Dear Community,

Have you ever imagined a Day Without Water?

Most of us probably don’t make it a habit of imagining our homes as campsites. As a public utility, it’s a part of the daily mission of CVWD to ensure safe, reliable water under any circumstance including emergencies like fires, earthquakes, high winds and other disasters. Our vision is to preserve our sources of water, pursue additional sources of water, keep water quality a constant priority and maintain pipes, wells and pumps to deliver water and collect wastewater. We also plan and coordinate with other first responders to eliminate or minimize interruption of this resource that is essential for human life.

Come join us on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 28 from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. for our Imagine a Day Without Water event at the Judy Tejeda Reservoir next to Rosemont Middle School. You’ll be able to fill jugs with water to demonstrate what it may look like to visit your neighboring reservoir site to receive potable water in the event of an emergency, such as an earthquake that has severed pipelines connecting your home to the distribution system. We will have a short program with local civic leaders about emergency preparedness starting at 9:30 a.m.

We will also highlight an innovative approach to fire management in partnership with LA County Fire Dept. and the department’s regional strategic plan to drastically augment firefighting capabilities. Part of our responsibility as a water purveyor is to ensure water supply and pressure for fire hydrants, fire engines and air operations, particularly in a very high fire danger area such as ours. The partnership has planned for and is installing hardware that will significantly alter fire management for our community and region (because fires aren’t interested in administrative boundaries) by reducing the time between water drops for air operations for the county and other assisting agencies providing the mutual aid that’s standard for major events such as the Station Fire.

And who else is helping us think critically about the future and the challenges we may face? Looking into the future calls for those inheriting the future to have a seat at the table. Thank you to those middle and high school students who’ve sent their submissions for our science fiction writing contest (accepting entries through Sept. 15). We will feature the winning entries during our event and also in a later edition of this paper.

You may have noticed through our emergency alert system (I encourage you to sign up for Everbridge if you haven’t) or traffic detours that this summer has brought a rash of water main leaks. Thank you to our dedicated staff and particularly our field crews that provide best in class response times, often addressing multiple leaks the same day they’re reported or discovered (this is well beyond the industry standard!). This points to the broader issue of aging infrastructure and if you’ve been following these letters you know we’re tackling skyrocketing contractor costs head on through our ambitious in-house pipeline program. The fourth installment of this program – on the heels of work done on the streets of Fierro Circle, Upper Terrace and El Sereno – will be Humphrey Way, scheduled to begin on Sept. 9.

See you at the Judy Tejeda Reservoir about a month from now and thank you as always for taking the time to read and continue the dialogue.

James Lee, General Manager
CVWD