Don Pedro - 50 Years of Water and Power

On Episode 2 of the TID Water & Power Podcast we discuss the Don Pedro Project, which is celebrating 50 years of water and power this year. We're joined by Wes Monier, Tim Payne, and Chris Martin of TID and Ryan Reis of DPRA to discuss the history, importance and value of the Don Pedro Project.
 
01:53 - Wes Monier - TID Chief Hydrologist
30:19 - Tim Payne - TID Chief Dam Safety Engineer
50:21 - Chris Martin - TID Hydroelectric Department Manager
1:15:45 - Ryan Reis - Director of DPRA

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Find out more about TID at https://www.TID.org/podcast.

Transcript

00;00;06;06 - 00;00;23;10
Speaker 1 
Hello and welcome to the TID Water and Power Podcast. I'm your host, Constance Anderson. And on this month's episode, we're going to discuss the Don Pedro project, which is celebrating 50 years of water and power officially dedicated on May 22nd, 1971.

00;00;23;20 - 00;00;43;02
Speaker 1
The Don Pedro Project, also known as New Don Pedro, was built primarily for water storage and irrigation to serve the region's agricultural needs. However, the project also provides flood control, drinking water and recreational opportunities while generating carbon free hydroelectric power.

00;00;43;25 - 00;01;09;02
Speaker 1
Don Pedro now holds more than 2 million acre feet of water, and the hydroelectric plant generates 203 megawatts of clean energy for the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts. In this episode, I sit down with Wes Monier, Tim Payne and Chris Martin of TID and Ryan Reis of the Don Pedro Recreation Agency to discuss the Don Pedro project

00;01;09;12 - 00;01;23;13
Speaker 1
and the importance and value of the project to the district, as well as what it means to them personally. Before we get into the interviews, I want to share a bit about the Don Pedro 50th anniversary celebration as part of the celebration.

00;01;23;14 - 00;01;42;11
Speaker 1
We are asking the community to share their memories of the Don Pedro project. Maybe you remember the building of new Don Pedro, or perhaps your family has spent generations fishing or camping at the reservoir. We would love to add these memories to the 50th anniversary celebration and encourage you to visit 

00;01;42;11 - 00;02;00;24
Speaker 1
DonPedro50th.org. That's DonPedro50th.org. To share your memories. Now let's get started with the interviews. I'm here with Wes Monier, chief hydrologist for Turlock Irrigation District Wes. Thanks for joining us today.

00;02;00;26 - 00;02;02;15
Speaker 2
Thank you. It's a privilege and an honor.

00;02;02;26 - 00;02;07;12
Speaker 1
Excellent. So you started with TID more than 30 years ago, is that right?

00;02;07;13 - 00;02;11;24
Speaker 2
Yes, it seems like yesterday. But I've been here for a little over three decades.

00;02;12;04 - 00;02;14;21
Speaker 1
Great. Well, tell us a little bit about your history with the district.

00;02;15;15 - 00;02;35;06
Speaker 2
So I've been very fortunate. I started out in the hydrology end and on the forecasting of the flow and the operations of the reservoir, setting the minimum flow requirement and water rights. And then I gravitated into the rate making, electrical rate making, and then was fortunate enough to get into the risk management.

00;02;37;03 - 00;02;51;12
Speaker 2
And then again, I was further fortunate enough to get into the greenhouse gas issues just as it was coming on line here in California, starting with A.B. 32. So it was been a very interesting ride.

00;02;52;02 - 00;02;57;03
Speaker 1
I bet it sounds like you've covered a number of different perspectives of the entire district.

00;02;57;03 - 00;03;02;26
Speaker 2
I call it a heinz 57. It's it's been very lucrative and very interesting.

00;03;03;06 - 00;03;14;14
Speaker 1
Definitely excellent. All right. So in your current role as chief hydrologist, what are some of your main duties and how does your specific role affect the operation of Don Pedro?

00;03;14;28 - 00;03;41;00
Speaker 2
So my group forecasts the runoff from the Tuolumne River Watershed, and we have a number of tools that we look at data sources. And then once we have an understanding of the runoff, then we simulate San Francisco's operations to derive the inflow into Don Pedro, because it's a portion of the natural flow and San Francisco's operations

00;03;41;00 - 00;04;05;16
Speaker 2
, which would supply the water into Don Pedro. And then we know, working with the irrigation operations, we know the releases from by TID and MID irrigation purposes. And then we also calculate the minimum flow requirement. And then we put all that together and come out with a forecast of the releases out of the total releases out Don Pedro

00;04;05;24 - 00;04;13;27
Speaker 2
, as well as the resulting storage and elevation. And then there's water rights that are involved in all of that that we keep up with.

00;04;15;09 - 00;04;18;12
Speaker 1
That's a whole lot to keep under tab.

00;04;18;18 - 00;04;21;05
Speaker 2
A whole lot there. And it's real fascinating.

00;04;21;18 - 00;04;27;29
Speaker 1
Excellent. So how long have you worked then, specifically within hydrology? Approximately.

00;04;28;01 - 00;04;44;07
Speaker 2
I've been here for for the fall. I've had my fingers in it for the full duration that I was in, the other subjects that I mentioned. I also had had the Don Pedro operations, the hydrologic operations underneath.

00;04;44;22 - 00;04;49;26
Speaker 1
Right. Okay. So in that time, you've seen a lot of change, a lot of advancement.

00;04;50;03 - 00;04;58;10
Speaker 2
Massive amount of change. Yes. I have seen several evolutions. It's been real fun. Very interesting.

00;04;59;09 - 00;05;04;06
Speaker 1
Let's talk about some of the new technology, that sort of changing how you do your job.

00;05;06;13 - 00;05;27;21
Speaker 2
We've got several tools. I call them tools. They're really subject areas. And I have been in the operations, of course, and we didn't have these tools capability. So for me, it's very exciting. For example, the our ASO program, this is our Airborne Snow Observatory program.

00;05;27;21 - 00;05;46;12
Speaker 2
That's what ASO stands for and where they take an airplane and they're using. Radar to scan the surface of the watershed, to derive the depth of snow so that they can calculate the water content, the amount of water that's up there that will run off.

00;05;47;21 - 00;05;59;19
Speaker 2
They scan the watershed before the snow season and the scan it during the snow season. And the difference between the two elevations is the amount of water that's up there after they go through a calculation to calculate the density.

00;06;01;13 - 00;06;17;15
Speaker 2
That. So you have. What I tell people is a picture, three dimensional picture of the watershed that put that in perspective. We have 17 snow course measurements that we use in the Tuolumne river system and each of these snow course measurements.

00;06;19;07 - 00;06;31;09
Speaker 2
Is the result of sticking a tube that's about 2 to 3 inches in diameter in the snow, sticking out all the way down and pulling it back up and weighing that tube from the snow that you capture in the tube.

00;06;32;12 - 00;06;59;11
Speaker 2
And so you can picture these 17. Course the snow courses with the diameter of a strange tube. You're trying to infer the depth over 1500 square miles of watershed. So with ASO program, we're able to scan the entire watershed and we literally touch every single meter, square meter on the watershed.

00;06;59;11 - 00;07;20;09
Speaker 2
We know what's up there. Wow. Is. A difference of day and night in our operations on me prior to that. You're in the you're in June in the lower snow course. The snow sensors, we have snow sensors up there, works as a snow pillow that's typically filled with glycol.

00;07;21;10 - 00;07;38;15
Speaker 2
It doesn't freeze. And the snow pillows are measuring the depth or the weight of the snow, which you can translate into the amount of water that's above the snow below and then extrapolate that out. There's just a few of these stations and and they run out because they're in the mid elevation.

00;07;38;15 - 00;07;58;23
Speaker 2
So what's at the upper elevations and you really don't know. So this is a very just I can't say enough about the importance of this tool. We have brought online all the information and intelligence derived from Scripps Institute on atmospheric rivers, if you will.

00;07;59;04 - 00;08;15;12
Speaker 2
So the ability to forecast these large storms and what these storms will produce, we just did not have this capability, say, 20 years ago. And it's just it just makes all the difference in the world in our operations.

00;08;15;26 - 00;08;22;02
Speaker 1
Wow, that's great. That definitely sounds like it would be a huge benefit. And in trying to crunch the numbers that you guys.

00;08;22;03 - 00;08;38;19
Speaker 2
Is, it is such a better such a large benefit that it's very hard to articulate the value of it is just if and as we go in to climate change and the change of the hydrology will be invaluable.

00;08;39;16 - 00;08;57;27
Speaker 1
Excellent. All right. So the Don Pedro project is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. But before we get into new Don Pedro, what we what we affectionately call new Don Pedro, we'll start with just a little background on old Don Pedro, which was constructed in 1923.

00;08;58;19 - 00;09;08;06
Speaker 1
But that reservoir that dam only held 289,000 acre feet. And what does New Don Pedro hold?

00;09;08;25 - 00;09;11;16
Speaker 2
New Dawn Pedro holds 2,030,000 acre feet.

00;09;12;08 - 00;09;14;02
Speaker 1
Wow. So that's a pretty big upgrade.

00;09;14;03 - 00;09;16;22
Speaker 2
There's a big, big gap. Very big difference. Yes.

00;09;17;22 - 00;09;41;08
Speaker 1
All right. And then with that capacity, the project, the Don Pedro project was able to is able to help the district get through consecutive dry years like what we're experiencing now. How did the 2012 to 2015 drought compare with what we're seeing now in 2019 through '21?

00;09;42;09 - 00;10;06;16
Speaker 2
So the drought that we're actually seeing, I just looked at this the that the 2000, 2000 and the water year, which is from October 1st of the preceding year to September 30th of the existing year. The last two water years, including this one, were 400,000 acre feet.

00;10;06;17 - 00;10;29;29
Speaker 2
We're going to see runoff. That's 400,000 acre feet less than we did in the 2000 or '12 '13. So the first two years of the 2012-'15 drought, we're actually about 400,000 acre feet lower. And in the 2000 or two water years ending 2020 and the water year this year, 2021.

00;10;30;16 - 00;10;41;23
Speaker 2
So and but for new Don Pedro, our customers would be under. More strained than they are now.

00;10;43;27 - 00;10;56;08
Speaker 1
So you kind of tipped on this earlier. But the trends that we're seeing with regard to climate change is that the extremes are getting more extreme, the dryers are getting dryer, the wet years are getting worse.

