MWD to Turn Off More Pumps in Power Shortages

The Metropolitan Water District will shut down four additional pumps along the Colorado River this summer when requested in an effort to reduce the need for rolling blackouts, agency officials said Thursday.

“We already turn off some of our Colorado River Aqueduct pumps when requested by the Southern California Edison Co., freeing up enough electricity for 100,000 Southern California homes,” said the water district’s general manager, Ronald R. Gastelum.

That agreement with Edison calls for the MWD to shut down 16 of its Colorado River Aqueduct pumps for up to fours hours a day at Edison’s option.

Four additional pumps will be shut down at the request of the California Independent System Operator, the agency that tries to keep electricity flowing through the state’s transmission system.

These agreements with Edison and Cal-ISO “will amount to a nearly 45% reduction in energy use along the Colorado River,” Gastelum said.

The MWD has enough water stored in its Southern California reservoirs to continue supplying its member public agencies during the shutdowns, Gastelum said.

“While, obviously, we are concerned about the state’s power shortage, we will do nothing to jeopardize the reliability or quality of the region’s water supply,” he said.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, the MWD will temporarily shut down pumps at its Hinds Pumping Plant near Desert Center in Riverside County, the last of the five pump stations along the aqueduct route, when Cal-ISO asks it to do so.

The Hinds plant has some of the aqueduct’s biggest motors because it has the highest lift--441 feet--along the aqueduct route.

When requested by Edison, the water district shuts down two pumping plants on the Colorado River, Gastelum said.

These plants begin the water’s 242-mile journey to the aqueduct’s terminal reservoir, Lake Mathews, near Riverside.