conditions; and the transcontinental railroad, which ran right through the middle of our county.

The railroad allowed a mandarin orange grown in Placer County to be delivered fresh to the East Coast in 3 days.

It seemed miraculous. Apples, grapes, mandarin oranges, and pears were grown here and delivered nationwide. A lot of those growers are still in business. This is one of the few places in the West where we still sell water by the miner’s inch. A California miner’s inch is a measure of flow derived from the idea of a 1‑square-inch orifice under 6 inches of head, meaning it has 6 square inches of water above it. One California miner’s inch is equivalent to one-fortieth of a cubic foot per second. In somewhat simpler terms, if you had a miner’s inch of water delivered for an entire year, you’d have about 18 acre-feet of water.

Municipal Water Leader: Besides dealing with COVID‑19, what are PCWA’s top issues?

Andy Fecko: Like, I’m sure, many water agencies, we’re paying close attention to what sort of federal recovery package will be passed to address this pandemic. We’re also focused on the infrastructure we have in the works— regional infrastructure that expands our clean water municipalwaterleader.com

Andy Fecko: Part of this recovery is going to have to be figuring out a way to streamline our regulatory processes.

Dealing with several state and federal agencies really slows projects down, although the situation has improved due to the Trump administration’s one-federal-lead effort. I bet a lot of other water utilities feel the same way.

PCWA has been a leader in promoting the idea that water agencies can effectively help manage critical municipal drinking water and irrigation water. We’ve laid out a path, a process, and a funding model that we think can be applied broadly in the West to do things like forest thinning, watercourse improvement, and the use of prescribed fire to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.

Congress has been responsive, but there is more to do. We argued for large categorical exemptions from the National Environmental Policy Act that would allow us to do these restoration projects with minimal overhead, but we didn’t quite get what we asked for. I think it’s time we revisit that issue. This forest work is another way to put Americans back to work, especially in rural areas. The more we can do to advocate for these things in 2020, the better off we are going to be. M

Andy Fecko is the general manager of the Placer County Water Authority. He can be contacted at generalmanager@pcwa.net.

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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How EMWD Successfully Pursues Grants and Loans

E

astern Municipal Water District (EMWD) supplies municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water services to nearly 900,000 residents of Riverside County, California. It frequently engages in major projects that include infrastructure construction and water quality improvement.

EMWD is in a growing region that is currently only about 40 percent built out, which means that it is under a continual demand to expand its plants and other infrastructure. In order to do this in a cost-effective manner that does not burden existing rate payers, EMWD has a well-developed grants and loans team that researches and vets around 1,800 funding opportunities a year, determines which ones are appropriate for EMWD’s projects and schedules, and follows through on awarded grants with rigorous post-award compliance reporting.

In this interview, John Ward, EMWD’s director of engineering services, and Bonnie Wright, the district’s grants and loans manager, tell Municipal Water Leader about the grants and loans program and how it benefits EMWD’s vital programs, customers, and bottom line.

foundations. That role prepared me to serve as EMWD’s grants and loans manager.

John Ward: I’ve worked at EMWD for over 30 years and have held a number of positions, including design engineer, project manager, and program manager. I am now the director of engineering services. My duties include the management of EMWD’s capital projects controls and the oversight of grant management, including grant pursuit and grant compliance. My background in project design, project cost tracking, and project management positions me well to support these efforts.

Municipal Water Leader: How many grants are applied for per year, and how many are usually awarded? What percentage of EMWD’s funding comes through grants?

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about EMWD. Bonnie Wright: EMWD is a municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water service provider serving close to 900,000 residents in southwestern Riverside County in Southern California. EMWD serves more than 150,000 water connections, approximately 246,000 sewer connections, and nearly 600 recycled water connections.

Municipal Water Leader: Please give us a sense of the overall role that grant writing plays in EMWD’s operations.

Bonnie Wright: EMWD’s board of directors has established a strategic goal of aggressively pursuing external funding for critical district projects. EMWD’s aggressive pursuit of outside funding is a key strategic initiative to reduce the financial burden on EMWD’s customers. For example, EMWD’s 5‑year capital improvement program totals $470 million for fiscal year end 2020 to fiscal year end 2024 and currently includes EMWD’s largest construction project to date, the Perris II desalter, which has an estimated total project budget of Aerial view of the area of the Perris North project, with March Air Reserve Base pictured on the right. $63.4 million, 40 percent of which is grant funded.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your Over the past 5 years, EMWD has received a total of backgrounds and how you ended up in your current positions. $238 million in grant and loan funding.

12 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EMWD.

Bonnie Wright: I joined EMWD 12 years ago after working for a member of Congress. In that position, one of my duties was assisting nonprofit organizations and municipalities with funding opportunities released by federal agencies and

Bonnie Wright: We research approximately 1,800 funding opportunities a year from all different sectors.

Approximately 10 percent align with EMWD’s projects and are further considered. These opportunities are presented to a senior management grants and loans committee for further discussion. The committee decides which to pursue based on actual program funding, the number of anticipated awards, and the alignment of the project schedule with the funding schedule. In total, we pursue 8–12 funding opportunities each year and

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Housing developments in Quail Valley.

achieve a 96 percent success rate. Anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of EMWD’s total funding comes from grants and low-interest loans.

Municipal Water Leader: How big is your grant and loans team?

Bonnie Wright: On the pre-award side, there is my grants and loans analyst and me. The post-award team is a little larger. Both teams are supplemented by consultant services as needed.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us a bit more about the importance of aligning the project schedule and the funding schedule?

John Ward: The key is to get early notice of EMWD’s needs relating to conservation and capital projects and to keep in mind that the majority of our funding supports the capital projects. Having a long-range perspective on up-andcoming capital infrastructure needs allows us to coordinate with external funding schedules. It can sometimes take several years to develop the planning and preliminary designs for large-scale water or wastewater facilities, and it’s critical to align the funding needs with the funding schedule so that they coincide.

Bonnie Wright: We apply for more grants than low-interest loans. However, in terms of dollar amount, it all depends, since most grants have maximum award amounts. The funding agency decides on the breakdown. For example, if a funding program has a maximum award amount of $15 million and project costs are $30 million, you can obtain a low-interest loan to offset the remaining amount.

Municipal Water Leader: Which organizations or bodies does EMWD apply to for grants?

Bonnie Wright: EMWD reviews all potential funding sources. Most EMWD grants are awarded through State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Water Resources, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Some of the most crucial funding programs for us are the SWRCB’s clean water and drinking water programs as well as Reclamation’s WaterSMART and Title XVI programs.

