By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Since the last board meeting, Operations Manager Matt Brooks reported at the Feb. 27 meeting of the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District board, staff had taken 26 water samples – only two of which were required – to be tested for PFAS. Once the results are received, they will update the website.
The sites that were sampled for PFAS on Feb. 14. (LACSD)
On Feb. 8, LACSD staff and board member Steve Keefe met with the State Water Resources Control Board and Lahontan, a meeting requested by LACSD to discuss PFAS, the district’s current sampling efforts and what they have learned.
“The meeting went very well,” Brooks said. “We have a good relationship with both agencies. Not all the districts do what we are doing.”
“Despite what we’re hearing,” Keefe added, “the state board and the experts in the room at the Feb. 8 meeting were very complimentary of the district’s efforts. We are going above and beyond. The amount of testing we’re doing is not required and is commendable.
“Keep doing it and figure it out,” he added.
President John Wurm noted that “we’ve been doing much more testing sooner than a lot of other agencies and water providers. Now they’re testing and we realize they have PFAS, too. As more providers test, we will see we’re not alone.”
Audience member Michael Schultz addressed the board: “We’ve come a long way in the last couple of months. LACSD’s continued work to keep us informed is necessary. It is imperative to keep us informed as some outside information is true, some false.
“We were told,” he added, “that our situation is unique. We did research and found other districts to also be unique. Our conclusion is everyone is unique except PFAS. We know LACSD has gone above and beyond. We applaud LACSD for looking into this problem and keeping us informed.”
Brooks also reported that LACSD met with Dudek on Feb. 9 and got a preliminary design for how they will treat the drinking water to remove PFAS. “We have that ball rolling,” he said. “We are moving ahead with finding the best economical treatment.”
Garin Vartanian, speaking online, asked if LACSD will continue providing recycled water that contains PFAS to Lake Arrowhead Country Club.
“We will supply water if they ask for it,” Wurm replied. “Every water source in our district has PFAS. If we’re going to use water, we have to use water with PFAS.”
When Vartanian asked if Lahontan has given the “OK” to use recycled water with PFAS, General Manager Catherine Cerri said that “they told us we demonstrated recycled water is not the source of PFAS.”
She added that “the amount of recycled water delivered to the country club is so small, it is mathematically impossible for recycled water to be the sole source of PFAS in Lake Arrowhead.”
And, Cerri said, “Both Grass Valley Lake and Lake Arrowhead have higher PFAS levels than the recycled water. It’s very possible it’s the lake water that is contributing to the PFAS level in recycled water. We are still researching.”
In action items, the board approved the purchase of new booster pumps and motors for the Banff and Bernina stations. The pumps and motors at both sites, Brooks said, “are approximately 60 years old and have reached the end of their useful lives.”
In addition, the project will increase the pumping capacity at both sites by 75 percent.
A discussion ensued about water pressure and fire flow, with audience members pointing to the loss of two homes in the area due to there not being sufficient pressure. Brooks noted the fire was at the very top of the hydro zone. While firefighters did not run out of water, they had multiple hydrants open. “The battalion chief told me they were pulling 1,000 to 1,500 gallons a minute. You can’t sustain that for a long time.”
“Almost every water system uses gravity so water tanks are placed high up,” Cerri said. “Some of our neighborhoods didn’t want tanks at the top; they wanted homes with views.” And so, water has to be pumped up.
“Hats off to the firefighters,” Brooks said, “that they were able to keep the fire to two structures and it didn’t get into the national forest.”
The board approved the purchase of the new pumps and motors at a cost of $357,550. LACSD staff will install the new equipment themselves.
The board recognized Kathleen Field, who has served LACSD for 17 years, on her retirement.
“Kathleen has been indispensable for 17 years,” Cerri said. “We couldn’t have gotten as far as we have without her. Personally, I am so grateful for her help, guidance, diligence and dedication.”
Marisa Meads was unanimously appointed as the new secretary to the board of directors.
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