Five candidates are facing off for two board seats in Mission Springs Water District this November.
Formed in 1953 to provide water to a territory covering one square mile, MSWD now serves 135 square miles in and around Desert Hot Springs, the valley's fastest-growing city.
MSWD recently broke ground on a new regional wastewater treatment plant to serve this growing population, as one of MSWD's two existing wastewater treatment plants is nearing capacity. The Alan Horton Wastewater Treatment Plant had an almost million-gallon spill from a breached wastewater percolation pond in 2020.
While MSWD provides water to Desert Hot Springs residents, Desert Water Agency also plays a role in the area. DWA is responsible for replenishing the local aquifer and managing area groundwater resources, which has led to years of contention and litigation between the two water agencies.
Earlier this month, MSWD announced it reached a settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit filed that stemmed from meter register failures that began in 2019, which customers argued caused unfairly high rates. With the water meter registers down, MSWD provided affected customers with an estimated water bill using prior usage averages, which resulted in the question of whether MSWD could charge a higher Tier 2 rate instead of the lower Tier 1 rate based on estimated consumption. As part of the settlement, affected customers will now receive a credit for the "most of" the difference between Tier 2 and Tier 1 rates, according to MSWD.
In Division 1, incumbent Nancy Wright is facing Amber Duff, a payroll administrator and parent. Duff started her career as a legal secretary and now is a director of cancer treatment centers. Wright has served on the MSWD board since 1988 and has been appointed by four governors to serve on the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Region, where she's served since 2000.
Why are you running for the Mission Springs Water District board?
Duff: My motivation in running for MSWD water board is the quality and sustainability of the water that my family and my community depend on. My opponent stated publicly the water district needed 5 years of rate increases to cover the costs to remove Chromium 6 and other cancer-causing chemicals from our water. Now, my opponent believes it is more important to use that money to build a new 38- million-dollar office building. Meanwhile, Chromium 6 remains in our water putting our community at risk.
The current leadership has grown complacent and has lost touch with the community they are to serve. With the lowest customer service rating in the valley, and a community frustrated with the high costs, poor service, and lack of transparency. New leadership is required to change the culture at MSWD and regain the trust of the ratepayers.
Wright: Experience and dedication really matters when it comes to our water. Being a Board Member of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Region for 15 years makes me uniquely qualified, for the job. Water is a precious resource, water is life and needs to be managed by a qualified and experienced person, and I am that person. My historical knowledge of Mission Springs Water District is unprecedented and gives me the ability to make good decisions about our water by learning form past and understanding how to plan for the future. I know how to supply us with safe and clean water at the lowest possible costs and I am committed to working with you and on your behalf for our water.
What are your priorities, if elected?
Duff: My priorities are to take the money from the rate increases already collected and to use it as intended, to clean our water systems and make our water safe, prior to proceeding with construction of a $38 million dollar office building. Stop MSWD’s misuse of funds and credit cards. Fight for our local business to receive the services they are forced to pay for and do not receive, and to regain the public’s trust of MSWD. I will work to open a dialogue between the board members and the public until our water is clean, safe, and affordable. I will ensure my neighbors are respected and their voices are heard.
Wright: Water is my #1 priority. At this point in time, I would have to say, due to the drought and the need for groundwater replenishment water and the $68 Million Grant MSWD was awarded is paying for 100% of the construction costs for our new MSWD Regional Water Reclamation Facility and related infrastructure, a priority would be to take the next step and invest in upgrading the plant to be capable of treating the water so it can be recycled for our benefit and the benefit of the Coachella Valley as a whole. Recycling our water will provide us and in the future with a more reliable source of sustainable water that will provide us with a more reliable and sustainable water supply. Looking for and implementing fun water awareness educational and fun programs for children and their families.
Desert Hot Springs is currently the valley’s fastest-growing city, with the population growing by 25% from 2010 to 2020. How can MSWD best serve this fast-growing population?
Duff: MSWD needs to ensure that the funds collected from the ratepayers are used to maintain, protect, and grow our infrastructure. Rather than spending the ratepayer’s money on preventable Attorney’s Fees, Class Action Lawsuit Settlements, State Fines, Expensive Country Club Meals, and a 38-million-dollar new office building. MSWD cannot rely on government grants or other water agencies to cover the costs of its infrastructure. MSWD needs to be financially responsible with every dollar collected from the ratepayers.
Wright: MSWD has been preparing for the future. We will continue to look for grants to help lower the cost of necessary infrastructure which lowers the cost of water for present and future customers. Since our only source of groundwater replenishment water is imported water from the Colorado River which is in a drought condition, we need to reuse and recycle our water which is the only other viable source of new water available to us and will help keep our groundwater basins healthy to help serve our fast growing community.
How do you think Mission Springs Water District is handling the state’s historic drought conditions, and how should conservation fit into MSWD’s mission? What additional actions, if any, would you like MSWD to take on conservation?
