Update on 6/29/2017
I’m sure everyone is wondering what the status is on our
water system:
On June 19th, Calwater issued a letter of
interest to Supervisor Frazier expressing their interest in taking over our
water system. They mentioned normally
they wouldn’t be interested in a system of our size, however due to all the
development in our area, they are willing to take on our system and the deal would be kept separate
from any other acquisitions through Madera County.
· The rates are projected to be somewhere in the
neighborhood of $100 to $125 per month, depending on if you use a lot of water.
·
Their projection of an average household use for
our area, based on lased year’s usage, was 21,000 cf per household. Therefore on their proposed rate schedule
(which is the same as Selma’s) the average monthly cost (based on last year’s
use) would be approx. $102 per month.
·
Of course some months higher some lower, that is
the estimated average. They said they
could offer a balance payment plan, for those who prefer more consistent
monthly payment. In addition, they have a low-income program for discounted rates to those who qualify. For example, if you qualify for the PG&E low income program, you should qualify for Calwater's.
·
In a meeting with Calwater, they plan to make an
investment in our water system of up to 2 million, if needed, to replace the arsenic
treatment facility and upgrade infrastructure to make our system reliable.
· Calwater's attorneys believe we should not have to pay off
the bond debt to sell the system, contradictory to what the county council
advises. Therefore presently, the county council is
reviewing the legal requirements and reviewing the citations of Calwater’s
attorneys.
·
We will have a public meeting when this is
figured out. Please keep in mind, even if we stayed with the county for water, they are pushing for a rate increase (similar, or more than the amount Calwater is projecting here), and I believe they would not contribute as much as Calwater is willing to; towards the capital improvements. (Nor correctly).
In
addition, there is still hope that we might get a backup well connection from
the Gunner property, they were testing it last week and the output is over 1000
gallons per minute. Supervisor Frazier
thinks the county might start working on making a connection to this well, to
our system; soon. They are waiting on
test results now. All that prep work we were seeing on lanes bridge and 10, might have been for us; so we need to be appreciative of that; and cross our fingers we can have access to this well; if the water quality tests come back accordingly.
Right
now we are still in a wait mode. I will
let you know as soon as all is ready for community discussion.
10 comments:
Should it be based off of usage for last year? We were not allowed to water. It seems like it would be more accurate to base it off of 2+ years ago when people were able to water grass, trees, fill pools, etc.
Its just a rough estimate. The rates are going to be the same as Selma's rates. No matter how much you use; due to us using their management and maintenance team. This spreads the cost out among our 335 rate payers and Selma's 6000 rate payers; which gives us better economy of scale. Honestly we are very lucky we might get this opportunity to join Calwater. In my opinion, anything under $200 month would be a bargain. Considering the size of our lots and what other people are paying, who are on community water systems.
Remember they have a low income program, for those who qualify!
Thanks Dave for keeping us updated.
Since we are new here I was wondering, is there a post on here that states where we get our water from? I know we have the arsenic well and we're "supposed" to have another couple. Would we keep those?
Does signing with cal mean that if and when drought conditions return we won't face the same restrictions?
I am all for a better price and better management, just wondering about some of the more stickier points about when things get bad again.
Again, we are new here and I am just looking to get more info to have higher visibility into what we would actually get out of this deal.
I appreciate your comments, we would keep the wells we have now, and add additional wells and / or rehabilitate older wells; fix the Arsenic treatment facility or replace it. Calwater assures me they will make whatever investments needed to keep us in water. Publicly traded companies Do Not like bad press! Of course if the whole region is having water problems / drought, they are not magicians, however with a multi-billion dollar corporation, once they make a commitment they will make the investments needed to keep us in water. With the county, we just hear "you guys dont have the money in your budget to do any repairs or upgrades" It is my understanding, you will have an opportunity to ask these type of questions directly to Calwater representatives, at a meeting, before we make any change to Calwater. Make sure you do your best to attend.
In addition, for anyone who is relatively new to the community, you can catch up with the last couple of years developments, by simply reading all the prior posts in this blog.
Gotcha. Thank you. Yeah I have been reading all of these posts. Just finally stopped lurking :)
Regardless of our future with CalWater, what about the apparent discrepancy between what the well construction supposedly cost in 2009 ($1.8 Million) and the amount of the bond ($3.8 million) leaving $2 million which are itemized as "incidental" expenses. Any progress on tracking down a more accurate accounting of expenses from 2009-2017?? I hope this issue warrants further examination and possible referral to the Grand Jury. We thank the Board profusely for working hard and moving the whole water issue along. Any change that gets the County out of the picture works for us!
Thank you for your participation Barbara, I understand your frustration. My primary focus is fixing the problem we face now and moving forward. Eric, our board president has been working on the issue you speak of, and is still looking for volunteers to help him dig deeper into the unaccounted for expenses. Please join us at our next board meeting on July 13th and let Eric know you want to help examine the budgets.
This is great news! I feel that this is the going in the right direction and pray Calwater will execute quickly. The County has had far too long to act and has done very little in progress toward a long-term resolution. I feel that partnering with a large group Calwater with execution/management skills for these type of issues is the only way to go. And honestly will probably lead to the best operating costs and rates given the current situation.
Thanks for the update and everyone's time and effort regarding this matter!
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