Portrait
Reflections on 40 Years with LADWP: Intake Sits Down with Retiring General Manager and Chief Engineer Martin L. Adams
By Carol Tucker
Adams as a young engineer.
Martin L. Adams will be hanging up his slide rule after 40 years of service, including the past five years as our General Manager and Chief Engineer. As a search for his successor progresses, Mayor Karen Bass has requested that Adams continue leading LADWP until a new General Manager is brought on board, citing Adams’ expertise and experience as integral to our operations. Adams has graciously agreed to the mayor's request and has postponed his March 1st retirement date. He will also to continue to remain available for a short period after a new General Manager is hired to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.
Throughout most of his LADWP career, Adams has been an engineer immersed in the Water System. He started with LADWP as an emergency position as a Drafting Aide in the summer of 1981, a Student Engineer in 1982 and 1983, and full-time as an entry level Civil Engineering Assistant in July of 1984.
As he moved up the ranks, he was instrumental in planning and implementing major changes to water storage, conveyance and treatment facilities to meet new water quality regulations. He spent almost half of his career in system operations, including 10 years as the Director of Water Operations overseeing the day-to-day operation and maintenance of Los Angeles’ water supply and delivery system, and the L.A. Aqueduct. In 2016, he became the Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing the Department’s Water and Power Systems. In July 2019, he was appointed Interim General Manager and was formally nominated to the post by then Mayor Eric Garcetti in September 2019. He proudly became the first to adopt the title of “Chief Engineer” in more than two decades.
Recently, Intake had an opportunity to talk to Adams about the highlights of his LADWP career, the challenges he has encountered, his views on the Department’s future, and his advice to new employees.
Intake: Tell us about the biggest highlights of your career at LADWP?
Caption: Adams speaks to the community at the opening of the public pathway at the sound end of Silver Lake Reservoir.
Adams:
The biggest highlights go back to when I was in charge of operations in the Water System. What really stands out is the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It was a tragic event but an unforgettable experience to oversee the recovery of our entire (Water) System. Managing through a natural disaster of that magnitude was a tremendous learning opportunity and a chance to put my knowledge to the ultimate test.
Only a couple of hours after the earthquake, I was standing on the old Van Norman dam (below what is now Los Angeles Reservoir). We were watching a 72-inch water main that had split and was spraying water up into the power transmission lines and knocking down pine trees on the other side of the road. I remember checking the large cracks in the pavement on the L.A. Reservoir dam and having serious second thoughts about the advisability of being there, and then being deep down in the leaking 96-inch outlet valve vault during aftershocks and realizing it was smarter to get back up the 40-foot safety ladder to the ground surface!
I was so impressed by our field forces. Those were pretty bad conditions—and everybody just stayed on for long, long hours, doing whatever we needed them to do without question to get things fixed.
One of the other things I’m really proud of is how we planned and executed strategies to comply with water quality regulations at our open reservoirs in the city—a process of planning and negotiating with community groups at each reservoir that lasted more than 10 years and required changing the way we move, store and treat water throughout the city. The regulations required us to address all of our open-air finished water. We eventually decided to bypass and remove from service almost all of the major open reservoirs, which dated back to the days of William Mulholland, and cover or replace our smaller reservoirs. We submerged pipe along the bottom of Lower Stone Canyon in lieu of drilling additional tunnels to get the water around the perimeter, which would have been far more costly.
The changes we made were a complete departure with how we had operated the Water System in the past, and I went to every water yard to explain to our field forces why this was okay and how it would work. I was afraid I would be branded as a heretic otherwise for taking such a drastic turn away from our historical facilities and operations. And in the end, we managed to deliver it all for less than we thought we would have to spend.
We also implemented several innovative solutions in the process. For instance, when we realized the plan to cover L.A. Reservoir was extremely expensive and fraught with technical difficulties, (the late) Pankaj Parekh, then Water Quality Director, and I made the decision to build our first ultraviolet treatment plant, which became the second largest plant of its kind in the country. We also decided to try using shade balls, which had been a temporary measure at three smaller reservoirs, on L.A. Reservoir. That saved a half-billion in capital costs, put us on the international social media scene, and continues to save operational costs every day.
Adams has been the face and voice of LADWP over the years. Above, he speaks to media during a tour of Headworks East, the first of two buried tanks completed at the Headworks Reservoir Complex. Headworks has replaced the water storage capacity of Silverlake and Ivanhoe reservoirs.