00;10;56;08 - 00;11;24;12
Speaker 2
Yes, the dryers are getting drier and the dry periods are getting longer. The wet years are getting better and the wet periods are getting longer. So, for example, the if you look at some tree ring data. The driest four years in the last 1100 years prior to 2012 and in about 1991.

00;11;25;18 - 00;11;50;25
Speaker 2
Okay, then. Starting in 2012, the 2012, 13, 14, 15 period. That became the new driest period and it beat the previous period ending in 91 by 19%. So if you think about it, we've had the two driest four year periods in the last 1100 years within the last 30 years.

00;11;51;18 - 00;11;56;01
Speaker 2
So this is an indication of things to come.

00;11;57;09 - 00;11;58;18
Speaker 1
I'll say, my goodness.

00;11;59;03 - 00;12;24;06
Speaker 2
The wet year, 1983 was the Wettest year on record. Prior to 2017. 1995. The second wettest year on record. And then 2017 now is the wettest. So you've had these three wet period, three wet years, the three wettest years in the last 50 years of the project.

00;12;25;06 - 00;12;27;09
Speaker 2
For the last hundred and 18 years of history.

00;12;27;23 - 00;12;31;25
Speaker 1
Wow. Yeah. That what? We'll save climate change discussion.

00;12;31;25 - 00;12;32;13

00;12;32;21 - 00;12;37;02
Speaker 1
For a whole Separate podcast, but that's a that's some pretty telling information.

00;12;37;10 - 00;12;40;04
Speaker 2
And new Don Pedro has been right there through the second set of it.

00;12;40;29 - 00;12;52;16
Speaker 1
That's that's the beauty of it, for sure. So you were with the district in 97 when we had the 97 flood. Can you can you walk us through the timeline of events that played out for Don Pedro that year?

00;12;52;22 - 00;13;12;26
Speaker 2
So it was very interesting. We went into December of 96. We had a series of wet storms. This is very wet months, but they were very cold. Snow melt elevation was down around 1500 feet. Then and the reservoir was running above 801.9.

00;13;13;23 - 00;13;25;13
Speaker 2
One of the problems we were running into was that if you get the releases up and you have to meet the minimum to meet the flood requirements, and our flood requirement is in Modesto at the ninth street bridge.

00;13;25;26 - 00;13;48;26
Speaker 2
We the river cannot exceed 9000 CFS. Dry Creek flows in to the quality river up above the gauge. And so we have to in order to maintain the flows at 9000 or lower, we'll have to drop the flows at La Grange 23 hours in advance to pass the flows, a dry creek.

00;13;49;11 - 00;13;52;02
Speaker 1
And it's 23 hours in advance because it.

00;13;52;02 - 00;14;13;15
Speaker 2
Takes at least 23 hours for the flows to go from La Grange down to ninth Street in Modesto. So if we get the flows up to say 8 to 9000 CFS level and then a big rainstorm comes in and drops a lot of water on the dry creek watershed, then we have to reduce the flows real fast

00;14;14;12 - 00;14;29;14
Speaker 2
And there's all kinds of issues associated with that which we don't want to do. So. Then you've got to keep it down and make sure that you've passed all the flows. Because at back then it was we had a we didn't have the feel that we have today.

00;14;29;14 - 00;14;51;13
Speaker 2
We didn't have the tools that we have today. So we were running above 81.9. Because of these issues. And then we had the 1997 event show up and basically we were informed that we were going to get four inches of rain on Saturday and a Sunday, eight inches total.

00;14;52;06 - 00;15;02;19
Speaker 2
The difference, though, is this, is that 9000 foot snow melt as opposed to 1500. So instead of a snow event, that's a rain event and it's warm. So it's melting snow up there on the watershed.

00;15;02;23 - 00;15;13;02
Speaker 1
So you have the rain that's coming down, you have the runoff that's coming from the snowmelt. So there are all of this is compiling to how the elevation of the reservoir is rising.

00;15;13;03 - 00;15;37;06
Speaker 2
Correct. And so the reservoir started rising very fast. And. We ended up seeing the daily average of the full lateral flow, which is the total flow in the watershed. If there were no reservoirs on the system. And that reached 121,000 CFS for the day.

00;15;37;07 - 00;16;00;10
Speaker 2
That's the average for the day. We saw we calculated the hourly lows on the order of about 250,000. And. So the reservoir did rise until it went over the spillway. Oh, about I think about 1.3 feet. And we ended up at the peak of that.

00;16;01;08 - 00;16;06;08
Speaker 2
Elevation. We were put in about 64,000 CFS into the Quality River.

00;16;07;03 - 00;16;12;25
Speaker 1
Wow. And that was using both the emergency and the controlled spillways. Is that correct?

00;16;12;26 - 00;16;24;28
Speaker 2
Yes. So we were using water was flowing over the 300 foot long spillway and then all three gates were open. And we also had the power plant wide open.

00;16;25;29 - 00;16;42;15
Speaker 1
Wow. That's a that's a lot of water. A lot of water. Absolutely. So then we also, as you mentioned, the wettest year on record, 2017 experienced those wet conditions. And how did 2017 differ from what you saw in 97?

00;16;43;03 - 00;17;01;03
Speaker 2
It differed ultimately for the volume of water for the month for, say, a 30 day rolling period, because in 2017 we got into February. But but if you take the January, February period, we actually had more water in 2017.

00;17;01;19 - 00;17;23;29
Speaker 2
What we had in 2017 that we didn't have in 1997 was the ability to forecast. The Storms coming in. And the impact of what those storms were going to do. Those are the tools that we had. So we had we were looking, for example, at the information coming from Scripps Institute.

00;17;24;13 - 00;17;41;25
Speaker 2
They're able to quantify is that the moisture in the atmospheric river and the associated the resulting rainfall. Then with our hydrologic models were able to take that rainfall and determine the actual flows that we're going to see in the top of the river.

00;17;42;09 - 00;18;04;18
Speaker 2
With those tools, we were able to start making releases. We started making releases when we were about 15 feet below 801.9, which is the start of the flood control space. So with that. We went to basically what we call channel capacity, which is the maximum flow down to the Tuolumne river.

00;18;06;22 - 00;18;26;17
Speaker 2
And we held that maximum flow, taking into account the rainfall amounts given given the flows at ninth street below 9000 on the train and. We held that until February. And we ended up. We did end up. Open in the center side gate.

00;18;27;29 - 00;18;53;15
Speaker 2
We opened it at the initial opening was to 18,000 CFS. We were expecting to go to about 30,000, but because we have these real time models. And. Because we've got some. We're very fortunate to have a primary, an individual.

00;18;53;15 - 00;19;18;24
Speaker 2
And think of Dr. Crawford. And hydrocomp is, from my perspective, man, that invented the science. And I'm kind of partial to that fact that I know him because we had this capability. We knew in advance that the runoff was going to slow down, so we immediately dropped them.

00;19;19;03 - 00;19;45;01
Speaker 2
After we opened the 18,000, we dropped it back down to 16,000. We held that for a week and didn't change it. And with. Cooperating with the city and county of San Francisco and their operations. They had said they had stored some water to relieve some of the stress.

00;19;46;01 - 00;20;04;08
Speaker 2
Down on the lower Tuolumne. And then working with them, we ended up releasing that water through that way. So we ended up holding the River Constant at La Grange at the 16,000 CFS level. The flows in Modesto never, never got to 16,000 because we were filling the channel.

00;20;04;24 - 00;20;13;02
Speaker 2
So that was a pretty big success. And there was, relatively speaking, compared to 1997, minimal damage.

00;20;13;20 - 00;20;18;21
Speaker 1
Wow, that's great. That says a lot for how far that new technology and that.

00;20;18;25 - 00;20;32;05
Speaker 2
I can't say enough. Yes. It just it was very exciting to see all this come together. It's it took a lot of effort to get there. And it was kind of okay. It paid off. It works.

00;20;32;09 - 00;20;39;21
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Just out of curiosity, do you remember what the the maximum elevation of the reservoir was that year?

00;20;40;11 - 00;20;43;19
Speaker 2
829.768.

00;20;43;19 - 00;20;45;22
Speaker 1
829.768.

00;20;45;22 - 00;20;51;20
Speaker 2
So we were.24 feet from the top.

00;20;52;20 - 00;20;54;01
Speaker 1
That's pretty close. And that.

00;20;56;23 - 00;21;18;24
Speaker 2
That if you think about that, you're moving a reservoir with 12,000 acres, surface area and the mass of the water. You're operating the machinery to a very high tolerance. And so this is what this capability in the science and technology has given us.

00;21;20;00 - 00;21;41;22
Speaker 1
Absolutely. That's that's impressive. That's that's very impressive. All right. So. The Don Pedro project is obviously very important to to the community. We reference it as the crown jewel. What would you say, Don Pedro means to the district and what does it mean to you?

00;21;45;22 - 00;22;03;29
Speaker 2
To me for the district. Don Pedro, it's so important. It's hard to articulate, to come up with an analogy, but the one that I like to use is Don Pedro is the heart. And soul of the Turlock Irrigation District.

00;22;04;26 - 00;22;33;11
Speaker 2
The canal systems and the transmission line are the arteries. And Don Pedro has been there, both old and new. Don Pedro. Old Don Pedro was very stable in a and a somewhat stable environment. And had managed to produce to give the customers or the constituencies a stable environment.

00;22;33;24 - 00;22;52;17
Speaker 2
And what I call a very lucrative environment are our electoral rights and our water rights under old on petrol were some of the lowest in California. New Don Pedro came online and it came online in an environment that we had not seen.

00;22;55;10 - 00;23;17;11
Speaker 2
Going from 290,000 acre feet to 2 million, 30,000 acre feet. There was this view that we had a lot of water. But the 1977, 76, 77 period where we had 367,000 acre feet in 1977, we had never seen the hydrology that low.

00;23;18;15 - 00;23;38;04
Speaker 2
And so it it did take off. Well, okay, we've got a lot more water, but we don't have that much water. And then within ten years, we run into the 87 to 92 drought. Now in between we had the so I don't forget anything got to do this stuff in order.

00;23;38;24 - 00;24;02;04
Speaker 2
So we ran into the 76, 77 drought. Driest on record. Then we go into the 82, 83 period. That's became the wettest period. So relatively speaking, very quickly, we go from one extreme to the other. It had been you had to you'd have to go back to 1906, 1907 to have a comparable wet period.

