By Mary-Justine Lanyon
After having been out of service since Oct. 15, 2024, Well #6 – the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District well located at the Lake Arrowhead Country Club – will be rehabilitated and brought back online.
Scott Schroder, the district engineering manager, asked the board to award a contract in the amount of $213,418 to South West Pump & Drilling Inc.
LACSD had put the project out to bid last month and received just one bid – from South West. They tried again this month and still received just the one bid.
“They do a lot of work all over Southern California,” Schroder said. “They are qualified to do this type of work.”
LACSD’s Mechanical Operations Department brought the new pumps across Lake Arrowhead to Lift Station #7 by barge. Pictured is LACSD Electrician/Instrumentation Technician Bobby Martinez. (Photos: LACSD)
When Garin Vartanian asked “how far a net they cast” in getting bids, Schroder said they advertise statewide, contact vendors they have used in the past and advertise in newspapers.
“It’s highly unusual to have just one bidder,” President John Wurm said. “This is a well we need.” He also noted the district will save money by being able to buy less water from CLAWA.
When Ana Rojas asked if they had contacted other water districts about who digs their wells, Schroder said he had in fact reached out to well diggers in the desert. “They are not interest in coming up here,” he said.
The project will involve removing the submersible pump and associated equipment, multi-phase cleaning and disinfection and installing a new submersible pump.
In his report to the board, Schroder noted that Well #6 “is one of the district’s better producing wells.”
The board unanimously approved the contract.
In his operations manager’s report, Matt Brooks reported that consumption was down by 19.5 percent in February 2025 compared to February 2024: 54.83 acre-feet compared to 68.08 af. These numbers reflect water delivered to the distribution system.
Lake draw was also down considerably: 36.21 af versus 58.54 af February to February. Well production was down, primarily due to Well #6 being offline: 6.95 af versus 10.50 af.
While LACSD purchased no water from CLAWA in February 2024, they purchased 12.11 af in the same month in 2025.
Brooks showed the board photos of the pump replacement project at Lift Station #7. The pump that was replaced had been in service for 30 years. They have also added a fourth pump – a diesel bypass pump so if the power goes down, this pump will be available. Brooks noted the district had been talking about adding this pump for a while.
Brooks also shared that he and other LACSD managers had met with officials from San Bernardino County Fire. “We have been talking about doing this for a while,” he said. “We met on March 5 and had a great meeting.” He added they had scheduled an hour for the meeting but talked for two.
“We shared contact information and maps. We talked about their ability to pump from the lake,” Brooks said. “They have some of that capability; they could get pump trucks up the mountain.”
The new diesel bypass pump is being installed at Lift Station #7. This pump will be available should power go down.
They also talked about bringing back a volunteer program to add bonnets to hydrants. These color-coded bonnets – red, orange, green and blue – tell the fire department the amount of flow (gallons per minute) each hydrant produces.
As to why the fire department doesn’t maintain the hydrants, Brooks said they confirmed it is a liability issue. It’s different when the water district and fire department are under one roof, as is the case in Running Springs, he said.
LACSD and County Fire will have follow-up meetings, including with the boots-on-the-ground guys. “We established communication.”
Ratepayer John St. John had raised the issue of hydrant maintenance at the January LACSD meeting. He was pleased to report at the March 25 that a crew had come into his Cedar Ridge neighborhood and checked every hydrant, blowing out any sediment.
“We are grateful they showed up,” St. John said.
The board also approved the purchase of four new Caterpillar diesel-powered backup generators for the Wabash, Spyglass, Brentwood and Potomac reservoir sites for a total cost of $202,686.97.
“We try to replace the generators before they become a real problem,” Brooks said.
They also approved the purchase of a new fleet vehicle to replace a 17-year-old vehicle with 91,263 miles on it. The item had been budgeted at $75,000 but came in at $47,754.20 plus tax and licensing.
“We try to be the best stewards of the district’s money,” Brooks said.
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