Short-term rental issue may not affect water usage

The expanding short-term rental market has posed a central and critical question. Is there potential for increasing demand on local water resources?

In the Idyllwild area, three water districts — Fern Valley, Idyllwild and Pine Cove — are responsible for providing water to their customers for drinking, cooking, bathing, gardening, car washing and other uses.

While the directors on these various boards have raised some questions about the effect of STRs on their districts’ water supplies, these discussions have not generated the controversy around the meeting table as they have throughout the community.

FVWD directors discussed the subject at both their August and September meetings. Director Walter Bonneau asked if the STRs were the reason for the recent increase in water demand. He believes STRs may be the cause of the increasing water consumption since Idyllwild’s full-time population is declining, as he believes.

The 2020 census data for ZIP code area 92549 (Fern Valley, Idyllwild and Pine Cove) is not yet available; however, the number of California tax returns filed from residents in this ZIP code has been fairly stable in the last five years.

FVWD General Manager Victor Jimenez was somewhat equivocal regarding the cause of the increase. Later he stated, “I haven’t seen an increase in water use.” In fact, the reference to an increase was the result of looking at the July demand, which was a hot summer month and just the first month of FVWD’s 2021-22 water year.

While production in 2020 also is up at the other two water districts, both of their general managers largely attributed the increase to repercussions from reactions to COVID-19. During the day when many homes were normally empty, many residents stayed home instead of going to workplaces, children were at home rather than school and more people were moving permanently to the Hill.

The average water production for each district has been lower during the past 10 years compared to the past 20 years. It is notable that water production during the early 2000s, when STRs were rare or a significantly less visible, was higher than recent years.

Only PCWD’s 2020 production was greater than its 10- and 20-year production averages. Although PCWD’s 2020 production was 38.7 million gallons, this volume has been exceeded previously — in 2004, 2006 and 2007. In fact, a similar pattern occurs in the production data for both FVWD and IWD. Further, the recent jump occurs in 2020, which is when the COVID-19 shut down began.

When asked if he thought STRs were a significant reason for the increasing water use in Pine Cove, GM Jerry Holldber replied, ”No not at all. I feel the greatest influence on water availability goes back to Mother Nature and weather. When there’s lots of rain, customers use less water for plants and lawns.”

Jimenez added, “It’s hard to quantify what is happening yet and to separate it from the drought during the last two years.”

IWD GM Leo Havener noted there has been little increase in water usage since 2010. “But I have no way to quantify its impact,” he added.

The general managers also identified other reasons production has recently been increasing. Holldber and Jimenez mentioned the effect of COVID-19 on consumption as well as weather patterns. Also in recent years, water from PCWD has gone to local road projects.

Holldber, who has been PCWD general manager for more than 35 years, noted that the number of full-time residents has been growing for several years. “Our number [of meters] indicates that full-time residency is increasing from 400 plus to 600 now.”

Also, he ascribed some of the long-term increase to homeowners adding more rooms to cabins or converting garage space to “granny apartments.”

While the water managers are not able to attribute growing demand to STRs, wastewater is their bigger concern. After abandoning plans for a recycled water plant in January 2017, IWD is now investigating a project to modernize its treatment plant. While Idyllwild’s commercial center connects to the plant, about two-thirds of the residential customers in Idyllwild still rely on septic systems, as do all of Fern Valley and Pine Cove residents and businesses.

“My greatest concern in Pine Cove is wastewater. We’re on septic tanks and leach lines; and many houses have systems that were put in decades ago. What will that do to groundwater in the future?” Holldber opined.