00;24;03;11 - 00;24;30;25
Speaker 2
And then we moved from 80 to 83 into the 87-92 period. Which is now the driest six years on record. And then we go back to the Wet Extreme under 1997. And so we oscillate back and forth 2005 and 2006 period to back, but for all intents and purposes two back back to back 10% exceeds our wet

00;24;30;25 - 00;25;01;08
Speaker 2
years. The 2007,2008,2009 period was a very dry period. 2011, very wet. And then we go into the 2012-15 period. Driest four years in a thousand years at least. And. Don Pedro Has managed. Has enabled us to not just survive, but to grow and to benefit.

00;25;01;27 - 00;25;20;19
Speaker 2
And I view her as a racehorse, and she likes to run. And we're just we're just now tipping the scales on the technology. We have a machine here that we're just now starting to understand because of the tools and the capability of what we can do with her.

00;25;22;07 - 00;25;36;08
Speaker 1
That's fantastic and definitely inspires confidence in seeing that run of dry conditions to wet conditions to dry conditions and how Don Pedro has been able to really help our area.

00;25;36;17 - 00;25;49;11
Speaker 2
Don Pedro will be very instrumental in going and going, getting through the future.She will. She'll get us to.

00;25;50;16 - 00;26;10;26
Speaker 1
Excellent. So with the 50th anniversary of the Don Pedro project, we are asking the community to participate by sharing their memories of of the project of Don Pedro with us. So I'd like to ask you, Wes, what is your favorite memory of Don Pedro?

00;26;14;13 - 00;26;38;08
Speaker 2
That would be for me. I think it's the 2005-2006 period. So the technology started coming online in that time period. And whereas historically the reservoir head had reached levels on the 829, it was more luck. Where we set the operations in place.

00;26;38;09 - 00;26;55;07
Speaker 2
We were doing everything we could do and we just happened to get to those elevations. We were thankful that we didn't have any more inflow come in or the full natural flows weren't higher. Whereas the 2005 and six period, those two wet years.

00;26;55;15 - 00;27;17;03
Speaker 2
We now have the tools in place and it's like, can we target, can we maximize the storage? And we ended up getting the reservoir in those periods. We targeted a 829.64. For the difference being, we have to have some space for the wave action for the water skiers and the boats up there.

00;27;17;18 - 00;27;18;09
Speaker 1
That's important.

00;27;19;17 - 00;27;37;29
Speaker 2
I know that at the time I was asked, you know, just how high are you going to take it Wes? And there was some I don't know about reluctance, but it was like, are you sure that this is where we want to go?

00;27;39;00 - 00;27;55;15
Speaker 2
You know, we had the capability to exercise all our rights and do what we needed to do. And so we were doing it. There was one little. One area that I thought, huh there might be there could be a problem.

00;27;55;15 - 00;28;18;01
Speaker 2
And that was the we rely on a lot of telemeter and information. And I was not 100% sure that the gauging information I was looking at and the actual information, you know what? What if it was off and I had nobody to to tell me.

00;28;19;21 - 00;28;36;22
Speaker 2
Guarantee it. So I took my family up there and measured the elevation by hand and then presented it to the board under the guise that we have covered all of this. We've uncovered all the stones. We left no stone unturned.

00;28;36;22 - 00;28;54;01
Speaker 2
We looked at everything. We we didn't take any chances. And because my son was in the picture, literally. I think it it was just interesting, let's put it that way.

00;28;55;24 - 00;29;02;13
Speaker 1
So he was part of the official. He was part of the survey surveying team. Wow. At how old?

00;29;03;06 - 00;29;05;22
Speaker 2
He was about seven, six, seven.

00;29;06;04 - 00;29;11;15
Speaker 1
All right. So so after that, after the board, I saw that you were putting your son to work.

00;29;11;15 - 00;29;13;13
Speaker 2
We got a new gauge. We got to go gauge.

00;29;13;17 - 00;29;20;17
Speaker 1
Perfect. That's that's one way to take it to get your new equipment, I suppose. Oh, that's.

00;29;20;17 - 00;29;35;00
Speaker 2
Great. But it all worked. I think that was it all came together, though. It came together from just, okay, we can do it. And then in 2017, it was it was it was refined enough that we implemented it.

00;29;35;09 - 00;29;36;29
Speaker 2
And I think that speaks for itself.

00;29;37;14 - 00;30;03;02
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So. Wes, You're somewhat of a legend here. At TID. And one of your unique characteristics that I think everyone who knows you enjoys is your unique turn of phrase. Do you have a do you have a saying a a Dallas Fort Worth saying that you can share with us from.

00;30;04;19 - 00;30;06;10
Speaker 1
That's that's podcast appropriate.

00;30;08;28 - 00;30;11;28
Speaker 2
It's been hiring a Georgia Pie, working with and for Don Pedro.

00;30;13;09 - 00;30;17;15
Speaker 1
I think that's a perfect way to sum it up. Thanks West for being here. Really appreciate it.

00;30;17;16 - 00;30;18;04
Speaker 2
My pleasure.

00;30;20;13 - 00;30;26;08
Speaker 1
Joining me now is Tim Payne, TID Chief Dam safety engineer. Tim, thanks for being with us today.

00;30;26;29 - 00;30;27;15
Speaker 3
My pleasure.

00;30;28;19 - 00;30;36;22
Speaker 1
So let's start talking a little bit about your role at the District and what your specific interaction and involvement with the Don Pedro project is.

00;30;38;11 - 00;30;57;28
Speaker 3
Sure. Yeah. My primary role with the district is I'm responsible for the owners dam safety program. That basically is the umbrella for all of the dam safety activities revolved around our 28 dams and dikes, of which Don Pedro is is the largest dam.

00;30;57;28 - 00;31;15;02
Speaker 3
And so quite a bit involved with with all of that. And then in addition to dam safety, I also manage the Don Pedro Life Extension project. We've got a quite a team of engineers, both internal to TID and external consultants.

00;31;15;24 - 00;31;19;26
Speaker 3
So both the dam safety and the project great.

00;31;19;26 - 00;31;26;11
Speaker 1
And I definitely look forward to hearing more about the Life Extension project. But first. So how long have you been with the district?

00;31;28;14 - 00;31;31;17
Speaker 3
Coming up on 8 years since 2013.

00;31;32;05 - 00;31;35;19
Speaker 1
Very good. And you started as a civil engineer, is that right?

00;31;36;05 - 00;31;51;05
Speaker 3
Correct. I started in the Water Resources Administration as a civil engineer. And then, you know, from the get-go, I was spending most of my time working on the dam safety program, supporting our prior CDSC dam safety engineer.

00;31;52;08 - 00;31;58;11
Speaker 3
And then I just saw it as a natural fit when when she retired, we kind of stepped in and took over the lead role.

00;31;58;22 - 00;32;09;19
Speaker 1
Great. All right. So for those who aren't as familiar with the Don Pedro project, can you tell us a little bit about the components that make up the entirety of the of the project?

00;32;10;16 - 00;32;30;13
Speaker 3
Sure. So so the main the main component would be the main dam. It's it's the ninth tallest dam in the United States, which is pretty neat because, you know, most most of the taller dams in the U.S. are are owned and operated by by federal and state governments, or one of just a couple, you know, smaller utilities

00;32;30;13 - 00;32;51;18
Speaker 3
that that manage dams of this size. So that's that's pretty neat. Aside from the dam, we do have several smaller dikes around the reservoir, including as well as a powerhouse hydroelectric power plant, a couple of different tunnels that convey the water around the dam and around the powerhouse.

00;32;52;18 - 00;33;00;23
Speaker 3
And then there's a pair of spillway structures. There's a controlled gated spillway and then an emergency auxiliary spillway.

00;33;01;11 - 00;33;08;21
Speaker 1
All right, great. And then, of course, the reservoir that was created by the the building of the dam. 

00;33;08;21 - 00;33;09;07
Speaker 3
Right Exactly.

00;33;09;08 - 00;33;17;20
Speaker 1
Excellent. So with regard to the dam specifically, you mentioned that it's the ninth tallest. Can you tell us a little bit more about its makeup?

00;33;19;20 - 00;33;36;03
Speaker 3
Sure. Technically, it's known as a zoned, rock filled dam, which basically means it's built out of dirt and rock. The term zoned refers to the actual construction, has several different layers within the dam for basically managing and controlling seepage.

00;33;36;14 - 00;33;55;07
Speaker 3
Because it is a pervious material that means water does flow through it. It's controlled in a very technical, specific way to make sure it's safe. Yeah, the design that design the zone rockfall was selected based on available materials in the vicinity around the dam location, which is pretty typical.

00;33;56;25 - 00;34;08;07
Speaker 3
And just an interesting fact on that. You know, they had to source very specific material for these different zones and so they had to, you know, select materials from different areas they built for the construction of the dam.

00;34;08;07 - 00;34;19;24
Speaker 3
They built several whole roads and they had massive, you know, earth moving equipment that just went 24/7 around the clock for several years, trucking in this material and placing it. So pretty, pretty big.

00;34;20;00 - 00;34;32;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, I would say so. Well, that is interesting. And what about the. What about the the cost in the financing of the dam? Is that something that the be paid for in full?

00;34;34;18 - 00;34;49;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, good question. So TID and MID Modesto Irrigation jointly funded the project. It cost a little over $100 million at the time, which today's dollars would be a screaming deal. And also there was an arrangement with the city and county of San Francisco.

00;34;49;29 - 00;34;53;18
Speaker 3
They actually contributed part of the funds for the new dam as well.

00;34;53;19 - 00;35;04;14
Speaker 1
Very good. Okay. So as you mentioned earlier, as chief dam safety engineer, you are in charge of today's really robust safety program. Can you tell us more about that program?

00;35;06;11 - 00;35;30;29
Speaker 3
Yeah. So, with my position specifically, I'm ultimately responsible for dam safety. But of course, just like everything, it takes a team of of individuals to make that happen. So we've got engineers, we've got technicians, surveyors, there's construction crews, um, in addition to, you know, the external state and federal regulators that, that oversee the inspections as well

00;35;30;29 - 00;35;46;01
Speaker 3
. So there's a, a long list of, you know, routine and, and one time tasks that we're just constantly doing, including, you know, instrumentation measurements to make sure the dams are safe and nothing's move in or out of place.

