Irrigation Leader Special Issue

SPECIAL ISSUE

June 2020

COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

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CONTENTS JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

5 T he Irrigation Industry Faces Up to COVID-19

By Kris Polly 6 C HIP Students Provide Assistance 8 H amish Howard, Assura Software 10 Kelley

Geyer, ByronBethany Irrigation District 14 Sonia

Lambert, Cameron County Irrigation District #2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3

34 R oy McClinton, HUESKER, Inc. 36 Paul

Arrington, Idaho Water Users Association 40 Elizabeth

Soal, Irrigation New Zealand 44 Chuck

Freeman, Kennewick Irrigation District 46 Mel Brooks, MHV Water 50 Alan

Hansten, North Side Canal Company

16 Craig

Horrell, Central Oregon Irrigation District

54 John

Winkler, Papio– Missouri River Natural Resources District

18 Lyndon

Vogt, Central Platte Natural Resources District

56 Diane

Campanile, People-Dynamics

22 Doug

Kemper, Colorado Water Congress

58 Shane

Leonard, Roosevelt Water Conservation District

26 Craig

Simpson, East Columbia Basin Irrigation District

62 Jasper

Fanning, Upper Republican Natural Resources District

28 G ary Esslinger, Elephant Butte Irrigation District

64 Tom

Myrum, Washington State Water Resources Association

30 M ike Miller, Greater Wenatchee Irrigation District

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

AN AMERICAN COMPANY ESTABLISHED IN 2009.

Staff: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Breck Bivins, Media Intern Abbey Lloyd, Media Intern Christian Martinez, Media Intern Abigail Overturf, Media Intern Ethan Prall-Freedman, Media Intern Milo Schmitt, Media Intern Submissions: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions.

However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request.

For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or irrigation.leader@waterstrategies.com.

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

Circulation: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors.

For address corrections or additions, please contact our managing editor, Joshua Dill, at joshua.dill@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright Š 2020 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

/IrrigationLeader

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

4 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

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The Irrigation Industry Faces Up to COVID-19

By Kris Polly

T

he COVID-19 pandemic that hit the United States in mid-March has disrupted countless aspects of daily life. Across the nation, many of us have been working from home; some people have lost their jobs or been furloughed; and all of us are wondering if and when things will go back to normal.

Agriculture, of course, is the definition of an essential service, and the irrigation industry, by extension, is one as well. Irrigation districts do not have the luxury of temporarily closing up shop, especially during the spring, when many canals are being watered and prepared for the summer growing season. Their work must continue.

How exactly are they pushing forward with their operations amid the turbulence caused by the pandemic?

That is what this special issue of Irrigation Leader seeks to answer. We speak with the managers of irrigation districts, natural resources districts, water resources associations, and irrigation industry businesses from across the United States—and even a few from New

Zealand. Each of these professionals has had to make smart, common-sense decisions about how to respond to the pressure of circumstances and continue their vital services while preserving the health of their employees and customers.

I hope that reading about the innovative changes these professionals have made in their operations will inspire you and provide you with new ideas about how to keep your business running amid the COVID-19 pandemic and what changes you may want to make or retain once the postpandemic new normal sets in. IL Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

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With increased health protection concerns, should you wish to receive Irrigation Leader magazine electronically only, please e-mail Managing Editor Joshua Dill at joshua.dill@waterstrategies.com.

Past issues of Irrigation Leader are archived at irrigationleadermagazine.com. @IrrigationLeader

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JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

|5

CHIP Students Provide Assistance

T

he Capitol Hill Internship Program (CHIP) was established in 2000 by Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) after discussions between then NWU professor Dr. Robert Oberst and his former student and NWU alum, Kris Polly, about the need for a Washington, DC–based internship experience that provided housing and limited classes.

Nine U.S. universities now participate in the program, which is run by the United Methodist College Washington Consortium and has been directed by Dr. Doug Steinel since its beginning.

Students in the program participate in an internship and take two classes. Program tuition is the same as the tuition students pay at their home schools. Participants live in the CHIP house, which is less than 10 minutes from Union Station and the Capitol building, and have the opportunity to visit museums and historical buildings in DC and to visit New York, Philadelphia, and other cities.

The CHIP program allows students to get a head start in their professional lives, gives them strong professional connections, and helps them determine what they want to do in the future.

For several semesters, Water Strategies has taught and hosted the CHIP Washington and Lobbying class.

Many members of the National Water Resources Association and other Water Strategies clients have shared their time as guest speakers for the class. When the COVID‑19 pandemic caused the CHIP students to be sent home in March, the class continued online. Many of the students were also able to continue their internships remotely. When asked if they would be interested in working on special COVID‑19 issues of our magazines, all our students were eager to be of assistance.

This issue represents many hours of their labor in transcribing interviews and conducting additional limited research projects. Below are the biographies of the Washington and Lobbying class students who worked to create this issue for you.

(Editor’s note: Each of these students is a

future great employee. Please keep them in mind if you have positions to fill. Water Strategies highly recommends them all for your consideration.)

Abbey Lloyd

James “Breck” Bivins

I am a junior at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina, where I am majoring in history and minoring in art. After graduating from Pfeiffer, I plan to attend graduate school at North Carolina State University and eventually pursue a career in Raleigh with either the state history museum or archives.

While in Washington, I worked for the National Park Service as a volunteer at the Lock Keeper’s House and the National World War II Memorial on the National Mall. The effect that COVID‑19 had on Washington was instantly noticeable, as the usually busy National Mall became nearly deserted overnight and the internship program was terminated for the semester. I was unable to continue my internship from home in Asheboro, North Carolina, so my internship program coordinator at Pfeiffer created an online course to allow me to make up the credits. A lot of gratitude is owed to Dr. Steinel, who oversaw our program, coordinated our seminars, and introduced us to the wonders of life in Washington.

By transcribing interview recordings with people involved in irrigation from across the country for the COVID‑19 issue of Irrigation Leader, my classmates and I helped to bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by irrigation districts and companies and how those challenges are being dealt with.

6 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

I am an environmental studies major from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. I graduated this semester and will be starting a job with Capital 4‑H as an instructor for its natural resources program in the fall. I spent my last semester of undergrad in DC as a media and legislation intern for Water Strategies as part of the CHIP program. Being in DC was amazing, I was able to see the legislative process firsthand and spend my weekends roaming museums and eating new foods. I was also able to learn about the history of DC directly from Dr. Steinel, who made great efforts to make sure our time in DC was spent well. Sadly, I had to go home as the COVID‑19 pandemic became more serious, but I was able to continue my internship at my home in New Braunfels, Texas. While at home, I have spent time preparing for my job in Austin and assisting Water Strategies with the COVID‑19 issue of Irrigation Leader.

Christian Martinez

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

I am a rising political science senior at NWU. This past semester, I interned at the Bread for the World Institute, which provides nonpartisan policy analysis on hunger and strategies to end it. During my time at the institute, I had the opportunity to grow as a professional and as a student through different research experiences, writing blogs, events on the Hill and around DC, and the typical office culture of meetings and working with others.

As I move forward into my career, I am looking into pursuing a masters of public health or masters of public policy and a PhD. I also know I have the option of going into the field before graduate school.

much that I have extended it through the summer! I moved back to my parents’ house in Longmont, Colorado, in midMarch and have been interning from home since then.

In supporting Water Strategies on this special COVID‑19 edition of Irrigation Leader, I had the opportunity to listen to and transcribe several interviews with professionals in the water and irrigation fields about how their organizations were impacted by the virus. It will be interesting to see how organizations recover and restructure in the coming months.

Ethan Prall-Freedman

Abigail Overturf

I just completed my junior year at NWU, where I major in political science and minor in music and German. In fall 2019, I studied abroad at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom, and I spent this past semester in Washington. Needless to say, I am excited to go back to Lincoln for my last year of college. After graduation, I hope to participate in a justice fellowship at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.

CHIP was one of the main reasons I chose to attend NWU. I was extremely fortunate to live with an incredible group of fellow CHIP students and have Dr. Steinel as the CHIP director. I also joined a church choir while I was in DC! I spent the semester interning with the National League of Cities’ Center for City Solutions, assisting with the annual State of the Cities report, which will be published soon. I loved the internship so IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

I currently attend Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and am set to graduate in 2021. I am a political science major and a history minor and plan on trying to get another job on Capitol Hill after I graduate. During my brief time in CHIP, I interned for the office of Representative Kevin McCarthy. Working in the office was an amazing experience, as I got to see and participate in the inner workings of our government and meet some interesting people. I really enjoyed the program and working with its director, Dr. Steinel. We were able to do a lot of fun things and see a lot of the major city sights. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the program ended earlier than expected, and I was forced to leave DC early and go back home to Los Angeles. I thank my class teacher, Kris Polly, for giving me the opportunity to work on Water Strategies’ magazines, which provided me with insight on how different companies and districts have been affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Milo Schmitt

I’m a student at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a part of the class of 2021. I’m double majoring in political science and creative writing.

I plan to attend law school in DC after graduating and aim to practice law one day. While I was a part of CHIP program in DC, I interned as a media and legislative intern for Water Strategies. Before COVID‑19, DC was a city unlike any other I had visited, with opportunities everywhere.

The city was active with workers; people were seen exercising around the Capitol; and with all the museums and sights, the city was busy with tourists. When COVID‑19 appeared, all the places and events that made DC so active and accessible were closed.

Inevitably, I was sent home, but I was able to continue my internship from home in Wichita, Kansas. To gain insight into how irrigation districts and other companies were affected

by COVID‑19, Water Strategies created a special magazine issue.

My fellow classmates and I worked through interviews with irrigation industry professionals to help bring awareness to their situation. From locations spanning the United States, we coordinated our work on the interviews and helped publish the COVID‑19 issue of Irrigation Leader.

For more information about the CHIP program, visit www.umcwchip.org. IL

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

|7

Hamish Howard, Assura Software

Assura can be accessed via mobile phone in the field.

A

Irrigation Leader: Your technology dovetails nicely with social distancing. Have you seen an uptick in its use among your customers?

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about Assura Software.

Hamish Howard: I’ve been pleasantly surprised that, through this time of social and economic crisis, we’ve continued to sell solutions to people who are looking for ways to enable their workforce to carry on being productive. I would certainly link it to social distancing: With Assura’s solution, you no longer need to meet with a lot of people. You can enter information into a mobile device, whether it’s a phone or tablet, and share that information with managers or other team members who can then move it along through the process. It reduces the need to meet in person or to handle shared paper that has the potential to carry germs. I think that people do see it as a tool to help them continue business while socially distancing.

ssura Software, based in Christchurch, New Zealand, aims to help businesses automate their everyday manual processes. Its software platform combines the configurability of a bespoke solution with the ease and assurance of an off-theshelf product. In this interview, Hamish Howard, Assura’s CEO and managing director, speaks with Irrigation Leader about the situation in New Zealand and how Assura has assisted businesses during this crisis.

8 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your business?

Hamish Howard: Until recently, in New Zealand, everybody except essential workers was working from home. We’ve had pretty strict stay-at-home measures, which we refer to as living in your bubble. All my staff have been working from home. Fortunately, because we work on software, we can do everything remotely. As long as we can remotely connect, we IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASSURA.

Hamish Howard: I’m one of the owners and the managing director of Assura Software. Assura’s solution is a platform that provides a highly configurable workflow engine that solves problems in the office or in the field via a browser or a smart phone. Our solution is already addressing particular needs in the United States—our first U.S. customer is Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) in Arizona. RWCD’s manager and his team have started to use Assura to collect field reports via a smart phone and send them back to the office. This ensures that issues raised are dealt with in a timely fashion and that things move through a process to resolution. In New Zealand, Assura’s solution is also used to manage the assets of an irrigation district and ensure they are well maintained.

Assura is used by MHV Water to manage its asset maintenance activities.

can make the changes that customers request. There’s been an obvious effect in terms of economic activity. I’ve been in contact with all my clients across a range of sectors, and while some of them haven’t been affected at all, some have been affected quite substantially. At the moment, there’s still so much emotion and hysteria from the media that it’s hard to look through all the noise to find actual data and see what the longer term really does look like, so we’re just trying to focus on the things we can control.

Irrigation Leader: What is the situation in New Zealand right now?

Hamish Howard: On Thursday, May 14, we moved to what we call level 2. New Zealand has a four-level system, with level 4 being the most serious. At level 4, only essential workers like emergency services, doctors, nurses, and people in agriculture and food production can be at work.

At level 2, everyone is allowed back at work, but there are still social-distancing rules in place as well as limits on the numbers of people who can gather at events, restaurants, weddings, funerals, and so forth. Schools are opening on Monday, May 18, allowing kids to reconnect with friends and stop their online classes. New Zealand has had a number of days with no new cases of COVID‑19 reported, and our total case numbers remain under 1,500.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Irrigation Leader: What is your message to irrigation districts in the United States?

