Thursday
Jul 29th
| Water Districts Vie for Bond Money |
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LANDERS — Looking to secure money from bonds authorized by California voters three years ago, Morongo Basin water districts reported on projects designed to bring in state water via the Morongo Basin Pipeline last week.
Water-districts’ leaders made their reports to the Mojave Water Agency’s Morongo Basin Pipeline Commission, which met at the Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency. Limited Proposition 84 money is being doled out, and representatives from Joshua Basin, Bighorn-Desert View and Hi-Desert Water District discussed who needs the cash. Hi-Desert Water District would like to see some green for its wastewater treatment facility. Joshua Basin’s plan to recharge its water supply with State Water Project water also got some scrutiny from the commission. Joshua Basin General Manager Joe Guzzetta has been looking at different sites, and in December held a public forum to review the different options. He presented the final choice as Site Three at the east end of Joshua Tree. Four miles of pipe would be required to connect the $8 million project to the Morongo Pipeline. “An environmental impact report is being completed and under review, and there are no overriding issues,” said Guzzetta. “This has been the board’s highest priority for the past three or four years.” Commissioner Jim Ventura, a director of the Mojave Water Agency and representative for the Morongo Basin’s agencies, asked Guzzetta how critical Proposition 84 funding would be to JBWD’s project. “Very critical,” answered Guzzetta. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without those funds.” Without bond money, he said, he would recommend postponing the project. Bill Long, commissioner and vice president of the Joshua Basin Water District board of directors, supported the project, saying, “In some areas we’re in 35 feet of overdraft. All studies show that Site Three will take care of our problem.” Bob Stadum, chairman of the Morongo Basin Pipeline Commission and a director of the Hi-Desert Water District, weighed in on the relative importance of his agency’s water-treatment plant. “I understand this is Joshua Basin’s top priority, but Hi-Desert has been put on notice by the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board to sewer our facilities,” Stadum said. “Our project doesn’t have the leeway to postpone it, and our timeline is imperative, Prop. 84 funds or not.” Stadum then asked Guzzetta “how pressing” his project was for Joshua Tree, and if he thought the district’s current customers would be “significantly” affected if the project were delayed. “This is long-term planning,” admitted Guzzetta. Bighorn wants to bank water Bighorn-Desert View’s high-profile, modestly priced project is a groundwater-management proposal that could recharge the Ames Basin and possibly help resolve Pioneertown’s water woes. At the culmination of four years of planning with the Mojave Water Agency and Hi-Desert Water Agency, Bighorn proposes establishing “spreading grounds,” or recharge basins, in the Pipes Wash and connecting the facility with a three-quarter-mile section of pipe to state water currently running through the Morongo Basin pipeline. The state water from the delta will need to be filtered, and the spreading grounds will be a natural way to do it. State water is currently filtering in a like manner through Hi-Desert’s recharge program. Pioneertown’s or County Service Area 70 W-4 would be able to use the spreading grounds to bank its own purchased state water, says Bighorn’s general manager, Marina West. The state has mandated the county agency in charge of Pioneertown’s water take action and improve the water quality. Hi-Desert also will take part in the water banking agreement but will use its existing Well 24 to extract banked water and use its existing infrastructure to serve customers. Bighorn would be the “banker” for water users like Mojave, Hi-Desert and County Services Areas in Landers Pioneertown, said West, “but the currency to us might be water, not cash.” Stadum told West after her presentation, “This looks excellent in principle to me. We’ve wanted a joint project for several years. It’s a win-win.” Kirby Brill, general manager of the Mojave Water Agency, agreed, “It’s very promising. I think it’s a good project.” ‘Get these projects moving’ A thorough but briskly paced update on Hi-Desert’s wastewater treatment plant and water-reclamation facility was given by Joe Glowitz, district engineer. “We’re moving as quickly as I can tell the story,” he quipped, and declared the project “shovel ready” with Phase One operational by summer of 2012. “I need to get these projects moving while I still represent this region,” said Commissioner Jim Ventura, who wasn’t looking beyond his 2010 “expiration date” on the Mojave Water Agency. Ventura spoke of a sense urgency to get funding, saying, “I don’t want any of these projects to slide.” Copyright © 2009 - Hi-Desert Star
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