Those programs fund projects related to desalination, water recycling, storage, critical infrastructure, and treatment.

Municipal Water Leader: How do you find out about new grant programs?

Bonnie Wright: We also need to comply with the grant requirements. For example, can we complete the project in the required time frame? We find it necessary to look at projects 2–3 years in advance, since applications and funding agreements can take up to 18 months to be completed, reviewed, and agreed to.

Bonnie Wright: We use web research tools, participate in funding agency webinars and funding fairs, and stay in regular direct contact with funding agencies.

Municipal Water Leader: What is the breakdown between the grants and low-interest loans that EMWD receives?

John Ward: The Perris North groundwater basin underlies March Air Reserve Base (MARB) and much of the

municipalwaterleader.com

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the Perris North program and the role grant funding played in it.

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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Moreno Valley area. The region has experienced a historic transition from agriculture to urban land use, and due to the extensive contaminants in the basin, groundwater pumping has been significantly reduced over the last several decades. As a result, this region is experiencing a rise in groundwater. The Perris North project will have a number of benefits, including contamination remediation in the basin; protection for noncontaminated areas of the basin; and the development of a secure, local, and reliable water supply of up to 6,750 acre-feet a year. As the largest agency that serves the area, EMWD led the pursuit of external funding, which will play a crucial role in this project. EMWD is especially appreciative of its positive relationship with the SWRCB’s Division of Drinking Water, which is providing 50 percent of the $90 million needed for the project.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the Quail Valley sewer system project and the role grant funding played in it.

John Ward: For many years, failing septic tanks in the Quail Valley community resulted in groundwater pollution within the community and downstream in Canyon Lake.

Many properties within Quail Valley do not have the land and leaching capacity necessary to accommodate the volume of wastewater produced. As a result, during extended rain events, septic wastewater would surface and threaten to contaminate Canyon Lake, which is under the jurisdiction of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and serves as a drinking water source for the region. Installing a sanitary sewer solution became a priority for the state and regional boards. In the first phase of this extensive project, EMWD partnered with entities including the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, the City of Menifee, and the property owners and developers to extend sewer service to the most southerly, downhill side of the Quail Valley community, which is closest to the city of Canyon Lake’s drinking water reservoir. EMWD secured $19.6 million in grant funding to cover all the costs related to this initial phase.

Municipal Water Leader: What are the most important elements in a successful grant application?

14 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Municipal Water Leader: What sorts of post-award compliance activities are required?

John Ward: In general, those compliance activities concern the reasonableness of what we proposed in our grant application and the commitments we made to the funding agencies. Every penny that has been requested can be validated and invalidated via an audit. We are often required to submit quarterly progress reports on our efforts. Many times, we are required to engage in performance reporting for decades after the facility is brought online—typically on an annual basis at first and then every 5 years. We have to prove that we are responsibly operating and maintaining the funded facilities and meeting funding program objectives.

This is all part of maintaining and building relationships with the funding agencies.

Bonnie Wright: One of the reasons we have such good rapport with the funding agencies is that we have consistently met all the objectives and compliance requirements of the funding agreement in a timely manner. EMWD appreciates and values the respectful partnerships we have developed with funding agencies.

Adding to that, we have an incredible post-award team that does all the accounting and reimbursements. These grants are all given on a reimbursable basis. We’re proud of the fact that we often get 100 percent claim reimbursement.

Municipal Water Leader: What advice do you have for other agencies seeking grant funding?

Bonnie Wright: Have processes and procedures in place for vetting and pursuing external funding, prepare realistic and reasonable proposals, touch base regularly with funding agencies, and staff appropriately. M

John Ward is EMWD’s director of engineering services and Bonnie Wright is EMWD’s grants and loans manager. For more information about EMWD, please visit www.emwd.org.

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EMWD.

Bonnie Wright: Understanding the grant objectives; following exact funding guidelines; addressing all categories; and ensuring that district commitments are realistic, reasonable, and achievable. Additionally, it is important to provide prompt responses to questions the funders may have. Finally, teamwork within your organization is necessary to produce an outstanding proposal. Grant staff, project engineers, subject matter experts, senior management, our board of directors, and the consultants chosen to assist with the process have all played important roles in our success.

John Ward: Equally as important as the grant program are our post-award compliance activities, in which staff provide regular progress reports as well as accurate and concise funding reimbursements to funding agencies.

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Keeping Metropolitan’s Employees Safe on the Job

Metropolitan staff move a tunnel-cleaning machine into one of the Colorado River Aqueduct tunnels during a shutdown.

T

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

18 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Dan Guillory: I’m a senior water industry manager with over 30 years of experience in developing and managing programs in the water industry, specifically in the environmental health and safety field. I’m currently responsible for corporatewide management of environmental health and safety at Metropolitan. Prior to coming to Metropolitan, I was a consulting engineer, responsible for remediating contaminated properties throughout the western United States. I’ve been involved in developing, designing, and managing Metropolitan’s environmental and safety programs for about 30 years, and my position today is section manager for operational safety and regulatory services.

Mickey Chaudhuri: I have about 24 years in the water and environmental field and am currently the assistant chief of operations at Metropolitan. Our Water System Operations Group consists of about 950 employees, which is about half the agency’s total workforce. We’re responsible for operating and maintaining our large conveyance, treatment, and distribution facilities; planning and scheduling water deliveries and power operations; and ensuring compliance municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF METROPOLITAN.

he Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative public agency that provides water to 26 member agencies that serve about 19 million people across a densely populated 5,200‑square-mile service area in Southern California. Its facilities include some of the largest treatment plants in the country, reservoirs, hundreds of miles of large pipeline, and several hydroelectric plants. It also operates the Colorado River Aqueduct, which brings water from Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border over 240 miles to western Riverside County. Operating and maintaining these immense facilities have inherent hazards associated with them, and to ensure that Metropolitan’s employees stay safe and healthy, the agency has a well-developed operational safety program.

In this interview, Mickey Chaudhuri, Metropolitan’s assistant chief of operations, and Dan Guillory, the section manager for operational safety and regulatory services, tell Municipal Water Leader about how the agency proactively and cooperatively works with its employees to maintain a high standard of safety.

ADVERTISEMENT with water quality, safety, and environmental regulations.

I’ve been in this role for almost 2 years; I previously served in different positions within operations, primarily in the area of water quality. Before coming to Metropolitan, I worked for several years for a flood control agency as well as in the environmental consulting field.