Hamish Howard: A saying we have here in New Zealand— and I’m sure it’s the same in the United States—is “Never waste a good crisis.” This is an opportunity to make yourself more efficient and to ensure that you can ride out these kinds of crises and shocks. Obviously, social distancing is a big requirement under the current situation, and an application like Assura can certainly help. We’d love the opportunity to talk to talk to U.S. irrigation districts about how that could be possible. I would like to highlight the return on investment people are seeing with this software. Companies are able to get more done with the same number of people because of the number of efficiencies this product creates. IL

Hamish Howard is the CEO and managing director of Assura Software.

He can be contacted at hamish.howard@assurasoftware.com or (480) 477‑9283.

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

|9

Kelley Geyer, Byron-Bethany Irrigation District

BBID staff work on the Canal 120 project.

B

yron-Bethany Irrigation District (BBID) is a multicounty special district serving parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin Counties, east of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its service area covers 47 square miles and 30,000 acres. The district serves 160 agricultural customers and more than 20,000 residents of the Mountain House community. In this interview, BBID Assistant General Manager Kelley Geyer tells Irrigation Leader about how the COVID‑19 pandemic has affected the district's operations and services.

Kelley Geyer: We are not delivering the typical amount of water.

To date, we have delivered about 50 percent less, as our farmers have not yet planted all the acreage that they would otherwise

10 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Kelley Geyer: With regard to our customers, we have been making customer appointments. Upon entering our facility, each person uses the hand sanitizer at the reception area; signin pens are also sanitized after each use. During deliveries to our facility by UPS, FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, and others, everyone wears masks, as has been mandated in Contra Costa County. To gain access to the facility, all visitors must stop in the vestibule area and use an intercom system.

This system was not used previously, and it initially upset a few delivery companies, though they have adjusted.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BBID.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

have planted. Our farmers are dealing with contract reductions with their buyers that have been caused by the pandemic and are also waiting for the return of many seasonal farm workers.

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and employees safe?

BBID provides water to both agricultural and residential customers.

The district has also implemented stricter cleanliness measures with its staff. Each operations and maintenance employee must wash their arms from the shirt sleeves down, their hands, and their faces upon entering our facilities. Administrative staff use disposable gloves to handle packages, money, and the daily mail. All frequently used surfaces are cleaned daily, prior to departure. All staff have been supplied with multiple types of face masks, hand sanitizer, and boxes of tissue to use on their vehicles and equipment. We also purchased face wipes and eyelid cleanser for staff, which assisted in minimizing their allergies—we are located amid thousands of acres of almonds and cherries.

As much as possible, our staff are working in teams of no more than two, which we thought would help us with contact tracing in the event of an infection.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you have done to maintain your workflow?

Kelley Geyer: We are doing check-ins with our customers via text and phone calls. We already have a great relationship with them, but the increased communications give us the opportunity to share a meme or a joke for a good laugh. It’s not particularly innovative, but it’s effective. We started to conduct daily staff debriefings, which are rather informal—we share a snack, catch up on work projects, and talk about the crazy virus. In our group, we have a ton of comedians; once they start, it rolls, and we all laugh a lot and let off some of our stress.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Kelley Geyer: The sanitizing and washing will continue.

The increased communication with customers and the practice of making appointments with our customers will most likely continue as well. Customers really like that, because we are 15 miles out of town, and if we make an appointment, we are expecting them and are able to prepare the business they want to take care of. The debriefings with staff have also been beneficial.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts?

Kelley Geyer: Good communication with staff is essential.

It has increased our staff ’s confidence that we are all in this together. More importantly, at the end of a hard day of work, laughter removes tension, improves energy, and helps us maintain a positive and measured outlook. Our employees go home happy and ready to come back to work their next shifts. IL Kelley Geyer is the assistant general manager of Byron-Bethany Irrigation District in Byron, California. For more about BBID, visit bbid.org.

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

| 11

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Sonia Lambert, Cameron County Irrigation District #2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3

A palm tree borders a field of produce in Cameron County, Texas.

S

onia Lambert is the general manager of Cameron County Irrigation District #2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3 in San Benito, Texas. The drainage district encompasses 148 square miles within Cameron County and includes the City of San Benito, the fourth-fastest-growing metropolitan region in the state of Texas. The irrigation district covers 58,000 acres that include 226 miles of canals.

Under Ms. Lambert’s leadership, the districts have undertaken extensive water conservation, delivery, and drainage projects to better serve South Texas. In this interview, Ms. Lambert tells Irrigation Leader about what her districts are doing to safely serve their customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and employees safe?

Sonia Lambert: We have closed our office doors to the public and are conducting business by phone, mail, and e-mail.

Our maintenance staff ’s schedules were staggered: We have groups of 10 or fewer employees report to and leave work at 30‑minute intervals. All our staff are required to wear face coverings when 6 feet of distance cannot be maintained. Our board meetings are also temporarily being held by telephone.

14 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Sonia Lambert: Although it is not really innovative, doing business by phone, mail, and e-mail is something we were not doing widely before the pandemic.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Sonia Lambert: Our customers are getting used to conducting business over the phone. They have commented about how quick and easy it is and how they plan to continue doing business in this manner. We sure will miss the personal contact if this does change! There is no replacement for face-to-face meetings and handshakes.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts?

Sonia Lambert: I believe each district has adopted the changes in the way it conducts business that best suit its needs and operations. Keep doing whatever works for you to keep your staff and customers safe! IL

Sonia Lambert is the general manager of Cameron County Irrigation District #2 and Cameron County Drainage District #3 in San Benito, Texas. She can be contacted at ccid2@swbell.net.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND SONIA LAMBERT.

Sonia Lambert: Our operations are still continuing, and we are delivering water to both our farmers and municipalities through the COVID‑19 pandemic. What’s different is that we are unable to shake hands and have face-to-face conversations with the people that we have dealt with for years. That is very much missed.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you have done to maintain your workflow?

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Craig Horrell, Central Oregon Irrigation District Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Craig Horrell: During the first 2 weeks of Oregon’s stayat-home order, we sent everybody home. For the first 2–4 weeks, we were trying to get our feet back under us. It was definitely a shock. We were trying to figure out how to manage the start of the irrigation season. By implementing social distancing rules, we were able to make sure everyone felt comfortable returning to work full time. Nobody is sick today. We have a few employees who have had to work from home because they have children whom they can’t put in daycare. We are doing really well—everybody is happy, healthy, and figuring out how to deal with these changes.

COID managers Shon Rae, Kelly Hamby, and Cary Penhollow conduct a socially distanced interview for a vacant maintenance position.

E

stablished in 1918, Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID) has 31 employees and serves water to about 45,000 acres centered on the city of Redmond, Oregon.

Craig Horrell is the general manager of COID and has worked there for the last 6 years. In this interview, Mr. Horrell tells Irrigation Leader how COVID‑19 has affected the district and how it has adjusted to continue providing its services.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and your district.

Craig Horrell: COID is the third-largest district in Oregon.

We have 42,000 acres of irrigated agriculture. I’ve been with the district for the last 6 years and have experienced many changes, COVID-19 being one of them.

Irrigation Leader: How many employees do you have?

Craig Horrell: We have 31 staff, 14 of whom are field staff.

Irrigation Leader: Is everyone healthy?

16 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Craig Horrell: We have used social media, mailers, and an announcement on our website to ask our patrons to contact our field staff by phone or e-mail rather than approaching them directly in the field. We also have our office closed to the public, which is hard for our patrons, many of whom are 60–80 years old and value in-person contact. From what I’ve heard, at least half of irrigation districts are doing the same thing. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have a parking lot meeting with someone.

We also have rules for when employees come to the office. They’re not allowed to wander around and talk to people like they used to, which is sorely missed by the field guys. We rearranged some of our office settings and set some people up with home operations. We are holding stand-up meetings in the parking lot.

We are only allowing one employee per vehicle now.

The members of our field staff are working individually.

Operators are required to wipe down their equipment. We sanitize everybody’s vehicles before they come on the job, and once we hand them off to them, they’re in charge of keeping them sanitized and clean.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

Craig Horrell: There have been almost no changes in the day-to-day work of the field staff; the most innovative changes we have made have been with the office staff, particularly the use of technology. We had to upgrade a few IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF COID.

Craig Horrell: We believe a few of our employees contracted COVID‑19 in February, but they weren’t able to get tests because they fell outside the age limits for testing that were in place. They are scheduled to be tested for antibodies.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything additional you are doing to keep your customers and employees safe?

COID's weekly managers meeting is currently taking place via Zoom.

workstations to work from home, and we have started to hold virtual meetings through Zoom and GoToMeeting.

We’ve learned how to give participants in those virtual meetings control of the screen so that they can pull up maps or spreadsheets, which has made them quite effective. That’s something that we will probably keep using in the future.

It’s always best to have in-person meetings, but if we don’t have time, a quick check-in on Zoom is better than driving 3 hours to see our engineers in Portland. These virtual meetings are pretty good for that.

that our staff and customers are all dealing with different concerns and challenges. They may be worried about a family member in a care facility or a child. My daughter is a newly licensed nurse, and I worry about her being on the front lines right now. I had to tell myself to be patient.

People will get their work done, and if you have a certain level of patience, it’ll be much better for everyone. I seem to have adjusted. I think that there is a lot of stress out there.

People can be shorter with their answers and emotions. If I’m patient, it helps everybody else around me to be calm.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Irrigation Leader: What has helped you come up with ideas for how to deal with the pandemic?

Craig Horrell: I think we have learned that our communication needs to be clear and thorough when we’re not meeting in person. You must be good at providing precise written directions.

Craig Horrell: The National Water Resources Association call we held early on was a great opportunity to hear about what other managers were doing. IL

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts based on what you’ve learned?

Craig Horrell: I remember that there was a point during the first few weeks when I couldn’t get in touch with someone or couldn’t get a document, and I had to stop to remember IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Craig Horrell is the general manager of the Central Oregon Irrigation District.

He can be contacted at (541) 548‑6047.

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Lyndon Vogt, Central Platte Natural Resources District

Center-pivot irrigation in the Central Platte NRD.

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he Central Platte Natural Resources District (NRD) is one of 23 NRDs in Nebraska, and is tasked with managing the soil, water, wildlife and forest resources across a service area of over 2 million acres centered on Grand Island, Nebraska. As an essential business, Central Platte NRD has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, Central Platte General Manager Lyndon Vogt tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the NRD has had to overcome in order to continue providing its services.

Lyndon Vogt: I have been employed with Nebraska’s NRDs for 24 years and have lived in Grand Island for the last 7 years. Central Platte NRD has a broad range of responsibilities dealing with groundwater quality and quantity, erosion and flood control issues, forestry, wildlife, and surface water. We’ve actually purchased 50 percent of one irrigation district and have 30‑year management

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Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Lyndon Vogt: Typically, we have 16 full-time employees in our headquarters in Grand Island. On March 16, we sent everyone home. All but a couple of our employees already had laptops, so the transition to working from home went fairly smoothly.

While the front door of our office is locked to walk-in traffic, our office is still doing business, just not business as normal. We have one or two employees here all the time to take care of any in-office work requirements and to assist other employees who need information from the office. The majority of customers call first, and we can take care of most business over the phone or through our website. However, on occasion some paperwork requires a signature or to be delivered to the office.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF CENTRAL PLATTE NRD.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and Central Platte NRD.

agreements with two others to put water back into the Platte River to address endangered species needs and to keep the NRD in compliance with its integrated management plan.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WOLFMANSF.

Migrating cranes on the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska.

We plant trees, and we had about 20,000 hand-plant trees packaged up. We delivered about two-thirds of them, and the other third was picked up with minimal staff interaction.

For the seedlings that we machine plant, we had the two staff members working on the task take different vehicles, and most of the landowners had the sites ready to avoid interaction. So far, we’ve continued to do everything we did before, just in a different form.

I think social distancing is going to become more challenging as we move forward and get into the irrigation season. One of our groundwater-quality responsibilities is the chemigation permitting and inspection process we carry out in conjunction with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. We receive approximately 2,500 chemigation permits a year; district staff inspect about 850 of them. The producer or a representative is required to be present at those inspections. We start in early to mid-June, so we are still working out the details of how we’re going to do that while keeping our employees and the producers safe.

The three irrigation districts we work with in Dawson County have been operating as usual. Because those districts are on the small side, we only have three full-time employees and a couple of part-time employees managing and operating their canals. At this time of year, there’s not really much interaction with our landowners anyway. The canals have been taking excess flows for the last 2 weeks because the flows in the Platte River are currently above U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target flows. It is almost our wet-up time for the canals anyway, so we will be getting them in shape to deliver water by knocking down the vegetation in the canals before the irrigation season. We have small enough canals and few enough employees that we can maintain our social distancing and still operate the canals as we always have. Central Platte NRD also has seven employees that work in the four Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offices in our service area.

