CVWD and Community Need to Work Together

Next Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m., Crescenta Valley Water District will hold a public hearing on proposed increases for water and sewer rates. The recent water pipeline break on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the aging pipeline was initially installed in 1946!, highlights an ongoing crisis that will only get worse. 

According to a Feb. 22, 2109 engineering memorandum presented to the CVWD board by CVWD District Engineer David Gould: “…49% of the District’s pipelines are over 50 years old (46.9 miles of pipeline) and should be replaced within the next 10 years … but to accomplish this CVWD would have to replace about 54 miles of pipe each year at a cost of $11.2M per year. Staff understands that this is not attainable with budget limitations. Typically staff has recommended replacing about 2,700 linear feet of pipe each year [half a mile of pipeline] and, at this rate, it will take about 94 years to replace the older pipelines.” (You can view the memo on the CVWD website in agenda packet for the Feb. 22, 2019 CVWD board meeting.)

So with the increasing risk of future pipeline leaks, CVWD faces a major challenge. But this does not mean the current customers of CVWD can be expected to shoulder the entire financial burden of the accelerated pipeline replacement schedule. This problem evolved over decades. So what can we do?

CVWD must work with the Crescenta Valley community to come up with a long term plan that the community can buy into. For several years CVWD has taken the approach of leaving the community in the dark about possible rate increases and then each April suddenly announces new water and sewer rate increases and giving the community only 45 day to respond. Perhaps CVWD has hoped to take the community by surprise each April and get the rate increases passed before the community has time to mount an effective response. But CVWD’s approach has only succeeded in creating a more infuriated community.

The CV community must be kept informed throughout the year about how things are going at CVWD and whether the likelihood of rate increases for the following year are increasing; if increasing, how much are we talking about? No one likes to be taken by surprise at the last minute. CVWD, let’s work together on keeping the community informed! We all share the same objectives: minimize pipeline leaks, maintain excellent staff and quality of work at CVWD, and treat the community in a fair and open-handed way.

Marilyn Tyler

La Crescenta