On Feb. 15, the Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) Board of Directors held its second meeting of 2024. While lasting more than hour, no action needed to be taken.
The meeting began with a brief discussion of FVWD’s participation in the recent meeting, organized by the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD), to discuss the creation of a Community Service District.
“Chief [Mark] LaMont hosted it,” President Jon Brown said. “We have to figure out how it affects us. There’s a lot of research.”
At the meeting, the group considered including the Idyllwild agencies IFPD, FVWD and Idyllwild Water District (IWD), which have overlapping boundaries. Eventually, they might expand to Pine Cove if IFPD were the fire service for the area.
However, it should be noted that FVWD has different agency rules than Pine Cove Water District and IWD. Importantly, the definition of voters is different. In FVWD, the voters are the owners of real property within the district’s boundaries. In the other two water districts, the voters are residents, whether they own or rent property.
Director Robert Krieger noted that the three water districts do not have consistent rules and regulations, such as water emergency definitions and stages.
“There are pros and cons,” added General Manager Victor Jimenez. “There are a lot of complications. Mark and I agreed that it is not a good time. Currently there is very little benefit to Fern Valley. Down the road, there might be some savings. But at this point it’s not a great situation. Maybe in a few years.”
During January, FVWD’s use of groundwater declined to 9%. Jimenez explained that the amount of rain was so great that it was safer to use the already treated and stored water. With the stream flow so heavy, FVWD is collecting and treating stream water to replenish its tanks.
He also noted that total production was 20% less than in January 2023.
Further, there have been fewer frozen pipe incidents this year. As he begins to prepare a capital project plan for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, Jimenez said there may be only one project and that it would not be as large as the recently completed work in the Howland, Cougar and Silver Tip neighborhoods.
He is studying the need to replace an above-ground water main that runs from Cassler to Tahquitz View.
In his monthly report, Jimenez documents the well’s water levels. Most of the well levels are generally midway between their best and worst levels. But not all were. For example, the level of Well 2 is 11.4 feet below the surface. That is only a foot lower than its best recorded level in 2011. However, the monitoring well near the office was reported at 14 feet below ground level. In 2015, it was only 8.5 feet below the ground, its best level recorded. But in 2011, its worst level was 14.3 feet, slightly lower than last month, which demonstrates how the below-ground flow of water varies on the Hill.
The only action item on the agenda was whether to change the cash deposits based on current interest rates, such as shifting money from the state’s Local Agency Investment Fund to private CDs. But no action was taken.
Much of the meeting involved new Director Mike LaFata asking questions about the budget, financial policies and operations.