Municipal Water Leader: What are the primary areas of safety concern for a municipal water agency like Metropolitan?

Dan Guillory: Our number 1 concern is keeping our employees safe and healthy. We want to ensure that our employees go home as healthy as when they show up to work. We operate a large and complex water system, and our employees can be exposed to a variety of hazards as part of their work in the field. They use chemicals to treat water, work with high-voltage equipment, work in confined spaces like pipelines and tunnels, use cranes, do a lot of welding, and work at heights. There are also ergonomic issues, both in the field and in the office. For each of these hazards, we take a number of steps to mitigate risk. We develop training programs, procedures, and safety talks. The most important thing is to have frequent and open communication between management and employees on how to do the job safely.

Municipal Water Leader: What sorts of regulations and laws govern those safety programs?

Dan Guillory: We’re under the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the federal level and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (known as Cal/OSHA) on the state level.

We also work with local fire departments. They come out and conduct fire/life safety inspections to ensure that our facilities conform with fire code requirements for sprinklers, signage, and hazardous chemical storage and that other appropriate systems are in place. Cal/OSHA also visits our facilities and conducts structured inspections. We have an excellent working relationship with these agencies and always make an effort to keep them informed. Some employers may not welcome inspections, but we do. We have well-maintained facilities, and we’re open about the types of programs we have in place. If there are issues that need to be addressed, we always work with the regulators to make sure that they’re involved and that issues are fully resolved. We also make sure that our employees are involved.

They’re aware of any regulatory inspections that are going on and are given the opportunity to speak with inspectors about any issues of concern.

Mickey Chaudhuri: We also have a regular schedule of emergency exercises that cover scenarios like earthquakes and chemical releases. Some of these are internal exercises, and some involve outside regulatory agencies. We had a large municipalwaterleader.com

exercise last year at one of our treatment plants with first responders from the Riverside County area, including the sheriff ’s department, the fire department, the public health department, and several other local government bodies. These exercises allow outside agencies and regulators to be familiar with Metropolitan’s facilities and processes. We do quite a bit of coordination to make sure that we have strong communication both internally and with external regulators to ensure a safe, coordinated response in the case of an emergency.

Municipal Water Leader: In what ways are you able to proactively deal with and reduce safety risks on the job for your employees?

Dan Guillory: We have a strong understanding of the regulations and how they apply to Metropolitan. We develop procedures to ensure that each individual within the organization—including employees, managers, and executive leadership—complies with those regulations and understands their roles. We often go beyond what the regulations require to ensure that our employees stay safe and healthy.

Another big part of what we do is planning. We’ve produced a job safety hazard checklist that we use to prepare for any project in the field. It helps alert our staff to the procedures they need to follow, the safety talks they need to have, the requirements they need to comply with, and the necessary safety and environmental permits. There’s also a process to verify that the employees doing the work have the proper training and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the job. If there are any gaps, we identify and address them prior to the work. There are things that may come up as the work progresses or under different conditions. For example, there are different hazards associated with day shifts and night shifts. We also look at what monitoring may be needed, such as monitoring air quality for work in a pipeline or structure. All of that needs to be taken into consideration when planning the work.

After a large job or maintenance activity, we also look at what went well and what could have been improved. We’re always looking at how we can do our work more safely. Even if there were no injuries, everything went well, and everyone is satisfied, we still look to see if there are ways in which we can improve things next time.

Municipal Water Leader: In what ways has technology changed the safety risks that employees deal with?

Dan Guillory: Overall, it has changed them for the better.

We implemented a new computerized program a few years ago to track our injuries and work-related illnesses. This database, which records the particular circumstances of those injuries, drives us to investigate root causes and helps us see trends. Sometimes that leads to a detailed investigation, and sometimes it’s something relatively simple, but the key thing June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

| 19

ADVERTISEMENT is that we want to find out the cause of the injury and learn how we can prevent something similar from happening in the future. These lessons are used to help us develop new training programs and guidelines.

For example, we had a situation a couple of years ago in which some employees in our welding and grinding operations were experiencing minor eye irritation despite using face shields, which concerned us. After some research, we began using goggles with foam inserts that completely eliminated the possibility of sparks reaching the eyes and causing any eye injuries.

Mickey Chaudhuri: Technology and innovation have also improved the way that we approach some of our capital improvements in terms of safety. It is sometimes necessary to shut down a facility or a stretch of pipeline and send individuals in for inspections, which of course takes time, complicates water deliveries, and has workplace hazards associated with it. However, there are new technologies and sensors that can detect abnormalities, leaks, and structural issues while the pipelines are still in service. These technologies help from a safety standpoint because they eliminate the need for a large shutdown and the necessity of sending people into the pipeline.

We also have an extensive preventive maintenance program for our infrastructure. We do certain inspections on a regular basis, but now many of these inspections are done through condition-based maintenance. We use data analytics to determine risk and to decide when these maintenance activities should be performed. That all helps to prevent failures and mitigate risks. I compare it to going to the doctor for your regular checkup. You’re checking in to see how you’re doing without waiting for a problem to arise.

These well-planned, proactive maintenance measures using new technologies help to minimize the potential for system failures that could lead to unsafe working conditions.

Municipal Water Leader: What kinds of safety training does Metropolitan provide to its employees?

Metropolitan employees respond to a simulated chlorine trailer valve leak during a training exercise.

20 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Municipal Water Leader: How do you encourage buy-in to your safety programs among employees?

Dan Guillory: We have 15 employee-run safety committees throughout the agency, located at all our major facilities. We promote employee participation in safety committees, and our employee unions are also represented. The safety committees serve a key role in reviewing safety suggestions and working with management to make sure that sound suggestions are municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF METROPOLITAN.

The technology and equipment that is available to monitor and control field environments has also improved.

There is better equipment to monitor the air flow and oxygen content in a pipeline, for instance. The PPE that is now available is also much better.

This is also true in water quality and environmental analysis. We have better analytical data and can analyze constituents down to a much lower level of concentration, meaning that we have a better idea of what employees are being exposed to and can implement better personal protective controls. Technology has definitely played a big role in improving worker safety.

Dan Guillory: Each year, we offer over 800 classes covering nearly 100 different safety topics, including injury and illness prevention, PPE, hazard communication, hearing conservation, respiratory protection, fall prevention, highvoltage electrical safety, and confined spaces. We also have done a lot of ergonomic evaluations for our employees, both for those who work in an office environment and for those out in the field. Another training program that we always do refreshers on at this time of year is heat stress and illness prevention. We’ve always had some on-demand online classes, but about 60 percent of our classes are usually held in the classroom. As a result of the COVID‑19 pandemic, nearly all these classes have been moved online. It’s critical that employees be able to take these classes to keep their skills and certifications active.