These employees are operating under the NRCS directive.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you’ve done to maintain workflow?

Lyndon Vogt: I don’t know if it’s innovative, but we have our district receptionist working from home and we forward all the calls during the day to her landline. She receives all the calls and gets messages back out to all staff via Microsoft Teams no matter where they are, and they return the calls in a timely fashion. This allows the two people in our office to get other work done and not to be on the phone constantly. At 5:00 p.m., we switch that phone back to our night answering machine. This has made us realize how engaged in assisting the public we can stay by using Microsoft Teams with limited inoffice staff.

We have staff meetings via Microsoft Teams every Tuesday and Thursday morning with all 16 of our main office employees. This gives us the opportunity to communicate and make sure everything’s getting done and that all employees are getting the assistance they need. Being able to operate and communicate in real time with our entire staff via Microsoft Teams has been helpful. It’s something we’ve never used before.

Our necessary field work is still getting done, just with one person instead of two in some instances. The one thing that we did not do this spring was to have an active burn crew. We were supposed to have a crew from Washington State come in to assist our burn team for approximately 6 weeks, but we canceled that contract and our burn plans because we couldn’t stay below the 10-person limit or comply with social distancing guidelines. The majority of our burns are on range land and serve the purposes of cedar tree control or mid-contract maintenance on long-term set federal aside programs.

Irrigation Leader: How about your board meetings? How are you doing those?

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Sandhill cranes flying over the Central Platte River.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Lyndon Vogt: If the law were to allow us to continue to hold electronic meetings, our board would probably take advantage of it. A number of our directors drive 75–100 miles each way

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for our monthly board meetings, so it would save time and money to be able to hold them electronically.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts and agencies?

Lyndon Vogt: Since the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, our executive director’s office has surveyed the 23 NRDs on how we’re operating, what technology we are using, and what is or isn’t working. Knowing what technologies others are using and what has led to success or failure is always helpful when making decisions. As a result of this information sharing, I believe many of us are operating in a similar fashion.

The first month, we thought things were going to be much more difficult than they turned out to be as far as social distancing and holding our board meetings via videoconference. The technology that is out there has allowed us to operate in a much different way than usual.

This pandemic has forced us to try some new things, and I think we’re going to find out that some of them work better for us than what we were doing before.

The Central Platte NRD is roughly 160 miles long, so we cover a lot of ground traveling to meetings and conferences.

I think we could attend those from our office if we were allowed to. If we can save the time and money, why wouldn’t we continue to do it in the future? IL

Lyndon Vogt is general manager of the Central Platte Natural Resources District.

He can be contacted at vogt@cpnrd.org.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND CENTRAL PLATTE NRD.

Lyndon Vogt: We’ve had two board meetings since this all started. The March board meeting was held by teleconference. Eighteen of the 21 board members called in, and 3 came into the board room to participate. It was somewhat cumbersome, but overall it went well.

The April board meeting was held via Zoom, which worked well. Just prior to the meeting, an internet provider in one community went down, but we still had 16 of our board members on the Zoom meeting and the rest called in. We went paperless around 6 years ago and provide all board members with an iPad, so we had already shared the materials for the board meeting and the materials from the past three committee meetings through Dropbox. Under Nebraska law, we normally cannot hold an electronic board meeting, but the governor of Nebraska implemented an executive order to allow some public entities to meet electronically through the end of June. This is the first time we’ve ever been able to legally hold board meetings electronically.

If you have an electronic meeting, you must provide members of the general public the opportunity to attend and participate in the meeting. The boardroom was open to the general public during our conference call and during our Zoom board meeting. Only three or four people from the general public on average attend our board meetings, so we figured that if we kept the total number of people in the boardroom at less than 10 and socially distanced, we would be safe.

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Doug Kemper, Colorado Water Congress

The Platte River and Cherry Creek flow together in Denver, Colorado.

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stablished in 1958, the Colorado Water Congress serves as the principal voice of Colorado’s water community and provides leadership on key water resource issues. The Water Congress has 350 member organizations representing diverse interests and water uses in all of Colorado’s seven major river basins. In this interview Doug Kemper, executive director of the Water Congress, speaks with Irrigation Leader about how the organization has continued operations during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

On average, we work on 40 bills that affect Colorado water law in one way or another every year. We’ve had an excellent track record over the last 40 years. Rarely does a bill we oppose pass. On the flip side, about 85 percent of bills we support become law. We also host the two largest water events in the state.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and the Water Congress.

Doug Kemper: It’s affecting every aspect of what we do.

Essentially all our members, from agricultural to municipal water users, from law firms to engineering companies, are suffering serious financial disruptions. How will they prioritize support for our organization and its mission? We haven’t as yet seen organizations drop their memberships.

Certainly, every nonprofit is going to have to justify its importance to their funders if they are to continue to exist.

Over the past decade, we’ve worked to diversify our sources of revenue. Major effort has gone into large events. About 40 percent of our operating capital is from net revenue from events. However, it is uncertain when large gatherings will be legally permitted, when it will be safe for members to attend, and when budgets will include training and travel. We

22 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMON FOOT.

Doug Kemper: I’ve been with the Water Congress for 14 years. Prior to that, I managed the planning, development, and operation of the City of Aurora’s raw water system for 20 years. Before that, I was a water resources engineer for a small consulting firm. I have bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and water resources.

The Water Congress was created in 1958 by Governor Stephen McNichols, who provided money from his executive funds, and Attorney General Duke Dunbar, who provided the human resources to run the organization. We now have a small staff of four. We focus on the legislature.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

will need to adapt how we deliver information, training, and networking opportunities, at least for the next year or two. We have been having weekly virtual meetings with our members to keep them informed. These have become popular.

We know that our operations must change and that we need new solutions to fulfill our mission. In searching for answers, we have found plenty of false summits and dead ends. However, I am confident that our path forward will be sound. I am fortunate to have an astute board, resolute staff, thoughtful colleagues, and supportive members.

Irrigation Leader: What is your organization doing to help its employees and members stay safe?

Doug Kemper: We’re all working from home and will continue to do so well into the summer. We have not yet worked out exactly how our future work environment will function.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

Doug Kemper: I am excited by how our thinking about organizational planning is developing. We have the opportunity and the time to re-examine how we manage finances, balance revenue risks, and understand member needs. For the first time, we will engage in a robust scenario planning process that will help us position the organization for future success.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEFFREY BEALL AND THE COLORADO RIVER CONGRESS.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Doug Kemper: Yes, we are now a lot more comfortable getting things done through videoconferencing and working from alternate locations and at alternate hours. Perhaps we can get things done without spending so much time traveling to and from meetings. We are likely to continue with frequent virtual membership meetings.

Irrigation Leader: Can your board conduct business and hold votes electronically in Colorado?

Doug Kemper: Yes. We have done that in the past and can vote by e-mail when needed. We will use videoconferencing for at least the next two board meetings.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any advice for other associations?

Doug Kemper: Stay positive. Listen to your members. Be patient. Be cautious. Be helpful. Befriend uncertainty.

Prepare for many outcomes. Encourage staff to try new things. Develop a plan and implement it. Ask for support when you need it. Things will look better in the morning.

IL

Doug Kemper is the executive director of the Colorado River Congress in Denver, Colorado. He can be contacted at dkemper@cowatercongress.org or (303) 837‑0812, ext. 1.

Gross Reservoir, in Boulder County, is owned by Denver Water.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Craig Simpson, East Columbia Basin Irrigation District

Irrigated agriculture near Othello in central Washington State.

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Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else that you’re doing to keep your customers and employees safe?

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about the district.

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IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT ASHWORTH.

Craig Simpson: I’ve been with ECBID since 1995 and took over as the manager in 2007. ECBID is the smallest of the three irrigation districts in the Columbia Basin Project. We currently serve about 160,000 irrigated acres and are authorized for 472,000 acres at full development.

We are currently carrying out a project to develop about 90,000 additional acres of groundwater-replacement water supplies from the Columbia Basin Project. We have a staff of about 90 people, many of whom are currently associated with that development. We usually have about 75 standard employees.

Craig Simpson: It has caused significant change, but it hasn’t been crippling. Since we provide an essential service, we had to maintain most of our employees in their current statuses. The majority of an irrigation district’s employees work outside, which doesn’t allow for remote work. We were able to have five of our office employees work remotely, but our internet bandwidth capacity didn’t allow for anything more than that. In the office, we insist pretty vehemently on maintaining a minimum of 6 feet of distance between people at all times. We hold most of our meetings outside, with plenty of spacing. If we do have an indoor meeting, it’s in a room large enough to allow for appropriate distancing. We’ve also been disinfecting on a regular basis. We’ve shut down our offices to all outside entities. We’re doing everything for the startup of the season by phone, including payments, clearances, and water orders. The paperwork is dropped off in a dropbox.

It’s gone better than we expected it would. Our landowners have embraced the change. Many of us are not necessarily pleased with the changes, but we understand the rationale.

The startup went pretty well as a result of the coordination with our landowners.

raig Simpson is the general manager of the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (ECBID), which is part of the Columbia Basin Project. He has worked for ECBID for 25 years. ECBID has 160,000 acres and 88 employees. In this interview, Mr. Simpson tells Irrigation Leader about the precautions the district is taking to protect its employees during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

An aerial view of irrigated farms in central Washington.

Craig Simpson: We’re trying to follow the guidelines that we’ve put in place. Our Washington State Water Resources Association and National Water Resources Association roundtable discussions were helpful. There were things mentioned in those calls that I hadn’t thought of that we ended up instituting immediately. Beyond that, I don’t think we’re doing anything out of the ordinary. We’re just trying to keep people away from each other and minimize our exposure. We asked all our employees to do the same thing at home, too. We’ve had a couple of people who suspected they had been exposed to the virus, but when tested, they turned out to be negative. As far as we know, none of our staff has contracted the virus, and we hope to keep it that way.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

Craig Simpson: We’ve done all our board meetings and almost all our other meetings via teleconference. I’m not aware of any staff that have done videoconferencing via Zoom, Webex, or similar platforms.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOE MABEL AND ECBID.

Irrigation Leader: How did you hold your most recent board meeting?

Craig Simpson: We publicized the call-in number and posted it. Everybody attended by phone.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Craig Simpson: Possibly. We need to modernize our public relations. One of the things we need to do is create a IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

website. That would be useful in disseminating information.

It’s been on the list of things to do for a long time. I’m hoping this will help me focus on that more. We have also discussed doing our water orders differently. This experience may be a catalyst for that.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts?

Craig Simpson: I have learned that we need to share as much information as we can among ourselves. It was really beneficial early on to hear the little things that people had done differently and to institute them. That helped us figure out how to implement things that worked for our industry specifically, rather than following some blanket governmental edict.

Irrigation Leader: What’s an example of something you heard on the call that you then implemented?

Craig Simpson: It made all the sense in the world, but we hadn’t previously prevented two employees from riding in a vehicle together. We also prohibited field staff from entering any office. There were also a number of things relating to meetings. IL Craig Simpson is the general manager of the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District. He can be contacted at csimpson@ecbid.org or (509) 488‑9671.

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Gary Esslinger, Elephant Butte Irrigation District

EBID employees-James Narvaez and Gary Esslinger inspect spring canal cleanup activities.

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lephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) has stewarded the surface water of New Mexico’s portion of the Rio Grande Project for over 100 years. EBID services 6,700 farm members within 90,640 acres. As an essential business, EBID has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, EBID TreasurerManager Gary Esslinger tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the district has faced and what it has changed in order to continue operations.

Gary Esslinger: I am the treasurer-manager of EBID and have been with the district for 40 years. I worked from

28 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operation?

Gary Esslinger: It’s been interesting. We’ve had to learn to do the same things that we’ve always done, but without the close working relationship that we usually have with the board of directors, staff, employees, and farmers. Meetings IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EBID.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about EBID.

the bottom of the totem pole to the top and have been manager for 33 years. Our district has 90,640 acres within the Rio Grande Project in New Mexico, and we service 6,700 farm members with our 300 miles of canals and 600 miles of drains. We’ve been doing this for 100 years now, and we’ve been blessed to serve the farmers in the Rincon and Mesilla Valleys.

are no longer in person. We do our board meetings through GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, or Zoom. That is certainly new for a lot of us, especially for our board members, who would rather eat a doughnut, meet face to face, and get on with business. However, we’re still getting things done, and we’re keenly focused on keeping both our workforce and our board healthy and safe.

We closed our doors to the public early in March, before the pandemic got as bad as it is now, and began developing policies and guidelines for employee safety. We’re 100 percent operational, and none of our employees have tested positive for COVID‑19. We’re doing everything we can to keep them safe. As of now, we’re following just about every guideline; we’ve even developed two policies in house that have been approved and presented to our employees.

