Crescenta Valley Water District continues to pursue ambitious plans that stretch your dollar and reinvest those savings into the water system that provides an essential service for the homes, schools and businesses in our community. District staff has been rolling up its sleeves to replace water mains, helping to save the community money. We have completed a third such in-house pipeline job – first Fierro Circle, then Upper Terrace, and now El Sereno – for a total of 760 feet of pipeline replaced. That’s a total of about 2½ football fields … it takes a while to walk the length!

The near-term vision for this initiative is to complete three more such projects to round out a half-dozen data points we’ll use to develop a cost-benefit analysis. That analysis will confirm whether the District can outpace skyrocketing contractor costs and by how much. This will inform a broader decision to turn the initiative into a new mode of doing business. Others have called our plan “aggressively ambitious,” and we’re looking forward to sharing with you the economics of projected savings by early October.

As our field crews help us chart a more sustainable future on the pipeline infrastructure side of the business during this heat wave, we’re reminded of the urgency of advancing our water supply situation. We need alternative sources of water supply both for supply sustainability and more affordable groundwater and recycled water. If you’ve been following these letters or Mary O’Keefe’s recent pieces on the City of Los Angeles (LADWP), then you’re apprised on our effort to have water rights approved from LA, which will in turn allow us to build a stormwater capture project at CV Park. The work here continues and we believe that pursuing this challenge will yield major dividends for our ratepayers.

In the interim, I’m proud to announce that the District has won a grant that will significantly increase green infrastructure projects now rather than later. The grant represents a regional partnership co-led by CVWD and Foothill Municipal Water District, our wholesale water agency, along with City of Pasadena’s Water & Power Dept., City of Glendale’s Water & Power Dept., the California Data Collaborative, and talent from NASA and Bloomberg data science. Low-impact and low-cost stormwater projects can now be identified by triangulating aerial imagery, topographical data, remote-sensing data from NASA and AI integration. This represents to date the District’s most significant partnership effort on grants and will pay prompt dividends for ratepayers.

We’ve recently won another grant, this one to help fund our employee wellness program. I’m a firm believer that any organization starts with its people. CVWD’s values are captured by the acronym “S-E-R-V-E” to reflect our commission as a public agency. To share a snippet from the values statement, “Set the tone for safety and fiscal responsibility in everything we do. Stay invested in your teammates and their well-being; we are each other’s keepers!” It is my responsibility to seriously take the wellness of those under my charge. It’s also good business as happy, stable, inspired workers produce the best ideas and the best results, and a robust wellness program supports this. I am passionate about employee wellness and company culture. I’m happy to share more if you’re interested either for yourself as an individual or as a leader of a company or other team.

Some recent additions of talented and inspired team members include: Carla Dillon, director of Engineering & Operations; Katherine Lieu, intern; Rafael Lopez Alas, Operations & Maintenance I, Edgar Perez, Operations & Maintenance I; and Shwetha Rao, intern. Welcome to the team!

To conclude, let’s also touch on your wellness as it relates to water quality. Our top priority is ensuring that the water we serve is safe and reliable. We’ve sent out a steady stream of messaging recently to let you know that your water meets all state and federal drinking water health standards, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new standards on PFAS. “PFAS” is a collective term for a group of man-made chemicals manufactured and used in various industries worldwide for more than 70 years, and you’ve likely heard of these in the news in many contexts from food and clothes to air and soil.

CVWD’s board of directors has taken a very proactive approach to considering the District’s role in remediating PFAS, including a pilot study underway to determine the best path to treating water for PFAS in terms of efficacy, cost and ability to also treat future contaminants. We are hosting our third quarterly installment of Office Hours at the La Crescenta Library, 2809 Foothill Blvd. in partnership with the Crescenta Valley Community Association later this evening (July 25) at 6:30 p.m., and we will provide a more detailed look at this initiative.

Thank you for taking the time to read and for continuing the dialogue.

James Lee, General Manager
CVWD