The recent transition to more online classes will have a lasting benefit for Metropolitan.

ADVERTISEMENT implemented. We also have a labor-management safety committee, involving union representatives, that meets regularly to discuss issues of concern.

To provide another reminder that safety is the top priority, at many of our meetings, including our weekly operations planning meeting, a manager does a short presentation, called a safety moment, addressing a particular safety concern.

We have at least two environmental health and safety professionals stationed at each of our major facilities. They work closely with employees on issues of safety concern on a day-to-day basis. We also have a confidential hotline that any employee can use to report safety concerns. We haven’t had a call on the hotline for a couple of years, I believe because employees feel comfortable raising safety issues with their managers and others and are confident that they will be addressed in a timely manner. We make a lot of safety information readily available to employees on our internal website, including information on our procedures, training, and safety talks.

We also give an award each year to the facility that has the best safety performance and acknowledge it annually at our all-managers meeting. The criteria that decide the winner include the percentage of our training courses that the employees have completed, the number of reported injuries, the number of completed safety inspections, and the number of times that a facility has gone through the hazard checklist that we use for planning jobs. It’s competitive, and the facilities that earn this award are quite proud of it.

Mickey Chaudhuri: Dan and his staff do a great job maintaining our employees’ enthusiasm and motivation when it comes to safety issues. We don’t look at safety as an audit function that is done after the fact; it’s integrated into our operations. That is why establishing that employee buy-in is so important and provides a foundation for a successful program.

When an incident does occur in the field, sometimes involving a safety issue or a near miss, we convene a committee of independent members from multiple groups within Metropolitan to thoroughly review it and provide recommendations on how we can improve moving forward.

That’s been a really valuable process. Those reports are then posted so that anybody within Metropolitan can access and learn from them.

Municipal Water Leader: What is your vision for the future of safety and risk management at Metropolitan?

Dan Guillory: Our goal is zero injuries. That’s something that we are always working toward. As part that, we have a number of different metrics. We do a good job of reporting injuries, but one metric we’re looking at improving is our reporting of near misses. These are incidents that did not result in employee injury but could have. We want to make sure they are reported so that we can address those situations municipalwaterleader.com

and introduce corrective measures to make sure that injuries don’t occur in the future.

We also work closely with our engineering design group and review plans and specifications to make sure that they incorporate safety considerations. They do a really good job of that, but having a second review can help to identify different ways that designs can be modified to make them more ergonomic or easier to maintain.

Our labor-management committee plays an important role in strengthening our safety program by bringing issues to our attention. One recent improvement that came out of that process started with a concern an employee had about towing. We have a lot of pumps, compressors, and other equipment that we tow from one facility to another or to a job site. There were concerns about whether the vehicles that were being used for towing were appropriate for that function. In response, we came up with a system to label trucks and their hitches with their total capacity so that employees can easily verify that a particular vehicle is appropriate for a specific job.

We are also involved in professional organizations in which we network with other companies and organizations regarding safety. It is especially useful to be involved in those organizations during the COVID‑19 pandemic. We are hearing about what others are dealing with, lessons they have learned, and their experiences implementing response programs.

Mickey Chaudhuri: As a very large utility, we have billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure assets, but we’ve always been well aware that our most valuable assets are our employees. Because of that, we take our safety program seriously. With the size and complexity of our facilities and infrastructure, we recognize that hazards are present, and we strive to be proactive in dealing with these risks.

Each and every employee is responsible for safety, and transparent communication on safety issues is critical. All of that helps to build trust and foster a culture of safety within the organization. M

Mickey Chaudhuri is the assistant chief of operations at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He can be contacted at mchaudhuri@mwdh2o.com.

Dan Guillory is Metropolitan’s section manager for operational safety and regulatory services. He can be contacted at dguillory@mwdh2o.com.

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

| 21

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DWA’s Supervisor Training and Succession Planning Programs

DWA staff attend a safety presentation by Philip Ball of the Situational Awareness Institute.

D

esert Water Agency (DWA) has about 23,000 domestic water connections that serve approximately 89,000 people (including seasonal residents) in the vicinity of Palm Springs, California. Like all municipal water agencies, it has numerous specialized and highly qualified staff members with the institutional knowledge that comes from many years of service. This means that succession planning is a must: When it comes time to replace longtime supervisors or other highlevel employees, the agency must find an equally highly qualified replacement, preferably from its own ranks.

In this interview, DWA Human Resources (HR) Director Kris Hopping tells Municipal Water Leader about the agency’s supervisor training and succession planning activities, as well as its response to the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Kris Hopping: I’ve been in HR for about 23 years. The vast

24 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about DWA. Kris Hopping: DWA was founded as a groundwater management agency in the western Coachella Valley in 1961, and started providing water service to customers in Palm Springs and Cathedral City in 1968. DWA is one of only 29 state water contractors in California. This gives our agency the ability to import water, which is used to recharge our groundwater basin, the main source of water in our desert.

DWA is a special government district. It provides groundwater management, drinking water, recycled water, and conservation resources, and in parts of Cathedral City it provides sewer service. We have 85 employees and 5 board members. municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF DWA.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

majority of my experience has been in the water industry. I was at Coachella Valley Water District for 19 years, and I’ve been in this position at DWA now for just over 2 years. I have a degree in human resources management from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

ADVERTISEMENT Municipal Water Leader: What does your role as HR director entail?

Kris Hopping: I’m an HR department of one, so I am a generalist. I do all the employee hiring, recruitment, interviewing, and employee relations. DWA is not unionized, but we have an employee association. We do negotiations every 3 years. Most of my work involves employee relations, managing benefits, working with our safety staff on workers’ compensation, and managing deferred compensation.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about DWA’s organizational development programs.

Kris Hopping: We didn’t have a formalized training program until I came on board. We’ve started a program to encourage our employees to get ready for promotion to help us grow as an agency. Traditionally, we’ve only promoted from within, which is great because it gives our employees opportunities for growth but doesn’t cause too much change within the organization. We’ve been encouraging employees to take supervisory preparation courses in addition to the water distribution and water treatment exams that are required for supervisorylevel positions. We have also expanded our educational reimbursement program to encourage employees to advance their careers.

Municipal Water Leader: Where do DWA employees take those supervisory preparation courses?