00;35;47;00 - 00;36;02;28
Speaker 3
There's visual monitoring, there's gate cycling. We have a lot of large gates and valves that have specific purposes that have to be, you know, reliable. So there's there's a program we've got a lot of a lot of tasks that, like I said, we're doing on an ongoing basis.

00;36;04;15 - 00;36;16;19
Speaker 3
Well, another thing I'll note is, you know, we tend to because of the nature of of dam safety and there's never zero risk. There's always going to be some risk. So really, the goal is to manage the risk.

00;36;16;19 - 00;36;38;03
Speaker 3
And the way we approach that is with a proactive versus reactive method. So we're constantly looking for, you know, what could go wrong. We actually do some evaluations known as potential failure mode analyzes that. It's called a PFMA, where we actually proactively brainstorm what could happen.

00;36;39;01 - 00;36;54;26
Speaker 3
We look at the probability of something happening and the consequences of that happening. And then, you know, if something looks like there's some risk there, we'll look for mitigation and ways we can prevent it from happening. So that's another thing on a on a routine basis, we're looking to do those kinds of evaluations so that we can

00;36;55;00 - 00;37;03;24
Speaker 3
properly allocate resources to where we might see some hopefully low risk, but sometimes there's still some risk there that we try to address before it becomes a problem.

00;37;03;25 - 00;37;19;18
Speaker 1
Sure. Absolutely. And we appreciate you doing that. And I understand that tide was actually in kind of a partnership on a pilot program with FERC. Can you tell us, first of all, what FERC is and about that partnership?

00;37;20;25 - 00;37;45;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, great question. So the FERC, it's the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, it's a our federal organization. And they they oversee majority of the well, a lot of things, including dam safety on hydroelectric projects. And so, yeah, they've they've released some draft guidelines for semi quantitative risk analysis.

00;37;45;07 - 00;38;05;26
Speaker 3
And so we were due for, you know, a routine evaluation of risk at Don Pedro Dam. And so we opted to collaborate with with FERC and we just completed or we're wrapping up now that kind of a one of a kind for first of its kind SQRA process as a pilot.

00;38;05;26 - 00;38;16;26
Speaker 3
So FERC is looking for, you know, participants to kind of gauge the effectiveness of the new guidelines. And so, yeah, we partnered with them and so far things have gone really well.

00;38;16;26 - 00;38;21;01
Speaker 1
Great. That sounds like a great learning opportunity for both organizations.

00;38;22;10 - 00;38;24;18
Speaker 3
Absolutely. Yeah. Tremendous value, right?

00;38;25;27 - 00;38;41;03
Speaker 1
Okay. So again, on the on the subject of of dam safety and kind of just the the general upkeep of a project of this size and this magnitude. You had mentioned at the beginning of the interview the Don Pedro Life Extension project.

00;38;42;04 - 00;38;59;25
Speaker 1
Let's get into that a little bit. I know that this year the Don Pedro project is celebrating its 50th anniversary. That's a big deal. So what does that mean in terms of what the what the project has provided so far and what usefulness is is left in the project?

00;38;59;26 - 00;39;02;16
Speaker 1
What repairs need to be made at this point?

00;39;03;14 - 00;39;25;24
Speaker 3
Right? Right. Yeah. So? So, yeah. The facility is 50 years old. Very impressive. Big milestone. Like you said, it's it's the facility has served us well, the both districts very well for 50 years. And it's been a great asset and continues to be although, you know, they're it's definitely aging and like like any roads or bridges

00;39;25;24 - 00;39;38;00
Speaker 3
, you know, at some point you got to you got to do some life extension. So just to differentiate, first of all, the the dam itself and the spillways are fortunately, you know, in very good condition, performing very well.

00;39;39;00 - 00;39;57;20
Speaker 3
On the other hand, the powerhouse itself has a lot of, you know, moving rotating equipment, mechanical and electrical components that are obsolete, aging, you know, increasing maintenance issues and repairs. And so it's definitely due for for some some attention.

00;39;57;20 - 00;40;19;07
Speaker 3
So back in 2010, we started the planning process, uh, of a, of a series of refurbishments and replacements and repairs to the plant overall. So the first work, actual onsite work kicked off in 2013. Um, you know, we, we prioritized the different projects again based on risk rate.

00;40;19;07 - 00;40;33;14
Speaker 3
We wanted to go through this process prudently. Um, and so we, we began with some of the larger gates and valves related to the tunnels and conveyance systems. And so we began doing a lot of work with that.

00;40;33;14 - 00;40;49;13
Speaker 3
And right now we're actually kind of in a transition phase where we're kind of going into the turbine generator phase. So it's a little bit bigger lift for everyone. So it takes a little more time to engineer and and plan for that work.

00;40;49;13 - 00;40;53;27
Speaker 3
But we're just now starting to dove into that part, so that's pretty exciting.

00;40;53;27 - 00;41;02;01
Speaker 1
Yeah, that sounds really exciting. And a lot, like you said, a lot of moving parts. And how long do you expect the entire life extension project to take?

00;41;04;20 - 00;41;20;26
Speaker 3
From a schedule standpoint, we're a good halfway through it. Realistically, we're looking at about 2027 to return the last the last generator online as as things always go. You know, schedules usually aren't met perfectly, but that's what we're targeting anyway.

00;41;20;26 - 00;41;33;10
Speaker 1
Right. And so throughout that process, then you'll be working on specific units at any one time. So then there are additional units as part of the facility that will carry the load at that point. Is that right?

00;41;34;11 - 00;41;48;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. Another great question. Yeah. So we have we have everything's planned out sequentially. So we'll take there's four generating units at Don Pedro, so we'll take them offline one at a time and hopefully the other three will continue to produce power in the meantime.

00;41;49;02 - 00;42;07;09
Speaker 1
Very good. All right. So thinking about the service that Don Pedro has provided to the area over the last 50 years, I think one component often gets overlooked, and that's flood control. Typically, one of those items that you don't think about unless you're in a situation where that becomes a necessity.

00;42;07;25 - 00;42;18;13
Speaker 1
And if I'm correct, you assume the role of chief dam safety engineer in 2017, which was the or is the wettest year on record. What was that experience like?

00;42;20;20 - 00;42;41;07
Speaker 3
That was a learning experience for sure. That 2017 spillway operation was pretty intense. There was a lot of pressure on on everybody. You know, the rain was coming in and the lake was filling fast. And and we were all trying to prepare for any situation that could come up.

00;42;41;08 - 00;42;54;12
Speaker 3
You know, we don't we don't operate the Don Pedro Spillway very often. It's only operated twice in the 50 year life. So it's it's not a common operation. So, you know, again, the weather the weather is a big variable, right?

00;42;54;12 - 00;43;11;09
Speaker 3
You never you never exactly know how that's going to come through. Well, one thing I remember and I'll never forget this, that Wes Monier, our chief hydrologist. He said in a meeting really early in the planning stages for spillway operation.

00;43;11;09 - 00;43;28;23
Speaker 3
He said, just don't get emotional. And I use that heavily last few months just because there's there's so many things to think about, you know, washing out roads. And obviously when there's a potential for flooding downstream, everyone takes that seriously.

00;43;28;23 - 00;43;49;17
Speaker 3
But I do have to say, you know, it was a again, another team lift TID responded very well. And everyone, you know, took their job seriously. And I think everything was very well executed. One thing I remember discussing many times was, you know, comparing back to that 97 flood.

00;43;50;16 - 00;44;09;09
Speaker 3
2017 was fairly different in how the water the inflow came into the reservoir. We did have much greater forecasting technology this time around, better, you know, level measurement in what we call SCATA. It's a tool, a digital tool.

00;44;09;09 - 00;44;25;19
Speaker 3
We used to track lake level and other things. So we were we were able to do some things that we were not able to do last time, and particularly worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, who's responsible for flood control statewide and nationwide.

00;44;26;10 - 00;44;44;17
Speaker 3
We worked with them and and opened the spillway gates a little bit earlier than we may have otherwise and significantly reduced flooding downstream. So that was a big accomplishment. And again, just kudos to, you know, the whole team at TID for working together and making that happen.

00;44;44;25 - 00;44;51;28
Speaker 1
It sounds like the partnerships both internally and externally that had been built over the years really paid off and in that situation.

00;44;53;14 - 00;45;09;18
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I and I think that's really fostered a lot more from, you know, my opinion. But working for a smaller utility like this, you have a lot of those closer relationships where you you understand each other a little bit more and you can collaborate better and, you know, really work well as a team.

00;45;09;22 - 00;45;27;03
Speaker 1
Absolutely. So also then right around that time, I think fewer people remember that Don Pedro opened their spillway gates and more people remembered the Oroville Spillway incident. How are those two incidents similar and how do they differ?

00;45;28;25 - 00;45;49;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. So Don Pedro and Orville are surprisingly similar in both vintage and the configuration, the type of structures. And yeah, it was it was pretty crazy that just a couple of weeks before we operated our spillway, the Orville Spillway incident occurred, that made big news all over.

00;45;49;28 - 00;46;08;23
Speaker 3
And we were obviously watching that, trying to digest and learn from that. And, you know, we we got all the best people around on our end. And we we did some inspections, of course, and evaluated the risks and did some brainstorming with with our regulators and our consultants and our team.

00;46;09;27 - 00;46;25;07
Speaker 3
And we concluded that we did not have the same risks that the Oroville Spillway had. And so, fortunately, we were able to, you know, proceed and open the gates and operate that spillway fairly confidently. You know, again, there's there's never zero risk.

00;46;25;07 - 00;46;38;13
Speaker 3
But we were confident that we had, you know, a solid design and construction and a few particular key differences between the Don Pedro and the Oroville spillway is that fortunately, we didn't have the the same chain of events.

00;46;40;00 - 00;46;55;10
Speaker 1
Very good. Well, and again, a lot of that probably goes back to TID's proactive approach to dam safety and inspections. And, you know, just making sure to the extent that you can that everything is is ready to go at a moment's notice.

00;46;55;19 - 00;46;56;24
Speaker 3
That's right. You have.

00;46;56;24 - 00;46;57;08
Speaker 1
Great.

00;46;57;10 - 00;46;58;01
Speaker 3
Good documentation.

00;46;58;01 - 00;47;11;24
Speaker 1
Yes, absolutely. All right. So we've talked a lot about kind of the functionality of of the Don Pedro project. What would you say Don Pedro means to the district and what does it mean to you?