Intake: What do you think are the main accomplishments during your tenure as General Manager and Chief Engineer?
Caption: Adams led by example during the pandemic days, coming to the office and receiving COVID and flu shots.
Adams:
It was an auspicious beginning. I became the (Interim) General Manager on July 23, 2019, which had been planned. What wasn’t planned was that the day before—on July 22—the FBI came to the (John Ferraro Building). It was clear that the first thing I needed to do was stabilize the Department, reassure the employees, and restore trust in the agency. I think we made good headway with that, but seven months later, COVID hit. I had to manage the workforce issues that arose. We had to continue to both serve the public and protect our employees’ safety and health, because, back when COVID started, it was very dangerous and no one understood the disease at all or how to protect ourselves from it.
So, it was a challenge—keeping employees safe and assuring customers of the continuity of our operations. I was in the office basically every day for those years. I felt I couldn’t be a good example and a leader if I wasn’t willing to come in myself.
In the meantime, we still had huge goals for strengthening infrastructure, continuing with the Los Angeles 100 Percent Renewable Energy Study (LA100), and meeting regulatory deadlines. We still had a tremendous amount of work that we needed to do to support the city and meet what became a huge boom in construction, and the accompanying demands for new power and water services. We kept all that work going. It was a testament to every man and woman who works for the Department, and LADWP stayed on top of what we need to do—not only meeting our existing service level, but growing our system, offering new ways for our customers to save, and continuing to aggressively push our clean energy and local water goals.
In the Water System, I’m seeing projects getting done that we have talked about for a long time, like groundwater treatment facilities, which I worked on since I was a young engineer. Other projects also came to fruition, such as the public improvements for walking around the Tujunga Spreading Grounds. A major accomplishment for the Department was completing the LA100 Study. We also publicly announced our goal to pursue green hydrogen power and to champion a 100 percent clean energy future that we can all work toward.
Adams at the opening of the Tujunga Spreading Grounds Enhancement project, expanding our water resources and benefiting the community.
Intake: What has been your leadership philosophy in guiding an organization as complex as LADWP?
Caption: Adams’ leadership style puts the focus on people, inside and outside of the Department.
Adams:
The work of the organization is huge – so far reaching – and as General Manager there are only certain things that you can directly touch. At end of day, you really have to let your people do their job. You have to trust your managers, and I think, or at least hope, that they felt empowered to run their own shops. My philosophy was always to talk about what we wanted to do and influence that as I needed to, and then manage by exception. I realized early on that I can’t plug into everything, and I if I tried, I would just slow down progress. My approach is that I trust that everyone is able to do their job and fully expect they will do it well. My focus was more on the issues and problems that arose – you could call them “exceptions” to our plans, and helping solve those so my senior team could continue to charge ahead.
During the three-plus years of COVID, a lot of my attention was spent supporting the organization and our employees’ needs, and also focusing on public welfare, such as customers’ ability to pay, whether we needed to or could afford to have a rate increase and so forth. Those things are the least natural and least fun things for an engineer but those were the issues in the forefront because of what we were going through as a society.
One strength I was able to draw on was my long-time focus and genuine interest in people…I like to say I tried to put the “civilization” into civil engineering.
Intake: How has the Department changed in the past four decades?
Caption: Adams in the days before computers, working at a desk in a long row of cubicles.
Adams:
I’m picturing myself as a student engineer in Water Distribution on the 14th floor, sitting at one in a long row of desks, with linoleum floors because we had no carpeting at the time. I remember being in planning in the later 1980s when the first personal computers came out, my section head said, "Great, one of these days everybody’s going to want one of these things on their desk."
One of the biggest things that happened at the Department is the changing technology – from computing to cell phones to just about everything. I had one of the Department’s first cell phones – it was in a pretty big case! I still have five or six pagers in my desk from years gone by. How we communicate has totally changed. Now we communicate mainly by cell phone and text instead of radios and typed and faxed instructions, and everything is immediate. Sometimes that is good, and sometime not so much. The flip side is that the ease of communication has probably become a little bit of a crutch, and sometimes people don't actually speak to each other as much as they used to – I’m guilty of the same thing.
