Officials Would Like to Unite Water Providers
By George Watson, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.
Jul. 19–Out of the turmoil caused by years of political infighting among Lake Arrowhead’s water officials comes a possible solution to solve the water woes in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Longtime adversaries Steve Keefe and Ted Heyck, board members of the Lake Arrowhead Community Service District, want to explore a plan to unite mountain water districts and water companies.
In doing so, they could try and find a way to gain access to the state’s water project system, delivering water from Lake Silverwood through the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency to Lake Arrowhead, and possibly other mountain water providers.
For Heyck, just don’t use the word “consolidation” when it comes to this plan. He believes local agencies and water companies can together build a second pipeline that would bring the water to the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency and then distribute it from there.
“We need to work together. We don’t need to consolidate,” Heyck said. “That way you retain local control but get the water that you need.”
Keefe is far more open when it comes to investigating options.
“Right now, the pipeline seems the most possible,” Keefe said. “But I’m not saying no to anything yet.” Still, he added, “What it comes down to is conservation, and ground water (wells) aren’t going to be enough. Don’t get me wrong. They are very important.
“But when we look forward 10 years from now, we are going to need a supplemental source.”
Roxanne Holmes, the general manager of the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency, said she has not been approached by Lake Arrowhead representatives yet with this idea.
Would she listen?
“Definitely,” Holmes said. “It would be interesting to see how this would work out.”
Bitter feelings remain among some Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency officials, past and present, from a decision made by Lake Arrowhead water officials decades ago not to join in a partnership in which the water agency was formed. When Lake Arrowhead backed out, those who remained paid higher taxes to make up the difference, Holmes said.
Some of those feelings have lessened since a 2005 partnership between the two agencies, Holmes said. In that pact, the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency agreed to deliver up to 8,000 acre-feet of water to Lake Arrowhead for 10 to 15 years.
“The deal has worked out to be equitable, and that’s helped,” Holmes said. “The agency just wants to totally protect the people who have paid already and be fair.”
Former state Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, sponsored legislation that would have made it easy to consolidate the districts, but the bill languished. And then Brulte’s final term expired, and with it the bill.
State Sen. Tom Harman, R-Costa Mesa, has a law on the books that makes it easier to consolidate any special districts.
David Caine, a Lake Arrowhead resident and a real-estate agent, believes consolidation is necessary.
The political bickering makes him believe there is no other choice.
“I don’t subscribe to the belief that it’s going to be done voluntarily,” Caine said. Even if they did, he said, “It’s just a patchwork-quilt. “It’s not a long-term solution.”
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