00;47;14;07 - 00;47;30;23
Speaker 3
You know, TID's core mission is to provide reliable and affordable water and power. And Don Pedro is just directly integral to both of those things. You know, that's the nexus between water and power for us. We call it our crown jewel.

00;47;31;18 - 00;47;49;00
Speaker 3
And that's a big part of why, you know, hydro power is carbon free. It's very dispatchable energy at a moment's notice. You know, you can run up those units very quickly. It's basically the world's best battery. You know, you've got that water supply, that energy source just sitting right there ready.

00;47;50;01 - 00;48;02;27
Speaker 3
You know, our forefathers had tremendous vision and ambition. And I have to say, for me personally, I'm proud to just help maintain these assets that they had the vision to plan and design and construct.

00;48;03;05 - 00;48;21;08
Speaker 1
It is pretty amazing looking back on it. Absolutely. So as part of the 50th anniversary of the Don Pedro project, we are asking the community to submit their memories of Don Pedro. Maybe they remember when new Don Pedro filled in and overtopped old Don Pedro.

00;48;21;08 - 00;48;29;27
Speaker 1
Maybe they've spent years camping at, you know, some of the recreation facilities around the reservoir. What is your favorite memory of Don Pedro?

00;48;31;28 - 00;48;52;05
Speaker 3
That is a tough question to answer. You know, eight years of working at the facility, I've just got so many memories, some very challenging things, some exciting things. I think if I had to just pick one, you know, I've really it's really meant a lot to me to be able to go inside, you know, the depths of

00;48;52;05 - 00;49;07;21
Speaker 3
of these facilities that really not many people get to see. And there's some pretty, pretty interesting things down there. You know, we have one in particular, our diversion tunnel. You can't really see it from above ground, but there's a 30 foot diameter tunnel that's two thirds of a mile long.

00;49;08;19 - 00;49;20;15
Speaker 3
And I've been fortunate to to do inspections and work in there. And it's just something else. You know, it's it's kind of a you have to crawl through arduous paths to get down in there. It's dark. It's where it's cold.

00;49;21;11 - 00;49;28;17
Speaker 3
You know, you can see your breath. It's just really, really cool to be able to kind of go explore and, you know, for that to be part of my job, that's pretty exciting.

00;49;28;17 - 00;49;46;16
Speaker 1
Definitely a look that most people would not would not get of any part of the Don Pedro project. That's that's very cool. Excellent. All right. Well, Tim, we're kind of wrapping up our time here. Is there anything else that we haven't touched on with regard to Don Pedro that you would like the the average community member

00;49;46;16 - 00;49;47;18
Speaker 1
or customer to know?

00;49;50;12 - 00;50;04;05
Speaker 3
No, I think I think we covered the bases pretty well. But yeah, I just wish I could share more about about Don Pedro because yeah. Like I said, it's a very impressive facility and hopefully everyone, if you haven't been there, go take a look, you know, go check it out.

00;50;04;21 - 00;50;09;25
Speaker 3
And if you have, go check it out again. It's that's just really, really an awesome asset that we have.

00;50;09;25 - 00;50;15;17
Speaker 1
All right. Well, we'll have to take you up on that opportunity and have you have you back again to tell us more about Don Pedro at some point in the future.

00;50;15;21 - 00;50;16;12
Speaker 3
Yeah, sounds good.

00;50;16;12 - 00;50;31;12
Speaker 1
Thanks, Tim. Now joining me is Chris Martin, Hydro Electric Department manager. So, Chris, if you would, please tell us a little bit about your history with the district.

00;50;32;09 - 00;50;54;05
Speaker 2
I grew up in Turlock. Lived in that area since I was probably about three years old. I knew when I was in high school that college wasn't really my deal. So I knew that I wanted to get a job with the TID was the job that I wanted to go to.

00;50;54;05 - 00;51;03;12
Speaker 2
I knew that early on and kept trying to apply and apply. Back then you had to apply and apply and apply. So finally, I finally got in.

00;51;04;10 - 00;51;08;07
Speaker 1
Excellent. And when you did get into the district and what role did you start?

00;51;08;17 - 00;51;28;24
Speaker 2
I started as a groundsman, which is working on the overhead line crews that job has been eliminated from TID and my position was actually eliminated as well. During that time I got a layoff notice after being tardy for three years, which is a little a little scary, but.

00;51;29;11 - 00;51;31;03
Speaker 1
Absolutely. But you're still here.

00;51;31;18 - 00;51;46;06
Speaker 2
I'm still here. I'm still here. And I ended up going out to Almond power plant. They were just starting that power plant up. So I went out there, worked out there for about seven years. And then the whole time I.

00;51;47;02 - 00;52;04;15
Speaker 2
I had my eye on Don Pedro, that's kind of where I wanted to be. And I went up to I was able to go up to Don Pedro temporarily in 1999 to help out with a unit four for worked.

00;52;04;15 - 00;52;11;14
Speaker 2
And then from there the next year there was a job opening and I moved up there pretty much permanently.

00;52;12;18 - 00;52;14;25
Speaker 1
And what is your current role with the district?

00;52;15;20 - 00;52;35;26
Speaker 2
I'm the hydro electric department manager at TID. I oversee 10 power plants, 17 units. Don Pedro, of course, is the biggest one. And then there's a bunch of smaller ones that run along along the canal systems for both TID, South San Joaquin and Merced Irrigation District.

00;52;36;26 - 00;52;45;02
Speaker 1
Right. So tell us a little bit about what Don Pedro means to the district and its importance in the community.

00;52;45;20 - 00;53;01;19
Speaker 2
Don Pedro, it's integral to this valley. The way that, you know, you look at all the agriculture and that that all comes from from the water being able to be supplied. Plus you have the electricity that we deliver from Don Pedro.

00;53;03;23 - 00;53;16;13
Speaker 2
As as far as for the district itself, I mean, we our motto was TID water and power and rain. Another way of saying hydro electric to me, that what the basis of it.

00;53;16;16 - 00;53;26;25
Speaker 1
So that pretty much sums it up. Yeah. All right. So how much power exactly is produced out of Don Pedro Powerhouse?

00;53;27;25 - 00;53;52;28
Speaker 2
So we have three units that are 55 megawatts and one that's 38 for a total of 203 megawatts. Uh, the three bigger units were original. They were put in for May 22nd 1971 is the dedication day. And then unit number four was added in 1989.

00;53;54;11 - 00;53;57;10
Speaker 2
And it's a smaller one then than the other ones.

00;53;58;06 - 00;54;05;01
Speaker 1
Great. And now there are a couple of unique features to some of these units. Right. What what is it about unit two that's unique?

00;54;05;23 - 00;54;25;07
Speaker 2
Unit two is the dedicated black start unit for the district. What does that mean? That means that. When the power goes out for everyone, there's no we don't have an inner tie. We can't get power from anywhere. Don Pedro.

00;54;25;07 - 00;54;37;13
Speaker 2
A unit two, can start up and start supplying that power to the rest of the district. And we would then be running off of unit number two at Don Pedro.

00;54;37;20 - 00;54;45;26
Speaker 1
Wow. That's impressive. So that that critical infrastructure would still be supported even if we have no other means of getting power into the area.

00;54;45;27 - 00;54;51;04
Speaker 2
Correct. We would go island it and then we would start powering it back up.

00;54;51;11 - 00;55;02;13
Speaker 1
Wow. That's awesome. So of the 203 megawatts that that Don Pedro produces, 139 of that is for TID. Is that correct?

00;55;02;16 - 00;55;02;29
Speaker 2
Correct.

00;55;03;02 - 00;55;10;24
Speaker 1
Okay, great. And roughly, that's about enough to power 37,000 homes. Sound about right?

00;55;10;24 - 00;55;11;29
Speaker 2
 That sounds about right.

00;55;13;14 - 00;55;23;23
Speaker 1
That's that's pretty impressive. So let's talk a little bit about the substation that's right there at the Don Pedro Powerhouse. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

00;55;25;09 - 00;55;43;15
Speaker 2
So we run. Uh, the substation is 69 KV that runs both to Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto Irrigation District. You kind of hinted about that earlier, about how much power comes the TID. Well, that other portion goes to MID.

00;55;44;15 - 00;56;05;14
Speaker 2
So they they get. Their portion, we get ours. One of the really unique things about that Switchyard is we do have both. Systems coming into it. And there are times where we will isolate one system and kind of tie the whole power plant under to the tied system.

00;56;05;14 - 00;56;10;18
Speaker 2
Or we isolate TID and we put all the power onto the mid unit system.

00;56;11;20 - 00;56;21;21
Speaker 1
Interesting. All right. And then talking a little bit about the water release capacity of each of the units. What can you tell us about that?

00;56;23;06 - 00;56;52;05
Speaker 2
They have each unit. The big units can release 1500 CFS and CFS is always been told as the size of a basketball. That's how much water comes through there. But they each release 1500 and then unit 4 is a 1000. And then we also have other means through the hollow jet and the bypass tunnel that we can bypass that

00;56;52;06 - 00;56;52;17
Speaker 2
water.

00;56;53;13 - 00;57;05;14
Speaker 1
And so speaking of those two, let's let's talk a little bit more about each of those. The Hollow Jet. Can you tell us about the capacity of the Hollow jet and when we use it? And when was it last used?

00;57;06;12 - 00;57;34;28
Speaker 2
Up to 2800 CFS we can release through the Hollow Jet. It is extremely impressive when you see that going. It's like a big fire hose shooting down the river 200 yards, you know, it's amazing. We use that for if we're trying to release during a flood season or other times when the units can't handle the water demand

00;57;35;08 - 00;57;41;16
Speaker 2
, we will then move over. Our first step would be to the Hollow jet and start regulating with that hollow jet.

00;57;43;03 - 00;57;46;23
Speaker 1
Excellent. And when was it used? Last you recall?

00;57;47;12 - 00;58;00;13
Speaker 2
We test it every year. So every year we go for open. For closed. Just to make sure it's working. But I think the last time we actually used it for water releases was in 2017.

00;58;03;08 - 00;58;07;16
Speaker 1
And then you mentioned the bypass tunnel. How is the bypass tunnel use?

00;58;08;13 - 00;58;22;14
Speaker 2
The bypass tunnel was the original. Bypass to the power plant when they built it. So they put in it's called a cofferdam. It's like a little mini dam in on one end and then another one on the other.

