Learn about the Colorado River Aqueduct Sept. 1
SUNSHINE CLUB
Karl W. Seckel from the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) will speak at the Sunshine Club on Friday, Sept. 1, at 10 a.m. in Clubhouse 3, Room 2.
Seckel has 45 years of professional water industry expertise. In December 2020, he completed a 37-year tenure at MWDOC, where he was responsible for planning, engineering, emergency preparedness management and special studies to improve and enhance water supply reliability.
In the November 2020 general election, Seckel was elected to the MWDOC Board of Directors to represent Division 4.
During the meeting, Seckel will cover the The Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA). The CRA is a 242-mile water conveyance system built and maintained by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Transporting water from Lake Havasu on the California/Arizona border to Lake Mathews in Riverside County, the CRA began delivering water in 1941 and was the largest public works project in southern California during the Great Depression. The CRA took eight years to finish and provided jobs for 30,000 workers. Today, capable of moving more than 1 billion gallons of water each day, the CRA provides water to 19 million Californians. Southern California’s growth can be largely attributed to the success of the CRA.
However, the Colorado River is suffering from extreme drought. The river has been drying up for decades, with the major reservoirs recently falling to dangerously low levels. This has prompted the federal government to call for unprecedented cuts in water usage among seven states in the US and Mexico, which rely on the river.
The MWDOC is a wholesale water provider and resource planning agency whose efforts focus on sound planning and appropriate investments in water supply, water use efficiency and conservation, public information and outreach, legislative advocacy, water education for all ages, and emergency preparedness.
MWDOC’s 27 retail water agencies, comprised of city water departments and water districts, provide water services to the public. MWDOC is the third largest of The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s member agencies.
In September, there will be five speakers including Seckel on Sept. 1: David Rubinstein, an expert on exercise science and kinesiology, Sept. 8; Dr. David Park, family physician from Optum, Sept. 15; Monica Cousins, 24 hour nurse from Optum, Sept. 22; and audiologist Lori Hallett, Sept. 29. The topic of each guest speaker’s presentation, plus meeting information, will be announced the week before.
All residents are welcome to join. The Sunshine Club requires no membership fees, but donations are welcome.
People are asked to arrive to the meetings promptly, those who are late are asked to use the back door not to disturb the presentation.
For more information, contact Anna Derby at 562-301-5339.