New Mexico has not completely flattened the curve; there are still positive tests happening in Doña Ana County, but not as many as in other parts of the state, so we’re hoping that we’ve got it somewhat contained here. The question now is how we will adjust when the restrictions imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and the governor are lifted and people begin going back to work. We’re already looking at things we might have to do to make sure that we’re safe when we come back to work at our headquarters office and start doing business again with the public.

We’re listed as an essential business in New Mexico, so we’ve got letters from the governor as well as Brenda Burman, the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, that we keep in our vehicles. We’ve been questioned about why we are working and have used those letters to demonstrate the importance of our service to the farmers. We’ve got to keep our farmers growing food and fiber so that this nation will not run out of food like it’s run out of toilet paper.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

Gary Esslinger: We haven’t really done anything innovative other than using the latest technology. We have younger people at the district who have helped us set up Zoom and other conferencing apps. Instead of a Baby Boomer, I’m now a self-proclaimed Baby Zoomer! It’s fascinating how you can meet with people face to face from across the country with this latest technology. This could be the wave of the future.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Gary Esslinger: It is easy to take employee safety for granted if you’re not on top of it. Of course, we always put safety first, but this virus has really emphasized the importance of cleanliness and good hygiene.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Our governor has stated that she may not be lifting the guidelines and constraints until May 15, so we are still experiencing uncertainty. The water season will begin in the Mesilla Valley on May 18. We’ve already started irrigation season in Hatch, and everything’s going well up there. We are sharing vehicles, but the men are instructed to clean the vehicles when they come on shift and when they leave. We’ve stopped sharing phones and computers and have tried to prevent employees coming in close contact by socially distancing and wearing face coverings.

I think those kinds of things will become normal operational procedure.

Our governor has hinted that even after some restrictions are lifted on May 15, we may find ourselves wearing masks and gloves all the time and maybe even doing thermometer checks for people coming into work if necessary. It seems to me that this opens up a number of legal issues. If the state government is going to make these rules, they’re going to have to look at human resources and HIPAA regulations and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rules. Generally, we avoid asking employees whether they are sick because of the risk of violating HIPAA. If we are required to do things like this because of COVID‑19, there may need to be alterations to HIPAA and the ADA. We’re going to do what we’ve been doing, follow the guidelines as best we can, and try to foresee what might be coming and prepare for it.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any advice for other irrigation districts?

Gary Esslinger: We need to keep up with the changing times. This virus certainly shook us all up, but irrigation districts are always having to adapt. With change comes new ideas, innovations, and creativity. It’s a challenge, but I believe that we in this industry can live up to it. Right now, we’re dealing with another crisis called drought, and we’re having to make changes all the time to adjust to that. Even though we’ve been blessed with an abundance of water in our reservoir this year, we didn’t get any snowmelt to replenish it, and by the end of the summer, we’re going to be back to dealing with an empty reservoir. The best advice I can give to other districts is to be adaptive, be ready, and react to change in a proactive rather than a reactive manner. IL

Gary Esslinger is the treasurer-manager of Elephant Butte Irrigation District in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He can be contacted at (575) 526‑6671.

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Mike Miller, Greater Wenatchee Irrigation District

East Wenatchee and the Columbia River from above.

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he Greater Wenatchee Irrigation District (GWID) services 10,000 acres in north-central Washington State.

As an essential business, GWID has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, GWID Manager Mike Miller, who has been with the district for almost three decades, tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges it has had to face during the pandemic and the measures it is taking to continue operations.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about GWID. Mike Miller: I’ve worked for GWID for 29 years. I started as a foreman and electrician and worked my way up to manager. We service 10,000 acres of tree fruits. In addition to me, we have five field employees, one full-time office employee, and one part-time office employee.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

30 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How many people do you have working right now?

Mike Miller: Currently, three people are working full time: the Bray’s Landing operator, the Howard Flats operator, and me. One employee is working in the East Wenatchee unit for emergencies only. After a 14‑day period of limited working during which none of them felt ill, the two East Unit employees came back to work. The third East Unit employee had a roommate test positive, so the health department told us not to let him return to work unless he waited 14 days and had no symptoms. As of May 11, all employees have returned to work. Our office manager had been traveling, so we required her to work remotely; she will be allowed back on May 18, assuming she shows no symptoms.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF BREWBOOKS.

Mike Miller: GWID is divided into three specific units: the East Wenatchee unit, the Brays Landing unit, and the Howard Flats unit. There are about 30–35 miles between each of them. One of the three GWID employees who work in the East Wenatchee unit tested positive for COVID‑19.

The other two employees have been working around him and trying to socially distance, but we ended up having to require all three of them to self-isolate. We were in the process of

trying to get our water on as quickly as possible before we had a positive test, and we didn’t make it all the way through.

One East Unit operator tested positive and was immediately sent home. The other two East Unit field personnel, who had been working closely with him, were sent home as well. I’ve been out in the field turning on water myself, and in the case of emergencies, two of those three employees are coming out to help, wearing gloves and masks. Special thanks are due to Craig Simpson of East Columbia Basin Irrigation District and Waylon Marshall of Wenatchee Reclamation District, who both called and offered to provide help when we were down people. That was greatly appreciated as I tried to come up with a plan to move forward.

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and employees safe?

Mike Miller: We’ve been trying to keep our hands sanitized and to keep our distance from everybody. The guys were all issued a box of gloves and some N‑95 masks and are required to use them. We aren’t going anywhere we don’t need to and are trying to do our best to stay away from other people as much as possible. The doors of our office are locked, and there is a note asking people to call rather than come in.

Irrigation Leader: How are you conducting your board meetings and so forth?

Mike Miller: Our last board meeting was done on Microsoft Teams. In Washington State, there is a rule stating that board meetings held via video media are only supposed to cover usual and necessary business—basically, just pay the bills and not do extraordinary stuff.

Irrigation Leader: What’s the most innovative thing that you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

PHOTO COURTESY OF GWID.

Mike Miller: Probably doing board meetings online. We’re pretty capable of running our system remotely if all the pumps have been run. Our guys can test the pumps and other equipment online. We can see what pumps are running, what problems they have, and their pressure remotely. We had a good grip on the technology—the challenge is actually getting the water turned on. GWID is distinctive because we’re pumped, pressurized, and metered. We turn off every delivery valve before we start our pumps, and once our pumps are running, we go through and start opening the valves and making sure each farmer’s valves are done.

Early on, when we first started running water, I told the guys that even though we typically would have to wait until our customers proved that they’d paid and until our Reclamation Reform Act (RRA) paperwork was in, I was concerned that we wouldn’t get all our valves turned back on before somebody tested positive, so we were going to work as fast as we could to get through the work. We got a letter from the Bureau of Reclamation forgiving us for not waiting for the RRA forms, and we worked as quickly as possible, but someone still tested positive prior to getting all valves opened. Reclamation has been understanding; it is dealing with the same issues. We give our special thanks to Commissioner Burman and Mr. Palumbo for giving us a 30‑day extension, which we appreciated.

The public has been pretty understanding, too. Most people understand that our service would be a little bit slower.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

remotely. Maybe we won’t hold all our board meetings remotely, but once in a while we could have a board member speak with us via video. I purchased Microsoft Office 365 so that we can use Microsoft Teams all the time. That could even come in handy if an employee in the field needs to video chat with us about a problem.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other irrigation districts?

Mike Miller: It would help a small district like GWID to have a few more full-time staff, because you never know when you’re going to have an emergency. Other utilities typically staff based on emergency requirements; our irrigation district staffs based on our daily workload. I would say that, at minimum, we should always have 2 people in the office and should probably have 7–10 field employees.

At our current staffing levels, when someone is on vacation or out sick, it is a struggle to figure out who’s going to cover their responsibilities. I think we’ve grown to the point at which we should be able to give our water users certainty that we have sufficient manpower to do our job.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Mike Miller: GWID is working through title transfer with Reclamation, and one of the requirements is for a team from the district to do a cultural and historical study. Our contractor is from out of town and needs to be on site. The current travel bans and closures have slowed this process and put us behind schedule. Reclamation has been under considerable pressure to stay on time with this process.

I appreciate our employees. No matter what, they’ve come out and helped with emergencies. They’ve masked up, put gloves on, and made sure that I wasn’t stuck out there alone.

We also appreciate that our board members have tried to offer ideas to make things easier for staff at GWID. This has been a struggle for all of us. It has been helpful to have all the information from other districts and areas, and I would like to thank the entities that have shared information with us, as well as the farm and water associations, which have helped us get through this pandemic. Problems will arise, but we will put our heads down and charge forward to deliver water. This will not be the last curveball irrigation districts face. IL

Mike Miller is the manager of the Greater Wenatchee Irrigation District in East Wenatchee, Washington. He can be contacted at mikem@gwid.org.

Mike Miller: We’ve been bouncing around the idea of having one or two of our board members participate IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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Find advocacy, federal and association links. www.irrigation.org/COVID-19-resources

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Roy McClinton, HUESKER, Inc. in business since 1861 and has been based in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 1991. We are active in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Roy McClinton: COVID‑19 has affected many industries, and manufacturing is not immune.

Infrastructure, construction, and agriculture are driving forces behind economic growth and provide essential services to the nation. This means that our production is more important now than ever. Fortunately, HUESKER has always had a policy of putting the safety and health of our employees first, so we were well equipped to effectively respond to the situation.

Irrigation Leader: What are some things that you’ve done to keep your customers and employees safe?

A HUESKER employee uses a heat gun to shrink wrap a product.

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Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about HUESKER. Roy McClinton: I am the technical sales director of HUESKER in North America. I’ve been with HUESKER for 22 years. I started my career with HUESKER handling subbase reinforcement and HaTelit, our asphalt paving products. In 2004, I moved to our geocomposite division, and in 2019, I was promoted to my current position. HUESKER is a family-owned company that has been

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IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HUESKER.

he HUESKER Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of geosynthetics and agricultural and industrial textiles. Its products and services provide solutions for projects in earthworks and foundations, roads and pavements, environmental engineering, hydraulic engineering, industry, and agriculture.

In this interview, Roy McClinton, the technical sales director of HUESKER, tells Irrigation Leader about the changes that have been implemented in the company’s operations to ensure that it can continue to provide its vital services.

Roy McClinton: We are actively monitoring the temperature of all employees before their shifts begin.

Anyone with a fever is not allowed to clock in and is required to remain home until they recover. Each week, the company is providing all employees with promotional-size bottles of hand sanitizer that we had on hand for use at trade shows. In addition, all employees are provided with face masks to use both on and off the job. Extra paid sick time are being provided for all employees to ensure that they can care for their children or family members without suffering financially.

We are keeping departments separated from one another as much as possible. Within departments, employees are required to keep 6 feet of distance from each other unless absolutely necessary. Shifts are staggered to ensure that if any employee is infected, exposure is limited to their shift only. Weekly

meetings between management are now being held out in the open and in a much more relaxed and distant setting.

Weekly plant socials and gatherings are now held outdoors, weather permitting, or in our large warehouse area. The company believes it is important that we maintain our sense of community and family by continuing to hold these plant socials each week, but we want to ensure that it is done safely and according to guidelines. Whereas buffet-style foods normally would be served, meals are now prepackaged to avoid any contamination.

Finally, we are also being more conscientious about how our products are handled. There is no reason for five people to touch one roll to get it from production to the customer. We are relying heavily on our forklift operators to move material so that employees do not have to do so with their hands.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you have done to maintain workflow and safety?

Roy McClinton: I would have to say it is the process we initiated to begin heating the plastic that we wrap our product with. Before, rolls of material would be loosely bound within a plastic cover wrap. Now, however, we are in effect shrink wrapping our products using heat guns, yielding a more tightly sealed package that is more compact and easier to handle.

This allows less contamination to penetrate the product, and the process kills any active virus on the outside of the material.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Roy McClinton: A lot of the measures do not affect our ability to efficiently produce quality products.

The separation of departments has allowed us to streamline certain processes and remove distractions.

I think keeping the departments IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

A HUESKER employee checks a fellow employee’s temperature before he enters company premises.

separated has had a positive effect on our facility. This is especially true for management meetings, in which we would previously spend too much time discussing small issues. Going forward, keeping these meetings straightforward and to the point will make our communications more efficient. Working in manufacturing is not always a clean job, but we would also like to maintain our focus on the importance of hygiene and health.

Irrigation Leader: What is your advice for other businesses?

Roy McClinton: My advice for

other businesses and agencies is always to put your employees’ security, health, and safety first. It is important to let employees know that their jobs and paychecks are secure. This reduces the risk that a sick employee will come to work and infect others. Sales and production can always recover, but employees are a company’s most valuable asset. If all your precautions work as they should, it will seem like they were unnecessary. IL Roy McClinton is the technical sales director of HUESKER in Charlotte, North Carolina. He can be contacted at rmcclinton@huesker.com or (704) 927‑7908.

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Paul Arrington, Idaho Water Users Association

Black Canyon Diversion Dam, on the Payette River near Emmett, Idaho.