00;58;22;21 - 00;58;44;26
Speaker 2
And they drilled this tunnel all the way around the power plant area and they pumped that water out. And then they built the power plant on dry land. So. Once the power plant was in, back in, they could now go back and do work on the diversion tunnel or the bypass tunnel that the particular things got

00;58;44;26 - 00;59;05;13
Speaker 2
like five names.So the diversion tunnel or the bypass tunnel has three sets of gates in there, that bypass water. They each can release about 2500 CFS per per gate. And then they have a because there's so much force at the bottom of the lake.

00;59;05;14 - 00;59;21;05
Speaker 2
So this is at the very bottom of the lake. This isn't the other. The other tunnel, the power tunnel comes out about halfway up. This one comes out at the very bottom of the. Riverbed and that.

00;59;22;09 - 00;59;37;03
Speaker 2
It has three tubes that go through there that kind of reduce the pressure on the gates because you have so much pressure and velocity when you open those up. We've been in there in the last ten years, probably three times to do some work.

00;59;37;04 - 00;59;53;29
Speaker 2
We had to do some valve change outs, that kind of stuff. And yeah, it is it's very arduous to get in there and you got to climb up a ladder or climb down a ladder, crawl through the tubes that I was telling you about, and then drop into another big tunnel and then hike up about another half

00;59;53;29 - 01;00;13;13
Speaker 2
mile into the actually into the reservoir. And when when you get to the very end, we block that water off with a gate that sits on top. So you get to the very end and you can look up and it's weird looking up and seeing water coming through and knowing that you are on the bottom

01;00;13;22 - 01;00;17;29
Speaker 2
of Don Pedro, you're underneath all the water. So that's pretty amazing.

01;00;18;14 - 01;00;26;16
Speaker 1
That would be a pretty unique and very cool experience for sure. A viewpoint most people don't ever get or even know exists.

01;00;26;17 - 01;00;26;27
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;00;28;00 - 01;00;47;19
Speaker 1
Great. Okay. So the Don Pedro project also played an important role in keeping the lights on for many customers during the heat waves that we experienced last August. What did operations look like then, and how important was Don Pedro in in those types of extreme heat and peak power events?

01;00;49;04 - 01;01;06;28
Speaker 2
So Don Pedro. During that time we were doing, we wanted to make sure we kept going. So we were doing double our rounds, making sure that there were no not going to be any issues. We had to we did have some maintenance planned for one of the units.

01;01;07;07 - 01;01;28;04
Speaker 2
We postponed that for a week or two just because we wanted to make sure we kept all the power rolling, which, you know, in a heat wave situation. Hydros perfect. You. You have the need for water from the farmers.

01;01;29;00 - 01;01;43;03
Speaker 2
And you have the need for air conditioning by the residential and commercial customers. So the more water we run, the more power we get. And during a heat wave, hydro electric is it's a perfect fit.

01;01;44;01 - 01;01;58;18
Speaker 1
It's probably also a good time to mention that hydroelectric power is also clean, carbon free energy. And that's going to go a long way in helping TID meet our portfolio requirements of 100% carbon free mandate by 2045.

01;01;59;08 - 01;02;08;00
Speaker 2
That's exactly right. Exactly right. Plus, we have some of the small hydros that help with that renewable energy credits as well that I mentioned earlier.

01;02;08;17 - 01;02;14;04
Speaker 1
Great. So during this heat wave that we experienced, was Don Pedro running at full capacity?

01;02;14;10 - 01;02;22;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, we were our full load during that time. We were able to meet all of our customers needs during that time.

01;02;23;21 - 01;02;33;20
Speaker 1
Awesome. We're very fortunate in that way that our we able to keep the lights on for our customers without really much inconvenience to them at all. So.

01;02;33;27 - 01;02;34;16
Speaker 2
Exactly.

01;02;34;18 - 01;02;37;06
Speaker 1
We're appreciative of that 
01;02;37;20 - 01;03;03;23
Speaker 2
Which You know. I think sometimes the. Community at large maybe doesn't appreciate the. How people at TID feel responsible for their power and their water. We. See people outside everywhere. And my friends are asking me, how come in the water, you know, how come we're doing this?

01;03;03;23 - 01;03;15;06
Speaker 2
I lost my power last night, you know. And we take that, I do. I take it seriously. I don't want my friends doing that. So that's a you know, personally, I want to make sure that we're better.

01;03;16;05 - 01;03;20;14
Speaker 1
Absolutely. No, you're right. You're right. There is definitely a personal responsibility there.

01;03;20;26 - 01;03;21;05
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;03;22;12 - 01;03;34;25
Speaker 1
So an operating a hydroelectric plant likely involves coordinating with a lot of different departments at the district out. What do normal operations look like and how what sort of departments do you work with?

01;03;35;26 - 01;04;02;24
Speaker 2
Well, hopefully normal operations. We don't have anything breaking out right now, but we normal operations for us is we do rounds. We do minor maintenance, but we don't. We don't do the operations for up at, Don Pedro. It is operated operated remotely through our power control center.

01;04;04;17 - 01;04;27;04
Speaker 2
And, you know, we're in contact with power control center constantly or calling them almost daily talking and what the units look like. If there's any issues, can they move this one? And then we work with our our scheduling department, Bill Bacca and his group.

01;04;27;28 - 01;04;46;19
Speaker 2
And, you know, during flood season, we're in communications with Wes Monier and that group. And now as we get ready to for the upgrade, we're so we're talking more and more with the engineering group. As far as Tim Payne and and his group.

01;04;46;19 - 01;04;47;00
Speaker 2
So.

01;04;47;10 - 01;04;59;05
Speaker 1
Excellent. I'm glad you mentioned the upgrade. So the Don Pedro is is going through a bit of a life extension project right now is what what it's called, I believe. Yeah. What what's happening with that.

01;05;00;14 - 01;05;12;12
Speaker 2
That's a, uh. So. Basically everything that isn't embedded in concrete is going to be removed and we're going to get new.

01;05;12;27 - 01;05;14;06
Speaker 1
Wow. That's a big overhaul.

01;05;14;28 - 01;05;25;10
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Like, um, it's like taking a house and taking it down to the foundation and then building everything back up. So it's going to be a lot of work.

01;05;25;16 - 01;05;37;19
Speaker 1
Yeah, definitely. And and can you tell us a little bit about how this project involves the various components? Is it all parts of the Don Pedro project that are, are being renovated?

01;05;38;09 - 01;05;57;10
Speaker 2
Um, like I said, almost everything that, that isn't embedded in concrete we've already done. I talked about the bypass tunnel. We've already done those gates. We have, uh, two isolation gates on the power tunnel that feeds our units.

01;05;58;11 - 01;06;13;17
Speaker 2
Those two gates have been isolated or refurbished. And then where we do maintenance and. Inspections on our spillway to make sure we keep that operating.

01;06;15;11 - 01;06;27;29
Speaker 1
Great. And then throughout that, is there is there any concern with not being able to provide power through the units that are currently having work done?

01;06;29;15 - 01;06;51;15
Speaker 2
So we will have. An outage. We've been having an outage in October through November, a full plant outage, meaning that we isolate the lake and then we take the water out of there and we're doing a, uh, coating project, which is amazing.

01;06;53;03 - 01;07;10;08
Speaker 2
So it's a, so the power tunnel is a 16 foot six inch steel tunnel, and then it goes up and it meets to an 18 foot concrete tunnel that runs out to the lake. And in between there there's a, uh, a gate called the Fixed Wheel Gate.

01;07;10;24 - 01;07;27;16
Speaker 2
It's got big ol wheels on it, and it's 165 tons. So it's huge. It so we isolate the lake and then we drain that. And then they're going in there and painting that. So they have to sandblast it and then recoat it.

01;07;27;22 - 01;07;48;00
Speaker 2
It's a huge project. You know, safety wise. We're all on high alert during those outages. So that's what we're going to do. That's how we've done the last two. Now, when we get ready to run the do, the units will do one at a time.

01;07;48;00 - 01;07;59;18
Speaker 2
So we'll still have power coming through the other units. And so we'll go, you know, we'll do the first one and then that one will be upgraded and then the rest, the next one and so on.

01;07;59;27 - 01;08;16;05
Speaker 1
Wow. It's really fascinating how much control you have over this massive facility. Right, that you can isolate the different units in different ways and get in to do the repairs or the testing that you need to do. And nobody's the wiser.

01;08;16;12 - 01;08;21;19
Speaker 1
You still continue to to produce power and produce water for irrigation.

01;08;21;19 - 01;08;33;18
Speaker 2
And yeah, there's a lot of planning that goes behind that a lot of time. What what if this happened? What if that happened? You know, because like I said, we we want to make sure that we're supplying the power.

01;08;33;18 - 01;08;36;17
Speaker 2
We want to make sure that the water is getting there to the customers.

01;08;36;28 - 01;08;55;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. All right. So we've covered a lot today, a lot about Don Pedro, the powerhouse, specifically that I'm guessing people didn't know prior to listening to the podcast. But is there anything else that we haven't touched on yet that you that you want to make sure people know about?

01;08;55;13 - 01;08;56;05
Speaker 1
Don Pedro.

01;08;58;27 - 01;09;15;24
Speaker 2
 For me. I think in a lot of the other guys that have been around Don Pedro, it's like your childhood home. You know, you you grew up there, you even, you know, it's comforting to be there.

01;09;16;24 - 01;09;37;08
Speaker 2
You know, I, I think my my buddy's grandfather, Charlie Arnold, who worked on old Don Pedro and then moved over to new Don Pedro. And he worked on both of them. And then, you know, Frank Anderson, who worked up at Don Pedro for 30 years, Myron McCoy worked up there for 30 years.

01;09;37;12 - 01;09;57;04
Speaker 2
But, you know, I'm long in it too, so I guess I'm at 20 years, you know, but they. It's one of those places that is very unique in it. Grows on you, especially growing up in the valley, knowing what that means to our community.

01;09;57;11 - 01;10;14;27
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Oh, that's that's amazing. And I would I would say at 20 years, you're you're well on your way to building your own legacy. That's pretty impressive. So you kind of touched on this a little bit already. But what what does Don Pedro mean to the district and what does it mean to you?

01;10;16;14 - 01;10;43;03
Speaker 2
Uh, to the district. I think we touched on it a little bit, but. The ability to to pass water and in electricity when when the needs are high. And then back off when it's low. It is an amazing fit between the needs of our valley and what that.