Kris Hopping: We’ve brought in some experts to conduct in-house water distribution and water treatment training sessions. Employees also attend courses offered in the Palm Springs area or online. A lot of the courses for current supervisors have been held onsite. People are excited to attend courses when they occur during regular working hours.

Previously, we didn’t do a lot of training, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to be received. I’m really pleased with how well it’s gone over. People have been asking for new classes and suggesting topics.

Municipal Water Leader: Do you plan to continue this program into the future?

Kris Hopping: Yes. I’ve increased the training budget each year, because I think that preparing people for growth is the most important thing you can do to help your organization thrive. The biggest obstacle to growth in any organization is change. If you don’t have people ready to step in and help with the change, you’re going to get resistance.

Municipal Water Leader: Is training for new technologies a big part of this as well? municipalwaterleader.com

Kris Hopping: Yes, and I’ve also been impressed with how excited people are about the new things we’ve brought in.

We went from having supervisors enter the information from paper time cards into Excel to using a new timekeeping and HR information system that allows employees to enter their time sheets, request time off, do their evaluations, and record classes they’ve taken, all online. That technology has proven to be even more valuable amid the COVID‑19 pandemic, which has required us to adjust work schedules and allow people who are normally in the office to work remotely. All the things we’ve done to improve our technology have made it possible for us to continue functioning as an organization. I don’t know how we’d be handling the time sheet system if we were still using paper.

Municipal Water Leader: What percentage of your employees do you think have taken part in these training courses?

Kris Hopping: All our supervisors—24 employees—have attended the classes we’ve held on site. As for nonsupervisory employees, it varies by department. We had 20 percent of employees take a course on customer relations—not on how to give better customer service, because our employees don’t have a problem with that, but on how not to feel like you’re getting beaten up by customers, which can happen sometimes. Another 20 percent of our employees have attended water treatment and distribution prep courses, and 50 percent of our accounting staff have earned a certification in accounting from a local university. All our engineering staff have been taking classes. Over the last 2 years, we’ve gone from 10–15 employees a year getting a new certification to at least twice that many.

Municipal Water Leader: How did you go about identifying course offerings that would be appropriate for your district?

Kris Hopping: First, I asked the superintendent of our construction department, our operations and engineering manager, and our water operations supervisor what classes they thought their employees needed. Then we reached out to the employees and asked whether these classes would be helpful. I’ve gotten most of my ideas about what to offer from the employees. At that point, I did research into course offerings, asked other agencies what they’d done, and searched online.

We started offering a few classes, and at first I didn’t get a huge response. The first time I did a distribution prep class, only 10–15 people attended, but they liked it and spread the word. I started getting calls asking for additional classes.

Our operations department brought in an electronics trainer to give its staff a special training that normally requires a full week in Phoenix. We also partnered with another local agency, the one I used to work for—I knew that it did some of the same type of work—and it sent a couple of employees to the class as well. For other classes, we have invited staff June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT from other agencies to attend, particularly from smaller agencies that may not be able to afford in-house trainings.

They have been excited about the opportunity and grateful for the offer.

Municipal Water Leader: Have you done safety training as well?

Kris Hopping: Yes. Our facilities and safety officer handles most safety training matters, and we work in partnership.

I had an employee request confined entry training, so I worked with the facilities and safety officer to add a training program on that. We also hold a monthly safety meeting attended by all employees at which we focus on one safety topic. Our biggest issue in the summer is heat safety, which can be an issue even for employees who are used to our extreme temperatures. Temperatures in Palm Springs can exceed 120 degrees during July and August.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about your succession planning activities?

Kris Hopping: Positions like construction superintendent, assistant construction superintendent, or water operations supervisor require specific certifications, and it is important for us to have employees who have obtained those levels of certification and education so that they can step in if and when a supervisor decides to retire. Most of our turnover is caused by retirement. At one point, we had someone retire with very little notice, which was kind of scary.

That motivated us to be more proactive. If you don’t have somebody who could step into the role if somebody were to get hit by a bus today, then your agency could have a problem tomorrow.

I always tell employees not to wait until the position is posted or your supervisor announces their retirement, because at that point, it’s much too late. We want to make sure we have a plan in place for succession. It’s great when supervisors pick somebody they think would be great to fill their role so that we can start training that person early. We wanted to make sure we were addressing this on an ongoing basis, so we started doing employee evaluations every 6 months at which we assign goals and tasks to make sure that our employees are on track. We can assign them courses on specific skills or on preparing to be a supervisor.

Municipal Water Leader: It sounds like you still try to hire primarily from within when it comes to supervisory roles. Is that correct?

Kris Hopping: Correct. The exception is when we create an entirely new or specialized position. It’s preferable to hire from within because you can observe your employees’ skills and encourage them to grow in certain directions. They’re known quantities; you know how good they are at their jobs,

26 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

not just how well they can interview. If you have a great employee, you can always train them in new skill areas.

Municipal Water Leader: What do outgoing employees need to do to ensure a smooth transition when they leave?

Kris Hopping: Writing down and documenting standard operating procedures is a must. When an employee has worked in a position for 20–25 years, they have a lot of specialized knowledge. Transferring that knowledge is hugely important. That might involve developing a manual, creating maps, or writing explanations of certain decisions. We don’t want that knowledge to only be in someone’s head. If a 30‑year employee retires, we lose 30 years of knowledge unless we have taken the time to properly document it.

When our finance director retired, we were fortunate enough to have a long transition period, which we took advantage of to write down this kind of information. We recorded what he did at different times of year, the processes for doing certain tasks, and what information needs to be prepped for meetings with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System or other agencies. Those are the kind of things that longtime employees know because they’ve done them for so long but that an outsider would know nothing about.

Municipal Water Leader: How has your department been reacting to the coronavirus pandemic, and what are some of the steps you’ve taken?

Kris Hopping: It’s changing almost daily. We were a little overwhelmed at first by all the information we were receiving and how rapidly we were receiving it. Then we took a step back and started determining the absolute minimum staffing levels we would need in the office and in the field, what our technology would allow, and what kinds of preparation we would need to do for remote work. Then we worked with our employees to figure out how we could rotate staff, assign work remotely, and make sure that work was getting done. We also set up an online training program we have access to through a benefits broker and started assigning employees courses on Excel, safety, or customer service that they could complete from home. At least once a week, we check in with our supervisors to see how everything’s going and what needs to change. I think we’re on our third iteration of our guidelines on who can work from home and for how many days. Our employees have been good about realizing that this is a weird time and maintaining their flexibility when we need to make adjustments.