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he Idaho Water Users Association (IWUA) promotes the development, control, conservation, preservation, and utilization of the water resources of the state of Idaho. IWUA’s members include around 300 irrigation districts, canal companies, groundwater districts, agribusinesses, public water supply organizations, private companies, and individuals from around the state who collectively manage water supplies for over 3 million acres of irrigated Idaho farmland. In this interview, Paul Arrington, IWUA’s executive director and general counsel, tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the association has had to face and how it has adjusted its operations to support its members.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and the IWUA.

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Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations and your members?

Paul Arrington: It hasn’t caused huge changes to the day-today work of the association itself. There are usually only two of us in the office, and we have been working from home, but we still do the same things. The legislative session was just finishing around the time the pandemic reached the United States. For me personally, the extensive travel and many meetings I had scheduled for March, April, and May were all canceled, and I got some time back on a personal level.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

Paul Arrington: I was born and raised in Idaho. I grew up in a the south-central city of Twin Falls, went to Boise State University, and then got a law degree from Gonzaga University. After graduating, I came back to Twin Falls and practiced water law at the law firm of Barker Rosholt & Simpson for 13 years. There, I got to work with Al Barker, John Rosholt, Norm Semanko, John Simpson, and other great minds of Idaho water. In 2017, Norm Semanko, who was serving as the executive director of the IWUA, decided

to go back into private practice. I was ready to get out of private practice, and working for the IWUA had always appealed to me, so I applied to be its new executive director and was fortunate enough to be chosen. I’ve been serving for 3 years and am just living the dream.

The IWUA was formed in 1938 as an association of agricultural water-delivery entities, including irrigation districts, canal companies, and ditch companies; we’ve recently expanded our general membership to include groundwater districts. We also have business members, including chemical companies, liner companies, and other professional firms that support the water delivery industry.

The pandemic has made us ask how we can use technology to provide better services for our members. We’ve acquired a Zoom account and done a number of virtual member meetings. We’re doing our board meeting via Zoom and offered to host our members’ board meetings when they couldn’t do them in person because of social distancing. Quite a few of our members took us up on the offer.

Our members been affected like everybody else. Around 90–95 percent of our members are agricultural waterdelivery entities that are still delivering water to fields. Those deliveries must happen; farmers are planting fields and neighborhoods are firing up their irrigation systems. Our member agencies have had to incorporate social distancing.

A few member organizations had employees come down with COVID‑19; they had to do some extra cleaning.

Offices have been closed. Payment has been done via payment boxes out front, and communication is being done at the end of driveways or across the ditch bank, as opposed to with handshakes and pats on the back. Otherwise, it is business as usual.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF USDA NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, BOBBYMILO, AND IWUA.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Center-pivot irrigation in Idaho

Paul Arrington: We will continue to hold Zoom meetings.

My job requires a lot of traveling—I’d say I travel 2 weeks out of every month for meetings. The pandemic has forced us all to realize that maybe we don’t need to attend every meeting in person. I anticipate that we’ll hold a lot more meetings virtually. We are starting up a quarterly brown-bag-lunch educational series called H2‑Know that we will hold via Zoom. It will be interesting to see how this changes our events moving forward, particularly our summer seminars at the end of August and our convention in January. We anticipate that both of those will be affected, although we don’t know how yet. The summer seminar is planned for August 31–September 1 in Sun Valley and the annual convention is January 18–21, 2021, in Boise.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other associations?

Paul Arrington: Take advantage of these opportunities to find efficiencies and ways to offer different and better products to your members. Sitting and worrying about this situation does nobody any good, but if you look at it as an opportunity to step out on a limb a little bit, people will appreciate your willingness to innovate for the common good. If our virtual meetings had failed, I don’t think people would have been all that upset about it. They would have recognized that we were trying to do something new and innovative. Thankfully, they worked, which is even better. There is an opportunity here to take advantage of the moment to try to achieve some innovation and efficiency. IL IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Downton Boise, Idaho.

Paul Arrington is the executive director and general counsel of the Idaho Water Users Association in Boise, Idaho. He can be contacted at paul@iwua.org.

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Elizabeth Soal, Irrigation New Zealand

Irrigated agriculture in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand’s South Island.

E

lizabeth Soal is the CEO of Irrigation New Zealand, a member-founded industry organization committed to representing the interests of New Zealand’s irrigation sector and promoting best practices across the industry. In this interview, Ms. Soal tells Irrigation Leader how COVID‑19 has affected Irrigation New Zealand and describes the actions it has taken to protect its employees.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about Irrigation New Zealand.

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Elizabeth Soal: On March 21, the New Zealand government announced that the country would operate based on a system of four different alert levels governing people’s movements and what they could and couldn’t do. From March 25 to April 27, we were operating at alert level 4, which meant that anyone who could work from home had to do so. The only people who were allowed to work as usual were essential service providers, including healthcare workers, supermarket workers, and those providing services like emergency electrical work.

Critically, it also included people working in the food production sector, including farming and irrigation. The irrigation service industry and the companies that design, restore, repair, and maintain irrigation equipment were also deemed to be essential service providers.

However, in order to be approved by the government to remain open, companies have had to put in place programs to protect their workers. Their employees must maintain 2 meters of distance from each other, and companies must provide their workers with IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRZYSZTOF GOLIK.

Elizabeth Soal: Irrigation New Zealand is the national leadership body that represents the interests of irrigation schemes, which are the same as irrigation districts, as well as farmer-irrigators and the irrigation service sector across New Zealand. Irrigation New Zealand has around 3,500 members across New Zealand, although the bulk of irrigation in New Zealand is in Canterbury and Otago on the South Island.

Prior to taking on this role in early 2019, I worked for about 8 years with a group of irrigation districts in North Otago and South Canterbury. Irrigation schemes in New Zealand are generally privately owned companies with farmers as shareholders. Unlike U.S. irrigation districts, they usually don’t have any public officials involved in their governance.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations and the operations of your irrigation schemes?

personal protective equipment. Getting registered with the government required quite a bit of work from our schemes and service sector. The government has been making on‑the‑ground visits and phone calls to check that companies that have registered as essential services are complying with the requirements.

People have had to order and pick up equipment through a noncontact system. They can preorder essential equipment and then pick it up without having to go to a retail or wholesale outlet. It means that a lot of people involved in backroom operations have been working from home, but the people who work in the field have had to work hard to maintain distance from each other and follow strict protocols to protect themselves and stop the spread of the virus.

Irrigation Leader: What are you doing to keep your employees and members safe?

Elizabeth Soal: Because our employees travel frequently, Irrigation New Zealand has been set up for quite some time to allow for remote work and work from home. When the government announced on March 21 that we were moving to alert level 2 and that anyone who could work from home should, we did. The shift to alert levels 3 and 4 was fairly seamless for us as an organization. It did mean that we had to cancel our large conference, because the government banned any gatherings over 500 people when we were at alert level 2. Unfortunately, it’s a major event that only occurs every 2 years. We’ve also had to cancel our training workshops, but we are shifting training and education content online. We already had an e-learning platform up, and we shifted a lot more of our resources onto that so that our members could still maintain their training levels for things like local government requirements.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you and your schemes have done to maintain your workflow?

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRRIGATION NEW ZEALAND.

Elizabeth Soal: We already had the e-learning platform up and running, which was really helpful. Some of the speakers that we wanted to come to our conference, such as New Zealand’s minister for agriculture and the opposition spokesperson, have made short videos that we put up on our Facebook page. We’re looking at holding a forum for irrigation schemes via Zoom in a couple of weeks.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Elizabeth Soal: I’m not sure about the schemes, because a lot of the work they do in the field has continued with only slight modifications. As for all the people I’ve been speaking with, we’re actually doing quite well with remote work, Zoom meetings, and that sort of thing—it might be that we engage IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

in that way more in the future. The technology seems to have improved rapidly. I think many companies and organizations will start allowing more remote work and will be more flexible with their approaches to how employees work.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other irrigation associations?

Elizabeth Soal: We have found that a lot of information has been provided by the organizations that represent farmers.

We’ve tried to tailor the information that we have put out to our members so that it relates specifically to irrigation, because otherwise there’s the risk of information overload.

There is a lot of information coming through official channels, and we have been getting COVID‑19 updates from our prime minister daily at 1:00 p.m. We wanted our information to be specific and helpful and not simply to repeat those communications. We got good feedback in that regard, so I would advise other associations to do likewise.

Irrigation Leader: Is there any way that Americans or American companies can be more involved with Irrigation New Zealand?

Elizabeth Soal: Like I said, we had to cancel our conference, which attracts a lot of exhibitors and which we were hoping would increase the level of exposure of overseas companies.

We’re still looking at how we can do our events, but we would encourage anyone who is interested in working in New Zealand to get in touch with us. We’re looking at holding webinars and putting our content online. Get in touch, and we’ll see if there’s any way that we can reach out through some of the channels that we’re investigating. We are still producing our quarterly magazine IrrigationNZ News, which has a great reach across the sector.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Elizabeth Soal: Everyone has been working extremely hard to fight the virus, and we’ve had one of the strictest lockdown regimes in the world, but everyone’s feeling really positive about the future. Infection rates in New Zealand are low. I know the rates in America are much higher, and our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone who has been affected by the virus. IL

Elizabeth Soal is the CEO of Irrigation New Zealand. She can be contacted at esoal@irrigationnz.co.nz.

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Photos courtesy of Kim Fetrow Photography

Thank You KID Essential Employees Healthcare Staff First Responders Farmers Grocery Store Employees and everyone making sacrifices during this difficult time.

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Chuck Freeman, Kennewick Irrigation District

Richland and Kennewick, as seen from Badger Mountain.

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ennewick Irrigation District (KID) provides water to agricultural and residential customers across more than 20,000 acres in the Yakima River basin of Washington State. KID has 62 employees and serves 66,000 customers. In this interview, KID Manager Chuck Freeman tells Irrigation Leader how his district responded to the COVID‑19 pandemic and gives his advice about proactive decisionmaking.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and about KID.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

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IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF CORBIN HARDER.

Chuck Freeman: I’ve been the district manager of KID for 10½ years. We have a service area of 20,201 acres. We’re the last Bureau of Reclamation project in the Yakima River basin. Our district includes parts of the cities of Kennewick, Richland, and West Richland and parts of unincorporated Benton County. We have 11,000 agricultural acres; the rest is urban, surburban, and rural residential land. We have a little over 25,000 accounts and provide service to about 67,000 people. We have 62 permanent employees and up to 34 temporary employees in construction positions.

Chuck Freeman: We reacted pretty early—in fact, I thought at the time that I might have had people start working from home too early. On March 11, I started meeting with my department heads and my information technology (IT) guy to identify employees who could do their jobs from home. Twenty-one of us, myself included, have been working from home since mid‑March. Luckily, the district already had the necessary technology, so we had to buy very little. We paired people with laptops and created a virtual private network tunnel for each person so that they could get into our system in a secure manner. The folks who are still in the office are those whom we can’t set up at home, such as customer service. Five of those employees have to be in the office because they take in money, and there’s no way that we can have a person sitting at home processing payments. On March 11, we also closed the business to the public and restricted it to appointments only.

The majority of our employees who work out in the field needed to keep working because we had to make sure the canals were safe and that we could deliver water. We created work silos—that is, teams of people who are isolated from one another. One of our crews was set up just to do work orders, for instance on systems coming back online after the winter. Another crew deals with another part of startup, namely managing the canals and the big mainline

transmission pipes. The third crew is a construction crew that is still working on capital projects from the winter.

Irrigation Leader: How did the outbreak affect the KID staff who were on the Irrigation Leader tour in New Zealand?

Chuck Freeman: We sent three of our staff to New Zealand for the Irrigation Leader tour: Jason McShane, our engineering and operations manager; Kirk Rathbun, the president of our board; and KID's headquarters.

Dan Tissel, our engineer.

While they were gone, I was picking up on the news of this virus. At that time, the Centers for Disease Control were advising folks who were returning from abroad to stay home for 14 days.

I sent the three of them an e-mail while they were still in New Zealand, asking them to stay home for 14 days after their return, and they were all gracious enough to do that. Before Jason and Dan got home, we had our IT guy deliver technology to their front steps. Unfortunately, the day they returned from their 14‑day self‑quarantine, I sent them back home to work remotely while we ride out this storm.

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and your employees safe?

Chuck Freeman: We’re staying locked down and are keeping our building shut. We’ve provided our employees with a lot of information and the guidelines that have been released by the state and federal governments. One of the first things we purchased, back in mid-March, was hand sanitizer by the gallon. We were also able to get some masks and gloves. We gave each employee their own medium-size bottle of hand sanitizer to keep at their workstation or office. For the guys in the field, we set up containers of soap and water on their work trucks so that they can wash their hands.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KID.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you have done to maintain your workflow?