Another big change is how we engage with the community. When we started with the idea of putting big filter plants and making other changes at our major in-city reservoirs, the communities surrounding each reservoir rose up in protest and created the Coalition to Preserve Open Reservoirs (CPOR), which had subgroups for the neighborhoods around each reservoir who we met with every month – for years. That was a huge learning curve and probably the first time the Department had engaged with communities at that level. I think back at how many meetings we attended, how those projects changed, and how much animosity there was for the Department in those neighborhoods. At the end of the day, we ended up with projects that everyone supported and were positive, were about lasting relationships, and with the knowledge that we had delivered the best projects possible.
Intake: What are some of the main challenges that lie ahead for LADWP?
Caption: Adams speaks on achieving equity in our clean energy future.
Adams:
We have many challenges ahead. One that we’re going to have to deal with is the ability to restructure rates so they are both more modern and also ensure that everyone pays their fair share for the infrastructure we all rely on. Our rates are upside down in terms of how they value the time of use of electric power, since power is now relatively cheap in the middle of the day and more valuable in the late afternoon and evening because of the amount of solar energy we have in the system. For both water and power, our tremendous success in conservation has the effect internally of needing to spread the cost of our work across a smaller sales base in order to guarantee we receive the revenue needed to operate.
At the same time, rate increases are hugely sensitive for the public, as well as politically challenging. It’s a careful balance to push forward aggressive climate goals, maintain reliability, increase electrification throughout the city, and at the same time be mindful of our customers’ ability to pay. We also have to demonstrate to our elected leaders why they should spend political capital supporting our rate needs. It’s a challenge we will need to address in 2024.
Another balancing act on the power side will be the timing of infrastructure upgrades so that we stay ahead of new demands from the electrification of transportation and building stock, but not so far ahead that our investments are “stranded” while waiting for that growth to happen. It is the challenge of moving forward strategically and enabling electrification even though a lot of what will drive demand and timing is outside our control.
Getting to 100 percent clean energy itself is a big challenge. At some point in the not too distant future, we will be most of the way there, but the last components needed to completely sever our use of any fossil fuels while still ensuring reliability of the system will come at a big price tag. It could also affect the utilities around us, who we’ve supported when they are short of power, and will likely be the precursor to energy conversations across the state. So, finding and affording that best path forward without sacrificing our service level will need constant attention.
In terms of water, we lived through the worst droughts and wettest years, and done it twice in the last decade. We’re going to keep seeing wild swings year to year in hydrological conditions. We have to give up on the idea of a "normal" year and a "normal" way to manage water. We have great projects in the pipeline to get to a more sustainable and resilient water supply. These cannot come fast enough, but also come at a steep price compared to our historical sources. And everyone understands the need in a dry period, but when it is followed by record rains, the challenge is to keep everyone’s attention on the long-game…there are no short-term water projects.
Affordability and rates reform will be one of LADWP’s biggest challenges going forward. Above, Adams speaks during a 2022 press conference on debt relief.
Intake: Any words of advice to new LADWP employees who are just joining our organization?
Adams:
The opportunities here are endless. There are so many areas to work in, diverse subjects to work on, and avenues to create your own career opportunities. You can even go back to school and be reimbursed by the Department. This is a big company; we’re forward thinking and socially conscious. The City has been through good times and tough times, but at LADWP, we’ve always had opportunities to promote and grow. The things we do as an agency (providing water and power) are never going to go away. Every job matters here. Every job fits into the bigger picture, and fits into the team. All of the pieces that comprise the work at LADWP are necessary for us to be successful.
When you have a chance to meet people from other groups, learn what they do. Take an interest in the Department and what we are doing—even if it’s outside of your area. It will make your career more fulfilling and make you a better employee.
Intake: What are you looking forward to in retirement?
Adams:
I plan to do some work, but I plan to be more retired than working. As we have all witnessed over the last few years, life is short. I want to enjoy it while I can. I want to watch my grandkids grow up. I’m not moving to Texas (despite the rumors), but I will be going back and forth a lot. This will also be a chance for me to plug into new things that are fulfilling and that I hope can make the world a better place.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in the U.S. and the world regarding both water and power, and a potentially huge societal fallout if things go wrong. Maybe I will have an opportunity to use my 40 years of experience to help ensure that things go right, on a broad scale. As a General Manager, you only have the ability to focus on select items for a short time. Now I’m thinking of ways to connect the dots on a big scale, and that’s pretty exciting—in between fishing trips!
