Ya - understand the overall mechanical operations of it.. was trying to say I'm 50/50 on "winterization" of such systems in a climate that 99% of the time doesn't require it. I personally tend to lean towards, if you build it - build it with the thought of worse case scenario - which is what occurred. But I have no idea on infrastructure projects so large what's feasible/reasonable/etc. so that's why I'd have to educate myself better.
And Orthin understood what I meant about a water shortage - with snow on the ground (it's water) - but he makes an excellent point about the weather warming up.