I think the most important thing we’ve done is to involve our board of directors in every change to make sure that they’re okay with what we’re doing and that our general manager is able to make the necessary changes. The board has been really supportive of what we’re doing. municipalwaterleader.com

ADVERTISEMENT Our general manager is putting safety first and practicing what he preaches. We bought face masks for our employees and require them to wear them whenever they’re at work, even in the office. We created handwashing stations at the entrances to the building.

We gave everybody the cleaning supplies they needed and issued directives on how to make sure that their offices were clean. We put in place a new office-cleaning protocol and are now having the offices sanitized every night. We’re trying hard to drill into our employees that even if they feel fine, we need to act like somebody here is sick so that we all take the correct precautions. Our benefits brokers and attorneys are providing us with one or two webinars a day on new regulations. We’re giving all the information we can to our supervisors and staff. We’ve also developed a frequently asked questions sheet covering topics like what to do if you feel sick and how to handle working from home. We’re bombarding people with information—I’d rather them have too much information than say that nobody is talking to them. We’re also making sure that employees know that even if they’re working from home, we care about them. We check in with them every day to make sure that they’re feeling good and that they don’t have any questions. We rolled out a new employee

assistance program in September, and we’re reminding people about it. There is an online counseling component that may be helpful if employees feel isolated and need to talk to somebody.

Municipal Water Leader: Was there anything else you wanted to touch on?

Kris Hopping: We, as an industry, need to get out there and try to attract younger employees. I think stability and benefits will help attract new recruits, but I also think that our response to this crisis can be a selling point. I’ve seen a lot of people on the forums I use saying that when they interview for a new job, the first question they’ll ask will be, “What did you do for your employees during COVID‑19?” If we have a story of success and support to tell, that’ll help us with our future recruitment and succession planning activities. M Kris Hopping is the human resources director at Desert Water Agency. She can be contacted at khopping@dwa.org.

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Concrete pipe manufactured by Geneva Pipe.

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orthwest Pipe Company is North America’s largest manufacturer of engineered steel water pipe systems. In February 2020, Northwest Pipe announced that it was acquiring Geneva Pipe Company, Inc., a concrete pipe and precast product manufacturer based in Utah. Branching out into concrete pipe and precast products will allow Northwest Pipe to grow its business in new markets and will provide a new source of revenue.

In this interview, Scott Montross, the president and CEO of Northwest Pipe, and Mike Wray, a Northwest Pipe vice president and the general manager of Geneva Pipe and Precast, explain how Northwest Pipe identified Geneva as a potential acquisition and explain how the acquisition stands to benefit Northwest Pipe in the years to come.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

30 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about Northwest Pipe.

Scott Montross: The company started in Clackamas, Oregon, outside Portland. It has been in business for 54 years. Over time, it grew to have manufacturing facilities for steel pressure water pipe spread all over the western United States. A gentleman named Bill Tagmyer became CEO of the company and built it up, continuing to add plants until it was active nationwide in the water transmission business and also had an energy tubular business. We had that energy tubular segment until the end of the first quarter of 2014, when we sold our oil country tubular goods business. We sold the last of our energy tubular plants in late 2017, at which point we became a pure water company. During that same time, the company’s water transmission business went through a multiyear period of much lower demand levels. As a result, the company went from approximately $525 million in revenue in 2012 to a low of $132.5 million in 2017. Since municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE.

Scott Montross: I grew up outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and got into the steel business after graduating from Colgate University about 32 years ago. I worked with companies such as National Steel, Mitsubishi’s international trading group, and Oregon Steel Mills. Ultimately, I had the chance about 9 years ago to come to Northwest Pipe.

Mike Wray: I was born and raised in Utah. I came to Northwest Pipe through its acquisition of Continental Pipe and have been here for the last 12 years.

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A Geneva Pipe manufacturing facility.

then, we have acquired the Ameron Water Transmission Group and Geneva Pipe and Precast, leading to revenue levels now approaching $300 million. The company has been reconfigured and is focused on maximizing our steel pressure pipe business and growing our concrete pipe and precast business.

Municipal Water Leader: What made acquiring Geneva Pipe an attractive option for you to pursue?

Scott Montross: The concrete pipe and precast business is relatively close to our legacy steel pressure pipe business, which made it a manageable integration. We had already acquired some concrete pipe manufacturing capabilities with the Ameron facilities, and they meshed well with the other water infrastructure products we manufacture. Mike Wray was a big part of figuring out what made sense for the company, and we ultimately decided that the concrete pipe and precast business would be a viable way to grow.

This doesn’t mean we’re moving away from our steel water transmission pressure pipe products. Steel pressure pipe is still the core of our business. However, we have approximately half the U.S. manufacturing capacity in municipalwaterleader.com

the steel pressure pipe segment of the water infrastructure business, making continued growth in that sector difficult.

That’s why we looked to adjacent market segments as pathway for growth.

Mike Wray: We looked at quite a few businesses and industries, trying to find the right fit for Northwest Pipe.

As we went through the process, we liked the concrete pipe and precast business. We thought that the markets were significantly bigger than those on the steel pressure pipe side. Geneva’s business seemed to match closely with the existing business, and we thought we could integrate its assets into our existing business fairly easily, enabling us to tap into those target markets.

Municipal Water Leader: In addition to precast pipe, are there other major products that Geneva manufactures?

Mike Wray: In addition to concrete pipe, Geneva Pipe manufactures manholes, box culverts, and other precast structures. We’re also working on some innovative sewer products using concrete as a base. That’s the bulk of the company's business today.

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT Municipal Water Leader: What kinds of new clients can Northwest Pipe expect to gain from this acquisition?

Scott Montross: We’re still dealing with the same kind of customer base that we’ve had in the steel pressure pipe business, primarily construction contracting firms of varying sizes. The average order size in the precast business is significantly smaller than what we see on the steel pressure pipe side of Northwest Pipe, where we have projects that might include several thousand tons of pipe.

There are many more small orders on the precast side, and the business is significantly more transactional. That was something that made it attractive to combine with our steel pressure pipe business.

Mike Wray: There are more subcontractors as customers on the precast side, whereas in steel pipe we are usually dealing directly with general contractors. Many of the customers on the precast side are excavating subcontractors who focus on residential communities and smaller storm water projects, as opposed to larger public projects.

Municipal Water Leader: How does this acquisition support Northwest Pipe’s overall growth strategy?