Chuck Freeman: We’re using technology. All our meetings are Zoom meetings, including our board meetings, leadership meetings, staff meetings, and department head meetings. We actually purchased 200 acres of land in a Zoom board meeting.

Chuck Freeman: I’ve been working from home since March 18, and it’s made me a little nervous. I feel like I need to get into the office. We had a big meeting the other day, the effects of which may be transformative to the district, and I was nervous about not being there. However, our board president, Kirk Rathbun, thinks it is working well, and what’s most important is that the board is comfortable with using this technology to do business.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect to retain any of the changes you have adopted during the pandemic after it is over?

Chuck Freeman: I think we will, especially if the pandemic comes back in waves. We have one conference room that will fit 20 people, but it will probably be a couple of years before we put that many people in it again. We are also working with an architect to evaluate our customer service workstations. We designed our building to be a hard target against physical harm, but we did not think about environmental controls to protect our employees. We’re looking at what we can retrofit.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts?

Chuck Freeman: Don’t be shy to implement things. KID locked down before any city did and before anything else in our community did. We talked a little bit about our decision on social media. Don’t be afraid to make big decisions if you think they will protect you and your staff. IL Chuck Freeman is the general manager of Kennewick Irrigation District in Kennewick, Washington. He can be reached at cfreeman@kid.org.

Irrigation Leader: How did your board members respond to that?

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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Mel Brooks, MHV Water

MHV Water infrastructure.

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el Brooks is the chief executive of MHV Water, a large-scale irrigation district—a scheme, in New Zealand parlance— in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. MHV Water delivers water and manages environmental compliance for approximately 140,000 acres of highly productive farmland.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

46 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and employees safe?

Mel Brooks: We have a COVID‑19 procedure that clarifies our approach to our team and farmers. Our expectations align with the government’s, so there is consistency of approach. If a member of our team needs to leave their home and respond to an alarm, they record the issue and their proposed action in our management software, Assura, either on their phone or computer. When they are out in the field, they take the necessary photos and update the result. This is all online, so there is no paper that needs to be handed to another person, risking contamination. The operations manager or any member of the management team can see the record of this action at the touch of a button.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you and your schemes have done to maintain workflow?

Mel Brooks: We adopted flexible working for all locations a couple of years ago, which has proven to be hugely beneficial. Those of us who usually work in the office are all still working normally, albeit from home. We had already set up home offices for all the members of our team, which included multiple screens and remote access to our networks, including all our accounting and payment functions.

For the operations team, it is a different story: While they can work online from home, they are normally in the field for approximately 80 percent of the day. After initial discussions about how we could take advantage of the lockdown, the team agreed that they would like to do some refresher software training, so we arranged for a local provider to do some training sessions via Zoom, which have been great for all concerned. We’ve done other software training, too, and the team members have used their upgraded Excel skills to perform additional analyses of our water use efficiency over the last couple of seasons. We have reviewed and updated IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF WATER STRATEGIES.

Mel Brooks: In New Zealand, the decision was made before we had any deaths from COVID‑19 for the country to lock down for a minimum of 4 weeks, meaning that only essential services were allowed to remain open and our international borders were closed. Schools, restaurants, bars, retailers, hairdressers, and playgrounds were all closed.

You could only leave home to go to the supermarket or pharmacy, which had strict limits on how many people could enter at a given time, as well as distancing and hygiene requirements; you could also exercise as long as you stayed 6 feet from other people and did not go swimming, surfing, or hiking. This extreme measure has had and will have a considerable economic effect, and people all over the country are having to return to their natural hair colors, but it has also meant that as of now, we have had 21 deaths and less than 1,500 cases.

While the definition of essential services certainly includes the supply of water to utilities and agriculture, given that we can deliver water remotely, we felt that it was important for us to respect the intent of the lockdown and ensure that we didn’t increase the risk to those in our population who are most susceptible to COVID‑19. As such, our team has now been working from home for more than 5 weeks, which has been a real change, especially for the members of our operations team, who don’t normally spend more than a couple of hours a day on a computer, and for those of us who are balancing homeschooling young children with work!

Water continues to be delivered and controlled remotely, even in the open races, with the assistance of our Rubicon gates.

While we are working from home, we continue to communicate by phone and teleconference calls, and we have been fortunate enough to have some software in place that has made the process far easier as we slowly move back to normality.

Mel Brooks and the MHV Water board.

numerous standard operating procedures, and in some cases written new protocols. While all this has perhaps not been massively innovative, it’s been a great use of time.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MHV WATER.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Mel Brooks: We have been using videoconferencing software like Zoom and Teams to keep in touch and to hold our weekly full-team meetings. One member of the team attended the first meeting with a crazy hat on and, in spite of my reluctance, it caught on. Now, for every meeting, each person in the team has worn a hat, crazy glasses, or a wig. It brings a smile to everyone’s face and starts off the call with some lighthearted banter. Making sure that the team members feel connected and engaged with each other at a time when everyone is isolated in their own bubble is critical. I’d like for us to continue this in some form after the lockdown. We are all passionate and serious about what we do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start or perhaps finish each meeting with some humor. We are also likely to use videoconferencing far more frequently for meetings to reduce our environmental footprint by eliminating the need to travel large distances. I also expect to see an eventual increase in the amount of working from home.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other irrigation schemes and districts?

water to our farmers because of the previous investments we have made both in hardware and software. We made those investments to be more efficient, but they have enabled us to largely continue to deliver water and run our business from our individual homes during the strict New Zealand lockdown.

This has been ideal, because our number 1 priority is ensuring that our people are safe. Delivering water is important too, but not at the expense of our people’s health or well-being. The New Zealand protocols are being relaxed slightly so that our operations team will be able to return to doing maintenance work in the field as long as they can maintain 6 feet of distance from other people at all times. Our software investments will assist us to schedule that work in order to ensure we are making the best use of our time. As we continue to return to normal, we will be reviewing what we could have done differently and analyze where we had gaps. There may be other opportunities for us to invest in hardware or software that will benefit us in our day-to-day operations or potentially to increase the scope of how we use software like Assura, which continues to surprise us with its ability to increase our business’s efficiency. Ultimately, I want to be sure that we continue to have robust contingency plans in place for any future pandemic or natural disaster. IL

Mel Brooks is the chief executive of MHV Water. She can be reached at mel@mhvwater.nz.

Mel Brooks: I’m not sure about advice, but I have been reflecting on the fact that we are only able to continue to deliver IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Alan Hansten, North Side Canal Company

The Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho.

T

he North Side Canal Company supplies irrigation water to about 160,000 acres of farmland in southern Idaho.

As an essential business, the company has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, North Side Manager Alan Hansten tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the company has had to face and what it’s had to change in order to continue operations.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about the North Side Canal Company.

50 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Alan Hansten: Our operations haven’t been too severely affected. We’re right in the middle of getting water started up, so we’re obviously an essential business. We’ve got everybody on deck. We’ve closed the office to walk-in traffic and just have our office staff here, generally without any visitors. We’ve encouraged social distancing among all our employees and are trying to keep everybody to the 6‑foot rule. My front office staff actually like the idea of having the front door locked at this time of year, because this is the peak time when everybody comes in to pay their bills. My staff aren’t interrupted all the time by having to help folks with their payments because our shareholders are dropping IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF STAPLEGUNTHER.

Alan Hansten: I’ve worked at the North Side Canal Company since February 2009 and took over as general manager in 2013. The North Side Canal Company supplies irrigation water to about 160,000 acres of farmland in southern Idaho, on the north side of the Snake River.

Our organization has about 56 employees. We also have hydropower within our system and work with the State of

Idaho on its program to replenish and restore the Eastern Snake Plain aquifer.

Southern Idaho countryside.

payments off in a dropbox, sending them by mail, or paying by credit card over the phone. Our crews come in in the morning and disperse fairly quickly. They’ve been taking a couple of rigs out to burn ditches instead of riding in pickups together. All our meetings with outside agencies and other partners are online or over the phone.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JESS JOHNSON AND NORTH SIDE CANAL COMPANY.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

Alan Hansten: We had some things already in place. Last fall, we had an employee issue that led us to lock the back and front doors all the time and only allow people in on a case-by-case basis, so we had some practice with locking the doors and using the dropbox out front. I’m seeing a lot of people using Zoom and other web-based platforms to conduct their meetings and communicate. For my last board meeting, I sent an e-mail out rather than doing a conference call. When discussion and explanation was required, I just talked to the board members individually. This month, I’m going to do the same thing: try to get as much off of the plate as I can via e-mail and limiting the conference call to issues that need discussion and a decision.

I’ve been watching and listening to see what other agencies and the Bureau of Reclamation are doing.

Lorri Gray, Reclamation’s Columbia–Pacific Northwest regional director, told us on a call that they had broken the operations staff that run the reservoirs into three different teams that rotate on a weekly basis. Each team works for 1 week and then has 2 weeks off. There’s always a 2‑week gap between their time on. If someone on a particular team gets sick, that team can quarantine and won’t spread the virus to others in their organization.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

we don’t need to have them as frequently as we have in the past. We can more efficiently use our time by using technology. The pandemic has pushed us to use existing technologies more—things we already had, but that we hadn’t used as effectively as we could have. I hope that some of that remains. The front office staff also likes having the front door closed because it allows them to keep up with their routine tasks by decreasing the burden associated with helping people with their invoices and bills in a face-to-face conversation. It’s more efficient and productive for them to have people either mail their checks in, call them in, or drop them in the dropbox.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any advice for other districts?

Alan Hansten: When the pandemic was beginning, I visited with our safety director and told him that we needed to stay up to date on the communications from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the governor’s office, the precautions we were required to take, and the regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. I would advise others to stay informed about what is happening in their areas and to help stop the spread. As more knowledge is gained about COVID‑19, it is becoming clear that anyone can potentially suffer serious health problems or death. It’s important that we work to stop the spread of the virus by following the recommendations of the CDC and others. It’s definitely helped, especially here in Idaho. I think our numbers are looking pretty good. IL

Alan Hansten is the general manager of North Side Canal Company. He can be contacted at awh@northsidecanal.com or (208) 324‑2319.

Alan Hansten: Personally, I like the online meetings. I think there’s value in face-to-face meetings as well, but IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

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John Winkler, Papio–Missouri River Natural Resources District

Omaha, Nebraska, and surrounding countryside.

T

he Papio–Missouri River Natural Resources District (NRD) in Omaha, Nebraska, is one of the 23 NRDs in Nebraska whose mission is to manage the soil, water, wildlife and forest resources within their boundaries. As an essential business, the Papio–Missouri River NRD has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, General Manager John Winkler tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the NRD has had to face and how it has adapted its operations to this challenging situation.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about your NRD.

54 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

John Winkler: We still have a number of employees at the office and in the field. That is because we’ve got several rural water systems that people rely on to provide drinking water to their homes and businesses. Our staff needs to remain on duty to fix any potential main breaks and resolve metering problems.

We also have hundreds of miles of levees and several dam structures that need to be operated and maintained.

We do have a few employees working remotely, however.

Those employees either have underlying health conditions or immune deficiencies or they have school-aged children who are at home because schools and daycares are closed.

We’ve been flexible with our employees. Some have used vacation time to work from home just because they weren’t IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF RON REIRING.

John Winkler: I am the general manager of the Papio– Missouri River NRD. I’ve worked for the NRD for about 13½ years. Our NRD is a bit different from the rest of Nebraska’s NRDs due to the fact that we have the state’s largest metropolitan area, the city of Omaha, within our boundaries. We’ve got to deal with more urban issues than other parts of the state. In addition, our part of the state receives quite a bit more rainfall than the western part of the state, so flood control is a huge issue. This is especially true

because we are surrounded by three major rivers: the Platte River to the south, the Elkhorn River to the west, and the Missouri River to the east. We have 52 regular, full-time employees. During the summer months, we have a number of seasonal maintenance folks, bringing our total to around 60.

comfortable working in the office. We want to make sure that they are comfortable doing their jobs.

We’ve closed the office to the public and are holding all our appointments via Zoom. We held a board meeting in April via Zoom—that was the first time we’ve ever held a meeting electronically, and it worked pretty well. I think we may go back to in-person meetings in May. We’ve eliminated all nonessential travel, especially outside the state.

Everybody’s been practicing social distancing. We’ve closed the restrooms and playgrounds in our parks but have kept the parks themselves open. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about that, because people use the trails and fish in the lakes. Our only requirement is that the people who use those facilities practice the health measures prescribed by federal, state, and local authorities.

The mental health and morale aspect of the lockdown is a challenge, but some positive things have come out of it.

My desk has never looked cleaner, and I got a lot of stuff done that I was putting off because of meetings and other activities that required me to be out of the office.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else that you’re doing to keep your customers and employees safe?