01;10;43;06 - 01;11;02;03
Speaker 2
Asset is to TID. And so to me, it's. I knew when I came to TID that I wanted to get up there eventually. So. And the reason was because I knew that we were water and power. That's what we do.

01;11;02;04 - 01;11;06;15
Speaker 2
That's fundamental to what we do. And so I wanted to be part of that.

01;11;07;02 - 01;11;31;14
Speaker 1
That's awesome. So the Don Pedro project is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. And as part of that celebration, we are inviting members of the community to send us their memories of Don Pedro. Whether that's, you know, someone who might remember when they had the dedication for the new Don Pedro Dam, or it might be a family

01;11;31;14 - 01;11;41;07
Speaker 1
who spent every summer on Don Pedro on the lake, on the reservoir. So we're asking our interviewees today. What is your favorite memory of Don Pedro?

01;11;42;06 - 01;11;43;12
Speaker 2
Do I have to only have one?

01;11;43;27 - 01;11;44;23
Speaker 1
We've got time.

01;11;46;28 - 01;12;05;12
Speaker 2
Because I did live there for 12 years and all my kids grew up there. So, you know, family was a big part of it. But if I had to pick one for my personal life, it would probably be when I was probably five or six years old, my dad took me up there fishing and we caught a

01;12;05;12 - 01;12;24;12
Speaker 2
bunch of fish and had a great time. And I still think that was one of the greatest fishing trips I've had with him and we've been on a lot of work wise. This is probably not my favorite, but the most memorable would be.

01;12;26;14 - 01;12;46;17
Speaker 2
We had Don Pedro who is 50 years old. So it's old. We had a pipe break down down at the bottom of the plant. And I was. I was working with another guy and I went down to, you know, we had an alarm.

01;12;46;17 - 01;13;02;10
Speaker 2
So I went down to check it out and I looked to see. What was going on in water was spraying everywhere. So it's, you know. Think a 200 PSI water line out it out of an eight inch.

01;13;02;15 - 01;13;16;08
Speaker 2
This is a eight inch pipe. And it was flying out there. It was going everywhere, all over these pumps, all over all kinds of stuff. And it's weird how your mind goes really fast and times like that. And so I knew that we hit it.

01;13;16;09 - 01;13;28;07
Speaker 2
When I worked in the line department, we took water out of Don Pedro to go wash the overhead power lines when they were energized with 69,000 volts. So we would take that water out. Don't do this, by the way.

01;13;31;09 - 01;13;46;13
Speaker 2
But they would take that and we would test it and make sure it was pure enough. And I knew that that water was pure enough that we could that it wouldn't conduct. So the water had in the bottom was about.

01;13;47;11 - 01;14;01;14
Speaker 2
Eight inches deep. By the time I got there and so I had the guy, I said, I told him, hey, I'm going to jump off here of this metal staircase into the water. If I get down, don't jump in after me.

01;14;02;10 - 01;14;03;02
Speaker 1
Oh, my goodness.

01;14;03;16 - 01;14;20;07
Speaker 2
So I jump in. Nothing happens. So I ran over and there was a valve there. And so I start cranking on this valve trying to stop the water from getting from continuing to come in, because we didn't have any at that point.

01;14;20;07 - 01;14;34;15
Speaker 2
We had we did have the fixed wheel gate closed, but there's a long ways between the two. And we did have a lot of water within the plant. And so I jumped in and I just kept turning the valve, turn on the valve until we got the water stopped.

01;14;35;00 - 01;14;46;08
Speaker 2
And then then we had a mess to clean up because there was oil and water everywhere. But that is probably the most memorable moment of Don Pedro.

01;14;46;13 - 01;14;56;06
Speaker 1
I would say that definitely ranks pretty high. Yeah, like you said, maybe not your favorite time there, but yeah, that's something that would be hard to. Hard to erase from your mind.

01;14;56;06 - 01;14;56;14
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;14;56;27 - 01;15;04;09
Speaker 1
Wow. Well, I'm glad we had you on the job to take care of it, because, like, that sounds like it could have been really ugly.

01;15;04;09 - 01;15;27;04
Speaker 2
Yeah, it could have been. It could have been Myron who was there. He was the supervisor at the time. He just kept shaking his head. You saved this place. You saved this place. And, you know, it was you know, it's that sense of responsibility, I think, that we we have, as I do, as far as a

01;15;27;04 - 01;15;31;01
Speaker 2
member of TID than on make sure that everything's good for everybody else.

01;15;31;06 - 01;15;41;21
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Very good. Well, Chris, this has been extremely enlightening. Thank you so much for being with us today and joining us on the TID Water and Power podcast.

01;15;42;04 - 01;15;42;17
Speaker 2
Thank you.

01;15;45;07 - 01;16;05;02
Speaker 1
Before I introduce my next guest, Ryan Reis, director of Don Pedro Recreation Agency, or DPRA. Let me offer a little background to help connect the dots between the relationship between DPRA and the Don Pedro project. While visitors to old Don Pedro did enjoy fishing and the reservoir that was built in 1923, it didn't offer any additional

01;16;05;03 - 01;16;25;00
Speaker 1
boat ramps or camping opportunities in the 1960s, as TID, the Modesto Irrigation District, and the city and county of San Francisco, who are partners on the Don Pedro project. We're in the process of obtaining the license to operate FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who has authority over approving the license.

01;16;25;11 - 01;16;47;17
Speaker 1
Wanted more of a recreation component to be included in the project and required the districts to construct or provide for the construction of recreational facilities for boating, swimming and camping as a condition of their license. In April 1970, the three agencies hired a recreation director to oversee the construction and operation of the recreational facilities.

01;16;47;28 - 01;16;59;04
Speaker 1
And in 1971, DPRA was formed. I'm here with Ryan Reis, recreation director of DPRA or Don Pedro Recreation Agency. Welcome, Ryan. Thanks for being with us.

01;16;59;08 - 01;16;59;29
Speaker 3
Thank you, guys.

01;17;00;23 - 01;17;05;08
Speaker 1
All right. So as the manager of DPRA, what does that role entail?

01;17;06;07 - 01;17;28;09
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I report to a border control. The border control consists of representative representatives of the Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto Irrigation District and the city and county of San Francisco. Our operating district is Turlock Irrigation District. So there are certain rules, regulations, policies for operation that we do fall under Turlock Irrigation District, but we are funded

01;17;28;09 - 01;17;50;18
Speaker 3
through the three agencies. My role is oversight. We have a recreation staff of approximately 16 total full time and during the summers will reach somewhere around 50, including our seasonals. And we have marinas, we've got boat launches, we've got fish cleaning stations and we oversee, operate, maintain all of it.

01;17;51;11 - 01;18;06;03
Speaker 3
We do have a concession lease agreement with a concessionaire to operate the two marinas down there. You can find boat rentals, food and beverage. They also oversee a full service restaurant. We have the swimming lagoon, all sorts of recreational activities.

01;18;07;07 - 01;18;22;21
Speaker 1
Awesome. Okay. So there are lots of great recreation opportunities at DPRA, obviously. Can you tell us a little bit more about the camping that happens out there? I know there are different kinds of camping, different opportunities in that area.

01;18;23;04 - 01;18;40;26
Speaker 3
Yeah. So we actually have three campgrounds at our facilities. We have the Blue Oaks, Fleming Meadows and Moccasin point. Roughly 600 designated campsites make up the three parks. Each park will have anywhere from walk in, tent, camping all the way up to 30, up full service.

01;18;41;09 - 01;18;55;26
Speaker 3
That includes a pump out you electric your water. There's also additional dispersed camping that can be found around the shorelines. We do have maps available. There are restrictions to some. So you always want to check our website at Donpedrolake.com for any dispersed camping restrictions.

01;18;56;12 - 01;19;05;09
Speaker 3
At each park, we do have boat launches that are all accessible and there's day use parking in there. But every park does have that amenity available.

01;19;06;03 - 01;19;22;16
Speaker 1
Great. That's thanks for that information. I'm sure that will be very popular as the summer continues to heat up. So of all the components that make up the Don Pedro project as a whole, the recreation arm is is probably the most public facing.

01;19;22;27 - 01;19;34;17
Speaker 1
And from a guest perspective, was largely impacted by the pandemic. How did that affect operations and what restrictions or requirements are still currently in place?

01;19;35;28 - 01;19;49;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. So at the start of COVID, obviously we experienced our own shutdowns. It was a challenge because where most of the world was given a stay at home order, we had to have some kind of operations. We do still have the water we have to provide to the employee housing.

01;19;50;01 - 01;20;06;13
Speaker 3
We we had to keep the lights on, as they say. So we had to not allow for recreational boating or day use. There was no camping available. Right. As things started to become more certain, we were able to open day use and we weren't allowing camping right away.

01;20;06;29 - 01;20;21;08
Speaker 3
But right about June of 2021, camping was was allowed by the state and we ended up opening again back on July 1st of last year. So was a challenge and a long struggle. But we got there. Everything was fun and exciting for that 4th of July weekend.

01;20;21;17 - 01;20;36;20
Speaker 3
But as of right now, we have minimal restrictions. Everything is open. Our campgrounds are reservation only. So within 48 hours, we do ask that people make those reservations. They can call or do it online and they use as wide open a monument.

01;20;36;21 - 01;20;37;13
Speaker 3
Go fishing today.

01;20;38;00 - 01;20;50;29
Speaker 1
Right. And I know that also during the the the COVID shutdown, coincidentally, you guys were planning some renovations with the swimming lagoon. So that timing kind of worked out in your favor, is that right?

01;20;51;04 - 01;21;01;11
Speaker 3
Right. So we did have to shut down the swimming lagoon last year due to COVID. It actually allowed us to start a capital improvement project early. So we were able to open it again this year, which was exciting.

01;21;01;20 - 01;21;09;08
Speaker 3
So we did a new filtration system with a new tank and the water is looking awfully blue for something called the lagoon. So it's pretty neat.

01;21;09;20 - 01;21;26;13
Speaker 1
That's great. That sounds very inviting. All right. So many folks are probably familiar with the recreation opportunities at Don Pedro Lake, but they might not realize all the work that goes into maintaining these operations year round. Can you tell us a little bit about about that?

