(951) 659-2145 - Idyllwild Town Crier

Page 24 - Idyllwild Town Crier, January 12, 2006
Arrowhead
Continued from page 1
is pumped to its reservoir,
Foster Lake, in Dutch Flat.
The water runs off into Lilly
Creek and percolates into
the ground.
IWD has numerous wells
surrounding Foster Lake.
The wells pump the groundwater
into IWD’s distribution
system. Officially,
IWD does not use surface
water for domestic uses as
Fern Valley Water District
(FVWD) does. Foster Lake
recharges the groundwater
and IWD is dependent upon
Strawberry Creek flow.
IWD has historically
claimed water rights to use
Strawberry Creek. The district
has said its rights can
be traced to an entity that
filed for water rights before
1914. These pre-1914 rights
were for 400 miner’s inches
or about 3,500 gallons per
minute (gpm). This is about
seven times what the district
now diverts from Strawberry
Creek.
If MRC were to file a
complaint with the SWRCB,
IWD risks losing all or a portion
of its alleged pre-1914
claim. To date, the district
has not been able to publicly
document that its claim has
been perfected.
FVWD has no claim that
is stronger than IWD’s, but
FVWD has consistently submitted
water applications to
the SWRCB. The applications
have been approved
and the SWRCB has issued
FVWD licenses for water
use from Strawberry and
Tahquitz creeks. IWD cannot
identify a valid license.
Lilly Creek flows out of
Foster Lake and near where
it crosses Highway 243 are
three wells — the Pine Cove
Water District’s (PCWD)
highway wells. These were
acquired from Paul Black.
When PCWD began to
bring the wells into its system,
the district claimed
there would be no environmental
effect. MRC challenged
this assertion and
threatened litigation to require
a complete environmental
impact review.
Last winter, the two parties
began discussing the
situation. They agreed to
ask a biologist and a geohydrologist
for advice and now
appear to be on the road
to a settlement, one which
recognizes the environment
and enlarges the district’s
water supply.
This fall, MRC began to
question the effects of Foster
Lake on the Lilly Creek environs.
In November, Smith
and his fellow MRC directors,
Olivia Redwine and
Chuck Stroud, toured the
IWD Foster Lake complex
with IWD General Manager
Terry Lyons.
“There have been some
discussions since the meeting
at Foster Lake,“ Lyons
said. “I shared with Jeff that
Dr. Mike Hamilton will get
back to us. But there is no
decision or discussion at
the last board meeting. The
board needs information on
this before a decision can be
made. They need a scope of
work, the estimated cost and
what it entails.”
While Lyons is acting
to address the questions of
Foster Lake’s impact on Lilly
Creek and downstream, he is
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unsure what specific questions
MRC is posing about
Strawberry Creek.
But Allan Morphett, IWD
president, is reluctant to
engage MRC and Smith in
particular. “First of all, he
isn’t an Idyllwild customer.
We want to move in a way to
best provide and be responsive,”
he said. “But they keep
jumping to another issue.”
“I’m not saying ‘no’, but
we’re moving forward, just
not as fast as Mr. Smith
would like,” Lyons said.
But MRC has emphasized
that a formal legal complaint
with the SWRCB would be
its last resort.
“They have as long as
they need or as short as they
want, it’s that simple,” Smith
stated.
MRC’s intent is to work
with the district to address
the environmental issues
posed by the Strawberry
Creek diversion and possible
expansion of it. All have
expressed concern about the
ability of the districts to continually
expand their water
supply to serve a growing
population. Stroud believes
Lyons is concerned and willing
to address these issues
just as PCWD has done.
“It’s been said that we
need to recirculate domestic
water multiple times before
it leaves the Hill,” Stroud
emphasized. “What does
that say about the demand
and the ability of the water
districts to meet it”
MRC intends to arrange
future meetings with Lyons
and hopes IWD will be open
to the public because they
believe the public would
benefit from understanding
the issues and participating
in the discussions.
“Pine Cove clearly has
invited inclusion of highly
qualified professionals and
is actively looking to understand
a very complex issue,”
Stroud opined. This cooperation
and collaboration is
their goal with IWD.
MRC divides
over tactics
By J.P. Crumrine
Assistant Editor
One spillover of the recent controversies involving
local water use has been the fractious internal disputes
among the members of the Mountain Resource Conservancy.
The dispute over tactics surfaced in public when
Olivia Redwine, (former) MRC president, wrote a letter
to the editor of the Town Crier. In the letter, she
expressed frustration with both the Idyllwild (IWD) and
Pine Cove (PCWD) water districts.
However, MRC was in the midst of negotiations with
PCWD and the public outburst seemed to sabotoge
those discussions. Kent Steele, PCWD counsel, called
Chuck Stroud, MRC director, to clarify MRC’s intent
and purpose.
Redwine feels it is inappropriate for MRC to participate
in private or secret discussions.
“We are not here to tell them whether to take water
out of the creek or not,” she averred. “There should be
no private meetings without the press or attorney. Why
isn’t Kent Steele calling me or our attorney”
Her colleagues believe that engagement will result in
a better outcome with less risk of losing the incremental
steps.
“Our attorney advised that [PCWD] was willing to
travel some ground. Olivia would rather fight in court
where we could lose,” said Jeff Smith. “This way we
advance our purposes to a valuable benchmark and
end up with regulations and protections that extend to
Lilly Creek. Going for broke is not necessarily a good
thing.”
Without addressing scurrilous comments, the internecine
debate has had an effect on MRC, but the outcome
of the process seems to be undamaged.
“My relationship has never been for one person. It
has always been for the group or entity, “said Simeon
Herskovits, Western Environmental Law Center and
MRC’s counsel. “There are differences among the three
in terms of style, but not ultimate ideals. These negotiations
between MRC and Pine Cove are moving forward
in a fairly positive vein or progress. I would be surprised
if the decision is made to discontinue that progress.”
Office: 951-659-1997
Toll Free: 888-658-2889
Cell: 951-315-6099
Fax: 951-659-1972
E-mail: magicmountain1@verizon.net
Web: www.robinoates.com
54225 N. Circle (In the “Fort”)
P.O. Box 1651 Idyllwild, CA 92549
Jackie Wagner
Broker-Associate
Bus: 951-659-4673
800-760-1884
Cell: 951-212-9172
Ron Schingo
54230 North Circle
P.O. Box 243
Idyllwild CA 92549
E-mail: rs@capparelli.com
www.lovethehill.com
SHARON LASKIN
REALTOR-ASSOCIATE
Cell: (714) 745-3727
Village Centre Office
54245 N. Circle Dr., Ste. B-2
(951) 659-3231
1-888-372-7848
sharon@idyllwildrealtor.com