Possible SLVWD Consolidation of Big Basin Water Company;
SLVWD Master Water Plan.
by Mark Dolson
The November 4th SLVWD Board Meeting attracted more than 40 members of the public as District Manager Rick Rogers reported that the owners of the Big Basin Water Company (BBWC) had recently requested in writing that the San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) explore possible consolidation with BBWC. BBWC is a private, family-owned water company that services roughly 500 homes north of Boulder Creek. Its infrastructure was seriously damaged by the CZU Fire in August 2020, and BBWC has attracted increasingly negative attention in recent months from both dissatisfied customers and concerned state officials.
SLVWD Directors unanimously expressed a desire to help neighbors in need, but they also stressed their responsibility to protect SLVWD and its ratepayers from paying for the cost of a potential consolidation. SLVWD has already been providing emergency assistance on a limited basis to BBWC and its water customers (e.g., SLVWD supplied a repair crew on October 21st after a mainline break caused a system outage), but the BBWC letter was the essential first step for moving beyond this. An official consolidation would require that the District complete the formal local review process specified by California’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). This would likely take around 18 months and would include considerable public input.
The public sentiment (both from BBWC customers and current SLVWD customers) at the November 4th Board meeting was strongly in favor of exploring a potential consolidation. People had questions about the ultimate cost for BBWC customers, but Rick Rogers said this would depend on the outcome of engineering studies and the pursuit of funding opportunities. He said that state funding is likely to be made available, but he also stressed that the active support and involvement of current BBWC customers would be a key factor in a successful consolidation. County Supervisor Bruce McPherson voiced his support as well, and the Board voted unanimously to move forward with a further discussion between BBWC and SLVWD.
The Board also received and approved an extensive and long-awaited report from Akel Engineering analyzing and identifying key issues with the District’s current infrastructure. The full document is known as the SLVWD Water System Master Plan and is available at:
https://www.slvwd.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif1176/f/uploads/2021_slvwd_master_plan_final_report.pdf
The report concluded that the current system is seriously undersized in many areas with regard to fire-flow requirements, and it used a detailed hydrologic model to assess performance across various scenarios. It prioritized upcoming infrastructure improvements and estimated spending requirements for capital improvement at between $3.3 and $4.2 million per year from 2021 to 2026 and between $2.1 and $2.8 million per year from 2027 to 2041. Potential strategies for funding these improvements will be discussed at future Board meetings. Meanwhile, the Board is holding a special meeting at 6:30 PM on November 10th to formally present the Water System Master Plan to interested members of the public (via Zoom).
The next regular Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for 6:30 PM on December 2nd (still via Zoom).
