Conversion to Metric System Inching Along

SANTA ANA —  Beginning Jan. 1, the length of a 5-mile flood control channel won’t be five miles anymore. It will be 8 kilometers.

Orange County is slowly beginning to embrace the metric system. The first signs of this transformation will come next year, when specifications for public works projects will require measurements in meters and liters instead of feet and gallons.

Today, the Board of Supervisors will consider expanding metric conversion to cover subdivision maps, parcel maps and the land grading process.

The general public probably won’t notice the changes. But contractors who perform work for the county will be required to submit bids and contracts using metric measurements--a prospect that doesn’t sit well with some critics.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Bob Gomez, senior estimator with Los Angeles Engineering Co. Inc., which has handled county jobs in the past. “It’s going to cause confusion during the transition period. And I’m not sure who it benefits.”

But others favor the county’s direction, arguing that the metric system is easier to use than “English” measurements and that the transition should go smoothly.

“Workers are always able to retool and retrain for new advances,” said Mike Potts, with the Building Trades Council of Orange County, a labor group. “I don’t think our workers will have any trouble making the adjustment.”

Orange County is one of many public agencies turning to the metric system. Caltrans now uses the measurements for most of its projects, and other state and federal agencies plan to phase out the inches-pounds system within the next few years.

“We are really following in their footsteps,” county engineer Mary Allison said.

The United States is famous for its loyalty to the traditional form of measurement, even though the rest of the world uses the metric system.

The federal government originally set 1992 as the deadline for it to adopt metric measurements. The deadline has now been pushed back to 2000. Still, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) has criticized some of the rules as too expensive and wants them relaxed.

Liters and meters will begin making their way onto county records next year when new flood control and other infrastructure projects handled by the Public Works Department convert to metric.

County officials also are asking the Board of Supervisors to use the metric system for the subdivision maps beginning in 1998. If the proposal is approved, a variety of maps, grading permits and other official documents used in the early stages of the development process will no longer use measurements in feet and inches.

The county formed a task force made up of civil engineers, land surveyors and builders to review its conversion plans.

The task force expressed strong support for the effort, though the Building Industry Assn. did not take an official position on the use of metric measurements on subdivision documents.

Allison said the county will consult other affected groups when it considers additional conversion proposals in the coming years.

Some contractors such as Gomez said changing over to metric measurements will require adjustments in computer programs and might result in some initial miscalculations.

Still, Gomez concedes one key point to metric supporters.

“It is an easier system,” he said. “But it’s something we were not indoctrinated on in school. . . . There’s a learning curve.”