John Winkler: We’ve tried to increase electronic communication. My biggest fear was that things would fall through the cracks when we lost our regular face-to-face communication with our constituents, vendors, and partner agencies. That hasn’t really happened. We are still following our usual practice of responding to citizen complaints, concerns, and questions within a day, if not within the hour. At the very least, we let them know that we have received their communication and are looking into the answer. That didn’t falter one bit. I have to give my staff kudos because, even if they weren’t in the office, they kept on top of their phone calls, e-mails, and other communications. None of our services have been affected, which is a great testament to our employees.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PAPIO–MISSOURI RIVER NRD.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you’ve done to maintain your workflow?

John Winkler: Once we knew we would not be able to interact in person, we started to use Zoom. It’s allowed people to keep up face-to-face interaction, even if it is remote. It has even enhanced our communication within the office. Now that we can’t just walk down the hall and talk to a fellow employee, we have to make more of a concerted effort to communicate, whether by phone, computer, e-mail, or text. When something needs to be handled, I’ve seen employees communicating at all hours of the day or night to get an answer or to get an issue resolved, which you would never have seen before. Once we knew that office operations were going to change, we released a directive telling all employees that they needed to check in with their immediate supervisors every day—morning, IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

afternoon, and right before they sign off for the evening.

The communication between supervisors and employees has improved because they need to make an especially concerted effort to keep one another informed. It’s forced people to be more proactive and not to procrastinate. I hope that when things open back up, that kind of communication continues.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

John Winkler: I see a lot of changes being retained. I envision that, in society at large, a lot more meetings will be held remotely. I think we will see less travel, both within the state and without, at least for the immediate future. I think you’ll probably see legislation in the future that will allow public bodies to hold electronic meetings that are open to the public instead of in-person meetings, or that will allow members of the body who cannot attend to vote remotely, which is not the case now.

That could also enhance the public’s ability to access these meetings. Not everybody has the time to show up to a city council, county board, or NRD meeting. I think it would be good to use technology to let them listen to or participate in meetings electronically. That would require us to do some things differently, but we exist to serve the people who pay our salaries via their taxes, so it would be good to increase participation.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any advice for other NRDs and agencies?

John Winkler: There is no one-size-fits-all response to this.

You have to look at the situation of your community, your workforce, and your agency and make accommodations accordingly. The biggest thing for us was to ensure everybody’s health and safety, but we also wanted to be flexible enough that our service didn’t suffer. Everyone has to find the right balance for their entity. You have to be willing to change. During March and early April, the directives and health measures were changing daily, sometimes hourly. We would come up with a policy or a way of doing business one minute and have to change it the next. We had to make sure that we were nimble, flexible, and able to respond and adapt as the situation dictated. I think this will make our agency— as well as agencies at every level and private companies— more flexible and adaptable in the future. IL

John Winkler is the general manager of the Papio–Missouri River Natural Resources District. He can be contacted at jwinkler@papionrd.org.

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Diane Campanile, People-Dynamics

Diane Campanile gives a presentation.

T

he COVID‑19 pandemic has disrupted the day-to-day functioning of businesses and public agencies in myriad ways, raising safety worries and motivating a large shift to remote work. Amid these changes, employers have obligations to support their sick employees, protect their healthy ones, and figure out how to restart normal operations in a safe and prudent manner. In this interview, Diane Campanile, the founder of human resources (HR) firm People-Dynamics, tells Irrigation Leader about the rules and regulations all employers should be aware of in these challenging times.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and your company, People-Dynamics.

Irrigation Leader: What are the top HR concerns amid the COVID‑19 pandemic?

Diane Campanile: Employers are deciding how to bring employees back into the workplace, whether they have been

56 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the recent federal legislation dealing with employers’ responsibilities during the pandemic.

Diane Campanile: The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), effective on April 1, provides sick leave and extended family leave to employees who are out of work for a number of reasons related to COVID‑19. The extended family leave portion of the act covers employees who need to care for children 14 years old and under who are not attending a school building or do not have proper childcare as a result of COVID‑19. Employees are being asked to return to work at a time when our schools and childcare centers are IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PEOPLE-DYNAMICS.

Diane Campanile: I started People-Dynamics in 2018 after serving for many years in HR in both public and private organizations at various levels. People-Dynamics concentrates on assisting small to mid-size organizations in need of HR expertise and assistance. Our focus is on employer compliance.

I received my formal education from West Chester University, the Wharton School of Business, and Villanova University. I am enrolled at Tulane Law School.

telecommuting, laid off, or reporting to their regular place of work each day. It will need to be determined whether temporary layoffs and furloughs constitute a separation of employment; that will determine whether employees who are brought back need rehire or new hire paperwork.

Another task is designing offices that provide social distancing, developing policies and procedures that keep employees safe, and working to create and sustain a positive culture. It will be necessary to enforce social distancing and hygiene measures and to clean workspaces sufficiently.

Offices with open floor plans and cubicles pose a challenge, particularly with regard to cleaning the cubicles, many of which are made of fabric, and figuring out how to distance them. Daily sanitation is going to be required.

still closed, and they’re still going to ask to remain out of work beyond the time allotted by the FFCRA. Under the FFCRA, an employee is only allotted up to 2 weeks of sick time. Once it is exhausted, it’s gone. This is why we are seeing eligible employees request to use the extended family leave portion first. They are saving their sick time in case they need it in the future.

Irrigation Leader: How much total time can employees take from work?

Diane Campanile: The FFCRA allows for up to a total of 12 weeks. It is important to note that there are some circumstances in which this time may be more contained, for example if the employee has used traditional family and medical leave time in the past year.

Irrigation Leader: What is your advice for organizations drafting a policy for returning employees?

Diane Campanile: Employers should remember that this has been a difficult time for employees who may have lost family or friends or sustained financial hardships due to this virus.

They are still concerned. Employers need to act in good faith, make required changes to the workplace to ensure the safety of their employees, and consider reasonable accommodations for employees at high risk of contracting the virus.

Clients have considered bringing employees back on a rotating basis: first group A employees and then group B employees. However, some medical professionals have suggested that this increases the likelihood that somebody in the building has COVID‑19. It may be better to bring some employees back while allowing others who can telecommute to continue for now.

Employers need to prepare for visitors to the workplace.

Consider a notice requesting that those with symptoms not enter. Employers should already have a visitor log in place to keep track of those in their building. Have your visitors confirm that they do not have any of the symptoms described by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). People-Dynamics can supply any interested employers a copy of a self-screening questionnaire for employees and visitors. Require guests to use hand sanitizer and a mask if appropriate.

Irrigation Leader: What sorts of personal protective equipment are employers obligated to supply their employees when they return?

Diane Campanile: At this point, it depends on the state and the industry, but we think employers will be encouraged, if not required, to make masks available for their employees.

Most of my clients plan on providing masks.

Diane Campanile: Yes; they are going to be responsible for ensuring that the workplace meets reasonable standards.

Sanitation instructions are specifically outlined on the CDC website. We are seeing claims come in from employees who contend that they have contracted the virus while at work. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, but we believe that it is in employers’ best interest to deep clean their offices every 24 hours.

Irrigation Leader: What other policies should employers have in place with regard to COVID‑19?

Diane Campanile: Employers should create a telecommuting policy if they do not have one already. Next, they should work on a return-to-work policy. Employees may be required to self-screen prior to coming into the organization’s facilities. This can be done through new technology available on cell phones. Another thing to consider is a policy requiring employees to attest to daily review and self-monitoring. Nonexempt employees should be paid for the time it takes to be screened. As most employers are aware, they may be eligible to check their employees’ temperatures. If your organization adopts a policy to do so, ensure that the area where it is done is private and that the staff is properly trained.

Irrigation Leader: What are the best sources of information for employers who want to know what rules they have to comply with?

Diane Campanile: For any healthcare-related questions, the CDC; for any employment-related questions, the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers will need to pay attention to each website, along with that of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Employers with labor union contracts should work with the union to make sure the measures put in place don’t violate their collective bargaining agreement.

Irrigation Leader: If folks have questions, can they contact you?

Diane Campanile: Absolutely. They can contact us at hr@people-dynamics.com or via our office phone at (484) 889‑9682. IL

Diane Campanile is the founder of People-Dynamics. For more about People-Dynamics, visit people-dynamics.com.

Irrigation Leader: Are employers required to deep clean work areas?

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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Shane Leonard, Roosevelt Water Conservation District

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

RWCD's main canal.

T

he Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) has been serving farmers, urban irrigators, and other water users in the Phoenix, Arizona, region for almost a century. The district’s current service area is approximately 40,000 acres. As an essential business, RWCD has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, RWCD General Manager Shane Leonard tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the agency has had to face and how it has changed its operations to overcome them.

Shane Leonard: I am the general manager of RWCD, which is located

58 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF RWCD.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about RWCD.

in eastern Maricopa County, in the great state of Arizona. I am the fourth generation of my family working at the district. I received my degree from Arizona State University’s Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management, majoring in finance and minoring in finite resource management. RWCD is approximately 40,000 acres in size, 10,000 acres of which is still irrigated, either in large-scale agricultural production or in municipal, industrial, and smaller-acreage backyard subdivisions. We currently have 50 employees. We produce approximately 70,000 acre-feet of water per year for delivery. Right now, we’re finishing moving into a brand-new facility, the first built in 100 years.

Shane Leonard: From a water delivery and operational standpoint, it hasn’t affected us directly, because we are an essential business and are required to make deliveries. What it has changed is how shift changes work for our employees. Our zanjeros work for 7 days in a row and then have 7 days off. Their shift changes are at 5:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. At those times, they used to come to their offices and update their partners on the day’s activities. Now, however, we’ve instituted a separation requirement and a disinfecting protocol. The zanjero who is coming off shift will go into the office, lay down the paperwork, disinfect everything, leave the office, and stand outside; the guy coming on shift will go into the office, grab the paperwork, make sure he understands what’s going on, and then come outside and talk with his partner about what tasks need immediate attention.

Often, when the guy going off shift gets home, he’ll call in to make sure that everything is going well. From that point of view, we’ve had to make changes to ensure that we’re keeping our distance from one another and are disinfecting common areas, vehicles, and equipment.

On the administrative side, the pandemic has caused more problems because of the need to follow social distancing. We’ve had to reduce our office staff to a skeleton crew. Basically, we have only one person from each area come in at a time. For example,

PHOTO COURTESY OF LASZLO ILYES.

Aerial view of Phoenix, Arizona, and surrounding areas.

we have an assistant bookkeeper and a bookkeeper, two customer service representatives, and both an office manager and an assistant office manager, but right now we only have one of the bookkeepers, one of the customers service reps, and one of the office managers come in for limited hours to handle paperwork and get caught up on the previous day’s work. Then they leave, and we bring in another set of employees to handle the next day’s operations, disinfecting the whole time. We are keeping the paperwork up to a minimum standard so that we can make sure we understand where we are, both from the position of the district and with regard to water deliveries. Our building is currently closed to the public, which is ironic considering that it is our first brand new building in 100 years.

The situation has led us to rely more heavily on technology. Thankfully, we are in a new complex with technology that allows communication and basic operations.

Assura Software is helping us out with our logistics and our repair and maintenance operations so that we can triage our tasks. One interesting thing is that our customer interaction has gone up since Arizona’s COVID-19 restrictions went into effect. We’ve had a tremendous increase in the number of people opening new accounts and reopening old ones. I believe the raw numbers indicate that our points of contact have increased by nearly 200 percent over the same time last year. Everybody’s at home, looking for something to do, and they realize that now is as good a time as any to go repair their irrigation systems, reopen their accounts, and so forth. In that sense, the COVID‑19 pandemic has caused a tremendous increase in the number of customers who have reengaged for irrigation and water service.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Our new building and technology will allow us, for the first time, to hold an entirely electronic board meeting. It will include not only our board members, but the public as well. The logistics of ensuring that we’re meeting our obligations to board members, the public, and open meeting laws are challenging, but my staff is up to the task. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing that you’ve done in response to the COVID‑19 situation?

Shane Leonard: In terms of direct operations, the main thing we’ve done, and I wouldn’t really call it innovative, has been to truly give our employees the authority to handle issues and incidents in the field in real time without needing to involve all the levels of management that we might have involved in the past. Department supervisors, managers, and area managers are not as readily available today because of remote work and staggered office hours. Our current crew of zanjeros has the ability to solve problems, at least temporarily, in the field. Now we’re letting them do it, whereas before we’d say, “Submit a field report, and we’ll get back to this issue as soon as we can.” Our customer compliments have increased, too!

This will not be surprising to those who are familiar with irrigation districts, but trespassing incidents have increased significantly because of the closure of parks and trails. People see that they can still get to the canal banks and are heading there instead. We could have responded by just saying, “You shall not do it,” but we are instead reaching JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

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out to the cities we have cojurisdiction with to try to work cooperatively with them to see if we can make this a public benefit. That’s probably a secondary item considering what’s going on, but it’s been surprising how quickly we’ve gotten traction on that.