01;21;26;25 - 01;21;39;18
Speaker 3
Right. Yeah. The common misconception is that there is an on season and off season we do our summer operations and we do have a season where there isn't as many customers, but it's really the only time we actually get to maintain the campgrounds.

01;21;40;04 - 01;21;52;28
Speaker 3
So during the summer months, our primary focus is going to be customer experience, customers in general, safety, health, all that stuff in the off season as people would refer to it as we get a lot of our capital projects done.

01;21;52;29 - 01;22;06;05
Speaker 3
Anything that broke that, we worked on mitigation over the summer, we go try to really resolve it so that it doesn't happen again. So there there's a lot of a lot of things going on there. We we have different roles and and staff members come in during the summers.

01;22;06;05 - 01;22;13;20
Speaker 3
We do have seasonal staff, but we've got 16 full time staff members ranging from division manager down to park maintenance workers and rangers.

01;22;14;01 - 01;22;20;26
Speaker 1
Great. So on any given day as a visitor to the area, what employees am I likely to run into?

01;22;20;26 - 01;22;32;08
Speaker 3
They're the first person you'll see is one of our seasonal employees at a kiosk in the off season there'll be different hours but that be that would be a ranger in the off season inside the park you'll see patrol from full time rangers to seasonal rangers.

01;22;32;28 - 01;22;47;26
Speaker 3
If you see somebody working in a bathroom, they're likely going to be one of our park maids workers working on some plumbing issues. A lot of times we have leaky faucets. If you call and say that you have a hose that's leaking, one of our maintenance personnel come down, you'll see our seasonal staff out there.

01;22;47;27 - 01;23;01;17
Speaker 3
Weed eating, getting things ready for fire season. Our administrative staff, if you call in one of our full time employees, will be at the front desk with division managers for escalation points. And then myself from time to time you'll see out in the field.

01;23;01;17 - 01;23;06;00
Speaker 3
Or if you need to make a call, I'll sometimes answer the phone to.
01;23;06;10 - 01;23;11;16
Speaker 1
Excellent. And then I understand some of your rangers have have pretty specific training, is that right?

01;23;11;18 - 01;23;25;16
Speaker 3
Yes. So our Rangers are actually first responder trained. They also have basic wildland. And we aren't peace officers, but we are the acting peace officers in the park. We do a lot of educational. We do not go and detain people.

01;23;25;16 - 01;23;36;08
Speaker 3
We don't arrest people, but we do compliance. We use some of our training to go and explain what the rules are and why the rules exist in the park. But if you were to call 911, we're going to be the first responder to help you in that situation.

01;23;36;12 - 01;23;46;22
Speaker 1
Wow. That's that's impressive. And then you also have a partnership or a relationship with a concessionaire that helps to manage the marinas. Is that right?

01;23;46;24 - 01;23;59;20
Speaker 3
Right. Yeah. We we work with Suntex marinas. They do have an operation at the Blue Oaks Repair Yard, the Fleming Meadows Marina, as well as Moccasin Point Marina. They do anywhere from a fishing boat up to a houseboat for rentals.

01;23;59;20 - 01;24;17;01
Speaker 3
They have your your fuel, your ice, your pump outs. They do food and beverage. So we have what's called the Pirates Cove, which formerly was the Trading Post, and they operate a full service restaurant out of there. And they also do snack shack concessions off of our swimming lagoon.

01;24;17;14 - 01;24;25;26
Speaker 1
Great. And if I understand correctly, Suntex is is working on making or has made maybe a number of renovations or improvements in the area.

01;24;26;05 - 01;24;39;14
Speaker 3
Yeah. So the focus right now is to work on some of the areas that they've heard from the customers, as well as listen to the customers and bring on new amenities. So one of the major projects that just wrapping up was at their private houseboat marina at Fleming Meadows.

01;24;39;14 - 01;24;55;14
Speaker 3
They redid the deck completely that consisted of taking the panels off of the marina, taking them offsite, painting them and bringing them back on. So they're going to wrap that one up soon. They are completing obligation at the public marina at Fleming Meadows by replacing the sea dock.

01;24;55;19 - 01;25;04;00
Speaker 3
And then they're actually going to be adding a finger for houseboats. They're going to bring approximately 30 houseboats over there. Oh, wow. It'll be kind of cool to see.

01;25;04;13 - 01;25;25;04
Speaker 1
Great. All right. So during the pandemic, during the shutdown, as things were starting to open up, camping was really one of the only things people could do for a long time. How would you say the reservoir was important to guests during that time?

01;25;26;05 - 01;25;38;13
Speaker 3
It was very important with it being one of the few things you could do. It was nice to be able to provide that service to everybody. One of the things that we focused on was staying consistent through our operations.

01;25;38;13 - 01;25;50;15
Speaker 3
So there wasn't shutdowns, reopenings just to shut back down again. So. A lot of people were wondering what was taking so long to reopen. When we first did, and in a matter of weeks, we had to hire. We had to weed eat.

01;25;50;17 - 01;26;01;01
Speaker 3
We had to prepare the campgrounds. At the time, we had no idea what was happening, and we didn't think we were ever going to reopen. So when they dropped it on us on June 12th that we could reopen.

01;26;01;14 - 01;26;13;05
Speaker 3
We said, Well, we've got some stuff to do. Although we've been maintaining, we had to get it ready. And the area and the people, the visitors that came through, they really appreciated the fact that we were able to get it ready and not rush into things.

01;26;13;05 - 01;26;23;10
Speaker 3
We didn't provide a snake hole for them to go camp in, basically. So it was it was exciting, it was challenging, and it was good to see everyone having fun once we did finally reopen.

01;26;23;23 - 01;26;39;08
Speaker 1
That's great. I would imagine it's a little bit like having a clean house or having a clean house that's ready to entertain guests. It's a little bit different. Well, good. Well, I'm sure the the community appreciated having that opportunity and being able to to get outside and enjoy.

01;26;39;20 - 01;26;54;00
Speaker 1
Oh, thanks for for your team and all your hard work. As we've mentioned, the Don Pedro project is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, which also means that DPRA is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. So congratulations on that.

01;26;55;10 - 01;26;59;26
Speaker 1
What what events or what do we have to look forward to with the anniversary?

01;27;00;14 - 01;27;12;07
Speaker 3
Just recently, on May 22nd, we did a 50th anniversary giveaway. It was a promo item. We're looking at different options we can do to the summer, but right now our main focus is going to be for a firework show.

01;27;12;16 - 01;27;23;17
Speaker 3
At the time, we don't have a green lit project, but we are hopeful that after beyond the blueprint is announced, we are going to be able to have a fireworks show on July 3rd. So fingers crossed. We're doing a lot of planning.

01;27;23;17 - 01;27;24;14
Speaker 3
We're hoping to get there.

01;27;24;25 - 01;27;44;03
Speaker 1
And I know that that is a fan favorite around here. So I wish you guys the best of luck and hope that that that comes to fruition. Now, once upon a time there was a visitor center as part of of DPRA, but that was unfortunately lost to a fire in 2016.

01;27;45;03 - 01;27;48;01
Speaker 1
Can you tell us about any plans to to rebuild?

01;27;48;15 - 01;28;00;06
Speaker 3
Yeah, right now we're still working with our designers and the insurance company, and we're very hopeful in the next couple of years, we'll have something built. We're looking to make sure it's like kind of quality while also looking for a modern feel for our building.

01;28;00;06 - 01;28;06;11
Speaker 3
We have a lot of building code. As you can imagine, 50 years ago, there was a lot of things that were okay that may not be okay today.

01;28;06;24 - 01;28;21;22
Speaker 1
Sure. Absolutely. Now you yourself are relatively new to DPRA. How would you say that the Don Pedro Reservoir and the activities that are provided there compare with other recreation areas that you're familiar with?

01;28;23;03 - 01;28;35;05
Speaker 3
We're right in line with some of those other facilities that are around us. We have Lake McClure and New Maloney's that are very close in proximity. We do provide certain services that do allow us to have a greater footprint.

01;28;36;12 - 01;28;52;00
Speaker 3
We have the 600 sites that are open year round with some monthly camping. These are things that are fairly standard. But our marina, through our concession lease agreement, requires them to be open year round. Our water levels are higher than anybody else's during the dry year, so it's still nice that our boat launches are available.

01;28;52;20 - 01;29;12;24
Speaker 3
One of the questions we actually get today is, are your boat launches still available and accessible? And the answer is yes. But yeah. Then in terms of background, the, the other recreation areas I work for aren't like Don Pedro recreation area, the, the water levels fluctuate because it's meant for irrigation.

01;29;12;24 - 01;29;16;08
Speaker 3
So that's something that's, that's pretty new to me that I'm still learning every day.

01;29;16;25 - 01;29;26;15
Speaker 1
That is a big component of our water first facility for sure. What would you say the reservoir means to the guests that visit like Don Pedro?

01;29;27;24 - 01;29;40;26
Speaker 3
So the reservoir to the local area is recreation in their backyard, although perceived as a tourist attraction destination for some. Our surrounding area residents can be seen all over all year long fishing, boating, camping and usually utilizing our swimming lagoon.

01;29;41;12 - 01;29;46;28
Speaker 3
Those that use the recreation area frequently, we even offer the annual passes so they can enter as many times during the years they wish.

01;29;47;17 - 01;30;05;26
Speaker 1
Great. So as part of the 50th anniversary of the Don Pedro project, we're asking all of our interviewees what their favorite memory is of of Don Pedro. And I know that as we mentioned, you started in December of 2019.

01;30;06;04 - 01;30;22;10
Speaker 1
Right. And then almost immediately afterwards, we were thrust into the midst of the pandemic. So I'm going to take a pass from you on this one. But I hope that you'll come back maybe a year from now and share with us what your what your new favorite memories are, having had a little more time

01;30;22;10 - 01;30;27;07
Speaker 1
under your belt. How's that sound? Feel very good. All right, Ryan, thanks so much for being with us.

01;30;27;08 - 01;30;28;17
Speaker 3
Appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

01;30;29;27 - 01;30;52;16
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in to the TID water and Power podcast. You can find it on Facebook at Facebook.com/Turlock ID. On Twitter and Instagram. At TurlockID or on LinkedIn as the Turlock Irrigation District. To share your memories and stories of Don Pedro, visit DonPedro50th.org

01;30;53;02 - 01;30;56;00
Speaker 1
I'm your host, Constance Anderson. We'll see you next time.