With more than half of EID’s employees, operations personnel perform wide-ranging services to a large portion of western El Dorado County’s population. These services include water, wastewater, and recycled water, as well as hydropower generation to offset operational costs and parks and recreation opportunities including the Sly Park Recreation Area—consistently voted the best recreation area in El Dorado County.

Dedicated operations employees cover EID’s 220-square-mile contiguous service area as well as satellite water systems for the communities of Strawberry and Outingdale.  They work day and night in all weather conditions from 500 feet in elevation at the Sacramento county line along the EID’s western boundary to more than 8,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada range at the highest water storage reservoirs.

The district’s intricate water system covers approximately 4,000 ft. in elevation changes requiring 200 pressure-regulation zones to operate reliably and more than 1,245 miles of pipeline, 27 miles of ditches, five water treatment plants, 36 storage reservoirs, and 37 pumping stations.

The district operates four wastewater treatment plants, treating an average of five million gallons of wastewater a day to California’s very stringent tertiary standards. EID operates 560 miles of wastewater collection pipes, which includes sewer mains and laterals. The district also operates 64 lift stations to help move the waste within our challenging terrain.  Much of the wastewater treated becomes recycled water, which is used to irrigate more than 5,000 front and back yards of homes as well as commercial and public landscapes within the western portion of EID’s service area.

The parks and recreation division manages Sly Park Recreation Area and a number of facilities such as Silver Lake West campground and Forebay Day Use Area that are associated with EID’s hydroelectric power generation system (Project 184). Recreation employees are responsible for overseeing proper maintenance of all EID recreation facilities and managing visitors as they enjoy various activities — from camping, picnicking, boating, fishing and swimming to hiking, biking, and horseback riding.

Dan Corcoran serves as EID’s director of operations.  For the past two decades, Dan has advised water and power utilities across California, including supporting district operations since 2004. Corcoran has developed an intimate knowledge of the EID’s water, wastewater, recycled water, hydroelectric generation, and recreation operations during his time as EID’s environmental and water resources manager, and carries this forward to his current role which he started in 2018. 

A native of eastern Sacramento County, Dan holds a degree in wildlife, fish, and conservation biology from the University of California, Davis.  Dan and his wife and two children live in Shingle Springs with a variety of companion pets where he also enjoys working on their family property in his free time.