The other thing that we did was suspend the collection of water charges. The day we closed the office to the public, we still took orders and made water deliveries, but we stopped suspending accounts that were in the red. Unemployment claims are up and everybody in the agricultural industry is now suffering. Our large agricultural customers were depending on what, up until 6 weeks ago, was going to be a good year; they bought feed and borrowed money accordingly and are now looking at tremendous losses.

With that in mind, we suspended water charges on a temporary basis. I believe what’s going to end up happening is that RWCD will provide a one-time waiver for charges.

Thankfully, we have the reserves to do allow for this should our board allow it.

will help us reduce our premiums going forward, including distancing, disinfecting, and work safety protocols.

The second thing that I could see retaining is refining procedures to continue to allow front-line staff to make more decisions without involving department managers or supervisors, particularly on the administrative and delivery side.

Finally, unfortunately enough, we will be formalizing a more detailed crisis plan to respond to events on this scale, including a possible resurgence of COVID‑19 this fall. We had emergency response plans in place, but they didn’t envision a pandemic on this level. One of the things that has been of concern to me is the lack of consistency in the federal, state, and local messaging on what to do to protect the health of your workers and the public. It’s been challenging to make sure that we’re meeting those obligations without going too far one way or another. It’s probably the toughest employeepublic interaction situation we’ve had to deal with in recent times, because there is no primer for this.

It’s been incredibly difficult to get logical, consistent recommendations or directions from the authorities.

That’s a challenge that I hope we don’t have to deal with if and when this happens again.

Irrigation Leader: What advice would you give to other districts?

A cotton field near Phoenix, Arizona.

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Shane Leonard: One example that comes to mind is that The Arizona Group, our insurance brokerage firm, has come out with numerous recommendations for how business can turn several short-term solutions into long-term policies that

60 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Shane Leonard the is general manager of the Roosevelt Water Conservation District. He can be contacted at s.leonard@rwcd.net.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENNIFER JOHNSON AND RWCD.

RWCD is really trying to find ways to assist our growers with those issues. For example, Arizona dairies are dumping milk, culling cows, and doing whatever else they can to try and keep above board. Some dairy operators in the Phoenix area are expecting to lose $500,000–$1,000,000. They aren’t big enough to absorb that and survive. In short, if there is a way for RWCD to provide some relief to our customers, we’re going to find a way to do it.

Shane Leonard: Stay nimble and talk to everyone whom you trust to give you accurate, logical, and beneficial advice.

We’re grateful to have a number of former military and police personnel working for the district. One of the things that I did early on was to reach out to them and say, “You’ve got military training, you’ve got specialized training, if this were happening to you, what would you do?” Stay open minded, but firmly resolve to ensure the safety of your employees and the public. Stay in contact with your board members as is necessary to ensure they are informed. Doing so allowed me the confidence to make real-time decisions that were in the best interest of our employees and the public. Ultimately, I believe people will understand if you have water delivery issues. What they will have a hard time with, and what you should have a hard time defending, is performing your work but making employees and the public sick by doing so. That’s what we are trying to avoid, and that’s where we’re focusing on. IL

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Jasper Fanning, Upper Republican Natural Resources District nonessential meetings has been eliminated. We are utilizing technology to reduce unnecessary travel and contact as much as possible.

Irrigation Leader: What is the most innovative thing you have done to maintain your workflow?

A landscape in Perkins County, Nebraska.

T

he Upper Republican Natural Resources District (NRD), based in Imperial, Nebraska, is one of 23 local NRDs charged with protecting Nebraska’s natural resources. The Upper Republican NRD serves an area that covers Dundy, Chase, and Perkins Counties in the southwestern corner of the state, including approximately 450,000 acres of groundwater-irrigated land.

In this interview, Upper Republican NRD General Manager Jasper Fanning tells Irrigation Leader about how his agency has kept up its operations amid the challenges of the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations?

Irrigation Leader: How are you keeping your customers and employees safe?

Jasper Fanning: We’ve made operational changes to reduce the frequency and duration of close contact with customers to the extent possible. Staff travel for

62 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: Do you expect any of the changes you have made to be retained after the pandemic is over?

Jasper Fanning: I see videoconferencing being used more moving forward. In the past, some users have failed to adopt it for regular use, but I think being forced to use it will result in a more permanent adoption. For remote locations such as ours, the cost savings pay for the equipment after only a few uses.

It has been enlightening to see how little disruption has been caused by the elimination of numerous meetings—in some cases, the effects have been positive. I think there are opportunities to use technology to evaluate our business practices and prioritize our resources to further increase productivity. We’re already seeing benefits from the changes we have implemented in response to this situation. My goal is to use the experiences gained to drive positive change in our organization.

One observation I have made is that not just in our shop, but across organizations, people have stepped up to deal with the pandemic and to protect the health of their employees and those they serve. They have focused on what’s important and are working to get through this so that we can all get back to business as usual—whatever that looks like moving forward.

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for other districts?

Jasper Fanning: Turn off CNN and MSNBC in the office, stock up on the most necessary supplies early, and provide a source of balanced information so that employees can stay calm, cool, and safe at work and at home. IL Jasper Fanning is the general manager of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District. For more about the Upper Republican NRD, visit urnrd.org.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF JARED WINKLER.

Jasper Fanning: As with many organizations, the greatest threat to productivity was national media sensationalism and political overreaction to the disease from other states; this had to be counteracted so that resources could be directed toward effective and practical risk mitigation measures.

We tried to keep the fact that the disease is 99 percent survivable in mind and protect the high-risk members of our staff and community while maintaining productivity.

Keep in mind that southwestern Nebraska features natural social-distancing attributes—at least we did until Colorado implemented a travel ban that resulted in increased visitation

by Coloradans fleeing stricter health measures. We’ve made minor adjustments to our office operations to mitigate the risk of the disease as much as possible. Generally, we’ve implemented the measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For instance, the office was closed to nonessential walk-in business, accommodating only essential office meetings and business. Staff who reported possible exposure self-quarantined. Field work and deliveries were not significantly affected, though staff are encouraged to reduce close contact with customers as much as possible.

Jasper Fanning: We’ve used videoconferencing to hold virtual board meetings and are communicating with customers and staff by digital means more than we have traditionally.

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Tom Myrum, Washington State Water Resources Association

Center-pivot irrigation along the Columbia River in Washington State.

T

he Washington State Water Resources Association (WSWRA), based in Olympia, is the coordinating agency for irrigation districts across Washington State.

It represents over 100 irrigation districts and companies, which together deliver water to over 1.1 million acres of irrigated agriculture. The WSWRA is the oldest continuously active organization dedicated to the development and operation of irrigated lands and to related water resource activities in Washington State. Today, irrigation districts, like all businesses across the United States, are seeing their operations affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, WSWRA Executive Director Tom Myrum tells Irrigation Leader about what WSWRA is doing to face up to this crisis.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and the WSWRA.

64 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE

Irrigation Leader: How has the pandemic affected the farmers and irrigation districts who are members of your association?

Tom Myrum: A large majority of the agriculture in Washington State is made up of high-value crops, known as specialty crops, so agriculture in this state is often labor intensive, with smaller farms than what you’d see in the Midwest. A lot of the farm workers are essential to keeping the farms functioning, so the coronavirus has had bigger effects on the farmers themselves than on the irrigation districts. As we budget for next year, we’re looking at how the effects on the farms will eventually come to affect the irrigation districts.

Irrigation Leader: How did the WSWRA itself respond to the pandemic?

Tom Myrum: In the beginning, there was so much information coming out of the federal government. Various IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAM BEEBE.

Tom Myrum: I’ve been the executive director of the WSWRA for almost 25 years. It is a small association with just two employees: my executive assistant and me. The WSWRA has over 100 irrigation district members who deliver water to 1.2 million acres of irrigated agriculture.

Irrigated agriculture is a nearly $7 billion industry in

Washington State, and about two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the state is represented by irrigation districts, so we have a major stake in the state’s agricultural sector.

bills were being passed, and there was a directive on essential workers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The state and the governor seemed to have a proclamation a day; sometimes, the governor would make a proclamation and then have to supplement it later the same day. One of the best roles an association could play was as a clearing house for information. The information would come in; we would push it out to our members; our members would send back their questions; and in some cases we could even crowdsource answers from among our other members. That worked effectively over the last 2–3 weeks, during which the most change took place; now, things aren’t changing as quickly. The association’s goal was to be a central point of information when things were happening quickly; that was our single most important role in those first several weeks.

Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected the WSWRA’s scheduled events and meetings?

Tom Myrum: We can’t have in-person meetings because of the state’s requirement that nonessential workers stay home and stay healthy. To promote the social distancing that’s being required of us, we are replacing our meeting with conference calls. That works well, but in-person meetings are really the essence of our association—they are how we build personal relationships among our members. I anticipate that, after this, people will want to have fewer in-person meetings just because of the travel and time they require. However, since one of our top goals as an association is to maintain relationships among members, we will try to ensure that when this is over, we will get back to some in-person meetings.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN PRECHTEL AND WSWRA.

Irrigation Leader: Is it possible that you might alternate between in-person and conference call meetings?

Tom Myrum: It’s possible that we could do that during the winter months when travel is difficult. In the summer, when travel is easier, we’ll hold our meetings in person. We’ll have to discuss what we want to do. There are a lot of options.

The Washington State Department of Ecology recently held a meeting via Webex for an advisory committee that they’re launching. Typically, they would have gotten 50–60 people to attend an in-person meeting, but on Webex, 150 people showed up, and around 140 actually stayed on through the entire call. As a result of that good turnout, they got excellent feedback. Businesses and the state government may find it beneficial to use these platforms to attract greater participation in the future.

Irrigation Leader: What about your registration meetings?

Has the pandemic affected your association’s income?

Tom Myrum: Right now, our only meeting is our annual conference, which is held in December, so we have the benefit of being able to wait a bit before we need to make IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

A canal runs through apple and pear orchards near the Yakima River.

final decisions about it. We don’t know if people will change the way they feel about going to large social gatherings such as conferences. Through our weekly calls with the executives of the state associations, I’m getting a feel for how that is playing out in different states. As the summer moves on, we’ll get a better sense of what’s going to happen in December. I think our members are highly likely to continue to come to meetings like ours, especially since our next meeting is not until December. I have to give a lot of credit to the other associations that had to deal with this in real time and have adapted to the new reality.

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything that you’ve learned that you want to pass on to other associations?

Tom Myrum: Honestly, I think the other associations are way ahead of me out of necessity. They have been giving information and advice to me, and I’m taking it. I’ve asked them how they have managed to handle the changes. One of the things we’re discussing is how this is going to affect our revenue this year and next year. If people change the way they feel about going to association meetings, the budgetary effects could be significant. Most of the associations have sufficient reserves to handle a shortfall for a meeting or two, but after that, we may have to change how we operate.

Nobody has figured this all out yet, and those weekly calls we’ve been doing have been informative. IL Tom Myrum is the executive director of the Washington State Water Resources Association. He can be contacted at tmyrum@wswra.org.

JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE | IRRIGATION LEADER

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Upcoming Events CANCELED: July 7–9 North Dakota Water Users Association, Summer Meeting, Grand Forks, ND (possible virtual training sessions TBD) July 8–10 (new date) P3 Water Summit (virtual event) POSTPONED: July 14–16 Hydrovision International, Envisioning a Hydro Future, Minneapolis, MN CANCELED: July 15 North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association, Summer Leadership Retreat, Medora, ND July 28–31 (new date) Association of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference & Exhibition (virtual event) July 30–31 (new date) National Ground Water Association, Workshop on Groundwater in the Northwest (virtual event) August 3 Nebraska Water Center/Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources/North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska Water Conference: Irrigation in a Water-Deficit Region, Scottsbluff, NE (August 4–5: optional water tour) August 4–8 National Water Resources Association, Western Water Seminar, Spokane, WA August 25–27 Colorado Water Congress, Summer Conference and Membership Meeting, Steamboat, CO September 14–16 (new date) WESTCAS, Annual Conference, San Diego, CA September 14–16 WaterPro Conference, Phoenix, AZ September 15–17 Husker Harvest Days, Grand Island, NE POSTPONED: September 22–24 Irrigation Australia Conference and Exhibition, Sydney, Australia POSTPONED: September 22–28 International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, 24th Congress & 72nd International Executive Council meeting, Sydney, Australia September 27–29 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Annual Conference, Kearney, NE October 19 Utah Water Users Association, Annual Summit, Provo, UT October 21–23 Texas Water Conservation Association, Fall Conference, San Antonio, TX October 26-29 American Water Works Association, CA/NV Section Annual Fall Conference, Las Vegas, NV November 17–19 (new date) Hydrovision International, Envisioning a Hydro Future, Minneapolis, MN

Past issues of Irrigation Leader are archived at irrigationleadermagazine.com @IrrigationLeader

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