Scott Montross: Northwest’s growth strategy is two pronged. The first thing we wanted to do was stabilize our position in the steel water transmission pressure pipe business and make sure that we were doing the things we could control: reducing costs, improving margins, and doing everything we could to provide better shareholder value. The second prong, since we had significant market share in the steel pressure pipe business already, was to look at adjacent water spaces that might have better growth opportunities. The market size for steel pressure pipe is $450–600 million, whereas the market size for waterrelated precast concrete products is $3.5–4 billion. That was attractive. Geneva had good, solid margin profiles and good cash flow. We have had a strong focus on continuing to improve our cash flow.

Mike Wray: On the manufacturing side, we like what Geneva has done with the business. It is a strong player.

We don’t anticipate making transformative production changes other than providing additional capital for new equipment and helping build a strong safety culture, building on what Geneva has already done. We also have additional resources at our legacy Northwest Pipe plants that we can use to help boost Geneva in local markets.

In some cases, we can use the Geneva management team and its expertise to enhance product offerings at our other locations. Additionally, we’re looking at a couple of innovative sanitary sewer products that we believe will address current needs in the market.

Municipal Water Leader: What kinds of projects do you anticipate pursuing with your new capacity?

Mike Wray: We’ll continue to pursue the same types of projects Northwest Pipe has in the past, using our combined resources and new geographic locations to explore available opportunities. We’ll also continue to look at all the typical projects you would expect to see out of a precast business like Geneva, including roadwork projects, residential development projects, commercial development projects, and everything in between.

Municipal Water Leader: What is your vision for the future?

Mike Wray: We’re really excited about our possibilities, both in broader reinforced concrete pipe and precast and with Geneva Pipe. Geneva has a strong legacy that we can build on, and we’re looking forward to a prosperous future.

Scott Montross: In less than 2 years, we’ve had two major acquisitions and have driven significant turnaround in the business. We expect to continue to do the things that it takes to grow the business and drive not only additional shareholder value but stakeholder value as well. We are excited about the growth opportunities that we see in front of us. M

Municipal Water Leader: Is Geneva going to remain its own unit within Northwest, or will it be merged into the overall company?

Municipal Water Leader: What kind of changes do you anticipate occurring at Geneva, both in manufacturing and in its product offerings?

32 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Scott Montross is the president and CEO of Northwest Pipe Company. Mike Wray is a vice president of Northwest Pipe Company and the general manager of Geneva Pipe. For more information about Northwest Pipe, visit www.nwpipe.com.

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHWEST PIPE.

Scott Montross: It is now called Geneva Pipe and Precast, a Northwest Pipe Company. Especially in regional markets, the Geneva name is strong and has tradition behind it, and we don’t want to lose that, but we also want to make clear that it is part of Northwest Pipe.

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Planning for Tarrant Regional Water District’s Future

A 108-inch gate valve for the Integrated Pipeline Project being lowered into the ground at a booster station. It is the largest of its kind in the world.

T

he Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) has been providing flood control and water supply services to the city of Fort Worth, Texas, for nearly 100 years. In a swiftly growing urban area that is expected to double in size by 2070, planning for the future through water reuse and new storage and conveyance infrastructure is crucial.

In this interview, Jack Stevens, the president of TRWD’s board of directors, tells Municipal Water Leader about his fascinating professional background, how he decided to run for the board, and the ambitious plans that the board has for the district.

Jack Stevens: I grew up in Tampa, Florida, and joined the Air Force because I wanted to see the world. However, as the old adage goes, the federal government wanted me to

34 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF TRWD.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

see Altus, Oklahoma, which is home to the Altus Air Force Base. There, I worked as an electronics technician on Hound Dog nuclear missile systems. I’m a Vietnam- and Cold War–era veteran. At the conclusion of my military service, I moved to Texas, went back to school at the University of Texas at Arlington, got married, and eventually graduated as a dynamics and vibroacoustics engineer. I enjoyed a long and fulfilling career with a wonderful company called Vought Aircraft. My work with Vought didn’t focus on just one specific area, but covered a whole range of interesting projects. I worked on space shuttle components, such as the leading edge and radiator, and on the articulation index on very small microphones—used for purposes I never discovered. I worked on an aircraft-launched satellite-killer system that, while functional, was ultimately never produced in order to comply with an international arms treaty limiting space weapons. I did some work on helicopters in the

ADVERTISEMENT realm of acoustics, involving helicopters manufactured by Aérospatiale, a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, and by Bell Helicopters. But most of my work in this area was centered on airplanes, including the S-3, A-7, F-8, and XC-142. The XC-142 was the first airplane I ever worked on. Only two were ever made. It was effectively the predecessor of today’s V-22 Osprey. I worked on the B-2 program for 5 years; it was secret, and I couldn’t tell anyone what I was working on. I also worked closely on the development of U.S. Military Standard 810. And, while we ultimately refrained due to a variety of issues, our company was even asked to help with the analysis of the acoustics of the tapes of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

It was an interesting career and one that I truly loved.

When I was preparing to retire in the mid-2000s, I realized that my work had always been my hobby and that, if I was going to be content and successful in retirement, I needed to find interesting alternatives. I was asked to serve on the board of a local rural water supplier in Azle, Texas, the town 25–30 miles north of Fort Worth where I live.

It happens to be the 14th-fastest growing town in North Texas. I helped the board replace its aging infrastructure with a system that could supply two and a half times the number of people the old system did. Azle received its water from TRWD, and having dealt with that organization and its people, I was impressed with its operations and vision. I felt I could contribute, so 16 years ago I successfully ran for a seat on TRWD’s board of directors. I’m still impressed on a daily basis by the organization and its people.

Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the goals and objectives the TRWD board has for the agency today.

Jack Stevens: Our three missions are to provide a reliable, resilient, low-cost supply of water of the highest possible quality; to reduce the risk of flooding in our communities through dependable flood damage reduction infrastructure and operations; and to enhance the quality of life in our North Texas communities by creating recreational opportunities throughout TRWD’s water and land resources. Those are our published goals, and they are the ones we live by. But what is at the heart of those objectives, from my personal perspective, is that we are working to ensure that future generations have the same ability we do today to turn on the tap and receive a safe and reliable supply of water. This has to be our focus, considering that this area is expected to double in population by 2070 and experiences cycles of flooding and drought.

