The three remaining Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) board members held meetings both Monday, Oct. 12 and Friday, Oct. 16. Monday’s meeting was to interview a replacement board member after Trischa Clark resigned from the board due to the sale of her house in the district. However, James Rees resigned at the start of the Monday meeting.
Photos of the water main leak on Tahquitz View Drive
PHOTOS OF THE WATER MAIN LEAK ON TAHQUITZ VIEW DRIVE
Jim Gates, Richard Schnetzer and Robert Krieger unanimously selected Walter Bonneau Jr. to replace Clark. Gary Erb and Armando Moran also applied to fill the vacancy.
The board will select a replacement for Rees at its November meeting.
The three remaining Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) board members held meetings both Monday, Oct. 12 and Friday, Oct. 16. Monday’s meeting was to interview a replacement board member after Trischa Clark resigned from the board due to the sale of her house in the district. However, James Rees resigned at the start of the Monday meeting.
Jim Gates, Richard Schnetzer and Robert Krieger unanimously selected Walter Bonneau Jr. to replace Clark. Gary Erb and Armando Moran also applied to fill the vacancy.
The board will select a replacement for Rees at its November meeting.
Bonneau recently retired as owner and principal consultant for WCB Engineering Consulting Company in affiliation with ALINC Consulting. “As an electrical engineer by trade, I would be both available and capable to assist the water district/board with technical decisions that require electrical and radio-frequency identification (RFID) contactless technologies (As used in water meter technology and various monitoring equipment),” his application reads.
“A well-managed organization responsible for managing our community’s limited water supply is vital to the welfare of its customers/residences,” Bonneau wrote in response as to why he would like to join the board. “FVWD has operated for years in this capacity while holding good standing with the community. I desire to use my skills to continue the water district’s excellent service that it provides this community. Where applicable, using solid business practices and team decision validation to work with the rest of the board members/general manager, as well as customer input to find ways to further improve the status of FVWD. As with all organizations, there are day-to-day challenges that must be addressed with solid timely decision making in order to ensure the continued quality of the product and services being provided, given the financial means available.”
Bonneau, according to his resume, received engineering degrees from DeVry University and Chapman University and completed advanced executive management studies at Stanford University.
Another leak
The district had another major leak, this time on Tahquitz View Drive caused by a failure of a water main (installed in 1995) that developed two leaks, 6 inches away from the new tapping sleeve. The tapping sleeve also had to be replaced.
The general manager’s report reads: “A major leak was reported at approximately 4:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9. All field staff responded, including the general manager, and performed an emergency shutdown on the line and proceeded to remove and replace a 5-foot section of the water main. Water service was restored by approximately 11:30 a.m.
“This section of main contained a 4-inch valve from an old 4-inch hydrant and the new tapping sleeve [a bolt-on stainless steel port for the new valve for the 6-inch hydrant] and 6-inch valve for the new 6-inch hydrant that had recently been installed at the location. This required performing a new 6-inch hot-tap [making a connection to a live pipeline] and reinstallation of the new 6-inch hydrant and protection bollards.
“In order to properly reinstall a tapping sleeve and valve for the hydrant, some field fabrication and welding was required. The new section of water main needed to be welded to the existing water main to ensure that the new section would not rotate with the weight of the tapping sleeve and valve for the hydrant. This alleviated a great deal of stress on the flex couplers that were installed to seal the new connections.
“In addition, two truckloads of sand and three truckloads of class 2 base were required to repair the damaged roadway. The job was completed by approximately 5 p.m.”
“It was a great learning experience for the crew and positive even though it didn’t start out that way,” General Manager Victor Jimenez stated during the meeting.
One of the directors asked how much of main needs to be replaced? Jimenez responded that the main was installed in 1995 and is not that old. There is no reason for the failure and nothing appears to be compromised as there is no leak history to indicate a need for replacement.
Both leaks were an inch in diameter and just happened to be 6 inches away from where field staff was just working.
Jimenez told the board that all of the wells are performing well, but that usage was hard to comment on due to the leaks. However, the water supply is looking good and the total organic carbon (TOC) levels have come down significantly in the creeks.
Purchase
The board approved a filter media purchase for EPD filters from Pacific Garnet Sales, Inc. for $6,274.71, which was the low bidder.
Per the staff report, “The district’s treatment facility utilizes EPD filters that contain garnet sand as the filter media for the filters. They are primary filters for turbidity removal prior to the granulated activated carbon (GAC) vessels which remove TOCs.” The filter media had reached its end of life cycle. This is an unforeseen expense.
Community emergency siren
The board also approved the Memorandum of Understanding for the emergency siren project. The district had approved allocating up to $30,000 in the FY 2020/21 budget for the project led by the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD).
Due to Community Development Block Grant funds of $10,000 and the cost of the system coming down significantly, FVWD will be contributing $12,500 to the project in addition to an annual $1,250 for “routine, regular and customary maintenance and upkeep of the alerting system to the point of maintaining $10,000 in that fund,” the staff report reads.
The district will be able to utilize the siren in the event it has a contamination. Once the siren is activated, customers should tune into WNKI-AM1610 for information. FVWD and IFPD are the only two districts participating in the project.