We believe we are well on our way to accomplishing and sustaining these goals. Through dramatic improvement in public conservation, we have seen a nearly 20 percent reduction in water usage in our district. We are in one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States, yet we are supplying about the same amount of water we did a couple of decades ago. Currently, we are working with the City of municipalwaterleader.com

Dallas on an integrated pipeline project that will link up several local lakes and ensure a more stable supply of water for this entire region. This is a massive project involving the installation of a 108-inch pipeline. Building a joint pipeline with Dallas instead of two separate pipelines will save the public around $500 million during construction and approximately $1 billion over the life of the project.

In addition, we are in the planning stages for an additional reservoir to help ensure our water needs are met through the year 2070. Initiatives such as this are included in the Texas State Water Plan, which is reviewed and adjusted every 5 years. Texas is divided into 16 regions for the purpose of this plan, and I currently serve on the board of region C, which covers our territory.

The lakes and rivers of this area are for the people, and as TRWD goes about its work of preserving these resources, we also want to provide opportunities for recreational activities, including fishing, boating, swimming, water sports, biking, and walking. We have built more than 100 miles of recreational trails throughout Fort Worth, which will eventually connect us to downtown Dallas.

Municipal Water Leader: What changes have you seen over your time on the board of TRWD? Jack Stevens: I would say change has been constant. Our area has been growing for years and will continue to do so. With that in mind, as I noted a moment ago, we are looking well into the future and continuously adjusting for what lies ahead. If we stopped everything today, we would probably have enough water resources for the remainder of my lifetime, but we are continuously planning for the future and searching for new opportunities. One such opportunity is our wetlands initiative. This is a pilot program that now consists of 2,200 acres of wetlands tied to a water reuse project that sits right next to the Richland-Chambers Reservoir. It is called a reuse project because it naturally filters water from the Trinity River and drops it back into a lake. Then the water can be pumped back to be used in customer cities in North Texas and eventually make its way back to the Trinity River via wastewater treatment plants, completing the cycle. It is amazing to me that we can provide 40 percent of Tarrant County’s water via this approach. Another major undertaking has been our aquifer storage and recovery project, which is testing the idea of storing millions of gallons of water in the local aquifer. The water would come from the district’s East Texas reservoirs, essentially turning the aquifer into a massive storage tank that would help ensure that the region’s water needs can be met during cycles of drought or high demand. Each of these concepts represents dramatic change in the way TRWD as well as its consumers view and manage our water resources.

Municipal Water Leader: Would you tell us about TRWD’s flood control activities?

June 2020 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER

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TRWD’s George Shannon Wetlands, adjacent to Richland-Chambers Reservoir, encompasses more than 2,000 acres and can supply up to 40 percent of Tarrant County’s water needs on a given day.

Jack Stevens: We have flooding here in Texas, and unfortunately it usually seems to happen right after a period of drought. During the last two flooding incidents, we had water as high as the doorsteps of many homes in the floodplain, though thankfully we did not lose any. Over the last 50 years, Fort Worth has tripled in size, and its levee system was designed for a much smaller city. Because the system was well engineered, we can still meet the minimum flood control requirements, but the design flood would overtop those levees today. To alleviate this situation, we’ve been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move water differently through the Fort Worth area. We are the local sponsor for the Army Corps on the Trinity River levee system through Fort Worth, and together we are rerouting the Trinity River, removing a few levees in the center of Fort Worth, and transforming the newly created island into a waterfront district called Panther Island; property taxes on that newly valuable property will go toward paying for the improved flood-control system.

viewpoints. When commencing your service with a board, take the time to learn what you can about the organization and its operations in advance so that you have a better idea of the areas you might need more help with. Don’t come with the mindset that you will be changing and fixing everything to operate according to the methods you are most familiar with, because if an organization is successful, it is generally already employing procedures and approaches that are working. In other words, recognize that you might not automatically know more than an entity that has been around and operating effectively for decades. Also, don’t approach service on a board like this as a political stepping stone. More often than not, doing so can draw the wrong sort of attention to you and the organization and can end up hurting both of you in one way or another.

Your own effectiveness on the board can be reduced if you are perceived as being there for the wrong reasons.

Municipal Water Leader: What is your message for others who are considering serving on a board as a form of public service?

Jack Stevens: TRWD’s mission is supporting the people of North Texas, whether it is supplying water, preventing flooding, or providing recreational opportunities. It does this through its commitment, dedication, and leadership. I am honored to be a part of this forward-thinking team. M

36 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | June 2020

Jack Stevens is the president of the board of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

He can be contacted through the district’s official website, www.trwd.com.

municipalwaterleader.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRWD.

Jack Stevens: I have found serving on the TRWD board to be a fulfilling and educational experience. When I ran for the board, I saw an organization that was relatively young and was doing an outstanding job. I was interested in learning more about who the people involved were and how they maintained their excellent reputation. It was quickly evident that they were hard working, intelligent, and dedicated, and that equates to a fine organization. I wanted to be a part of that kind of culture, where you can grow and learn; I think that should be key for anyone considering board service. You’ve also got to be willing to become a good listener and to be open to new ideas and

Municipal Water Leader: Wonderful advice. Is there anything else you would like to mention?

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Upcoming Events CANCELED: June 8–9 Idaho Water Users Association, Water Law & Resources Issues Seminar, Sun Valley, ID CANCELED: June 9–12 Groundwater Management Districts Association, Summer Conference, Colorado Springs, CO CANCELED: June 17–19 Texas Water Conservation Association, Mid-Year Conference, The Woodlands, TX July 7–9 North Dakota Water Resource Districts Association, Summer Meeting & North Dakota Water Education Foundation Executive Briefing, Grand Forks, ND POSTPONED: July 14–16 Hydrovision International, Envisioning a Hydro Future, Minneapolis, MN July 15 North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association, Summer Leadership Retreat, Medora, ND July 28–31 (new date) Association of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference & Exhibition, Monterey, CA July 30–31 (new date) National Ground Water Association, Workshop on Groundwater in the Northwest, Boise, ID August 3 Nebraska Water Center/Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources/North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska Water Conference: Irrigation in a Water-Deficit Region, Scottsbluff, NE (August 4–5, Optional Water Tour) August 4–8 National Water Resources Association, Western Water Seminar, Spokane, WA August 5–6 National Ground Water Association, Fate of PFAS: From Groundwater to Tap Water Conference, Durham, NH August 25–27 Colorado Water Congress, Summer Conference and Membership Meeting, Steamboat, CO September 14–16 WaterPro Conference, Phoenix, AZ September 14–16 (new date) WESTCAS, Annual Conference, San Diego, CA September 15–17 Husker Harvest Days, Grand Island, NE

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