Duff: Desert Hot Springs and its surrounding communities have one of the lowest residential per gal per day use rates in the valley. This benchmark must be taken into account when addressing the issues of conservation in our valley, as less water usage historically leads to higher water and sewer rates. Additionally, MSWD has failed to simply complete paperwork that would allow MSWD to retain usable wastewater from its local businesses. Businesses which year after year MSWD has failed to serve. MSWD needs to do more to support our local businesses and ensure the safe retention of our water supply whenever possible.
Wright: MSWD has a Drought Contingency Plan in place that was coordinated with the Coachella Valley Integrated Regional Management Group so that there is a sense of consistency throughout the whole Coachella Valley with our conservation and drought regulations.
As the drought continues and the Governor calls for stricter drought regulations, most of our customers are already in compliance with the current regulations and MSWD has some of the lowest gallons per day per capita in the valley. We need to keep looking for money to offer our residential customers incentives to help them conserve water inside and outside their homes and commercial and industrial customers, as well. Continuing with our water awareness programs, such as, MSWD’s Water 101 at the DHS Library and our Groundwater Guardian Program working with the Palm Springs Unifies School District and the Wildlands Conservancy, implementing our in classroom and field trip programs to inspire students and their families to care for and about their groundwater, will always be a big part of MSWD duties to our community. It is a way of life.
Where do you stand on MSWD’s litigation with Desert Water Agency over groundwater management, and on the general role of DWA in the Desert Hot Springs area?
Duff: As a former legal secretary, it is difficult to form an opinion without first having reviewed all the pleadings in the case. I will say that I find it troubling that the board members of these 2 water agencies, that co-exist and share some of the same geographical territories and infrastructure, cannot learn to work together for the benefit of the residents that they both serve. The board members of both DWA and MSWD need to be reminded that their lawyers are being paid by the ratepayers. Litigation is easy when you personally are not paying the attorney’s bill. Desert Hot Springs and its surrounding communities have a unique source of both hot and cold spring water which we must protect. The community relies on this water and should have full control over it.
Wright: The MSWD jurisdiction overlies all four groundwater basins of the Coachella Valley, which gives MSWD the rights to, manage, pump from and replenish all four basins under its jurisdiction. So why would anyone give that right up? Better question is, why has Desert Water Agency worked so hard to try to take those rights away from MSWD? DWA has no connection or sense of community with MSWD customers.
One thing I have learned about the dynamics of water in the Coachella Valley is no one really cares about our water like we do, here at the local level. MSWD is a County Water District formed to manage the water supply it provides to its customers since 1953 when it was formed by a vote of the people. DWA was formed by a vote of the California Legislators in 1961 as our State Water Contractor to collect property taxes and fees to bring the State Water Project infrastructure and its water to the groundwater basins within the MSWD boundaries.
Keeping local control of our water is keeping control of our own destiny.
Earlier this week, MSWD reached a settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit related to meter register failures that began in 2019. What needs to happen to ensure a similar issue doesn’t happen again, and what are your thoughts on the general topic of water rates in MSWD?
Duff: Although settling litigation is generally in the best interest of the parties involved, in this case, the settlement agreement is again at the expense of the ratepayers and the harmed rate payers may only receive a percentage of what was taken. The only way to prevent this from occurring in the future is to elect competent and honest leadership that is held accountable for its actions. The MSWD current board and management, with their years of experience, had to be aware that its actions of estimating customers water usage were unlawful. MSWD states in its press release dated October 10, 2022, that the settlement “will not adversely affect customer rates”. However, they did not say that customer rates will not be affected. With already some of the highest rates in the valley MSWD cannot afford to further increase its rates in a community that serves so many hard-working low-income families. MSWD needs fresh leadership it’s as simple as that.
Wright: No one can ensure that a similar lawsuit doesn’t happen again. Some people consider water districts as deep pockets but MSWD is a publicly owned utility and it is really their own money that pays for it all. The last cause of action left in the lawsuit was about the 2 tier rate formula MSWD used to estimate usage for residential customers who water meter batteries prematurely failed. The 2 tiered rates are considered to be an Industry Standard and would hold up in court. Debating that in the courtroom could take years and lots of attorney fees, so MSWD weighed the economic benefits to our customers, verses winning the lawsuit. It is the fiduciary duty of the MSWD Board to take the least costly avenue possible and that is what the Board did, even though we felt we had a winning case.
Our award winning best tasting water that has won 3 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze medals that MSWD provides, protects and preserves for our customers, costs less than a penny per gallon. That is a real deal compared to bottled water that costs around $2.00 per gallon with less health regulations than our water.
In Division 5, attorney and realtor Andrew Alder-LaRue, retired businessman Alan "Alfie" Petit and environmental horticulturalist and former Desert Hot Springs planning commissioner Ted Mayrhofen are running.
Petit and Mayrhofen did not respond to The Desert Sun.
Alder-LaRue: I made the decision to run in this race, however, in order to make a contribution to my community by being a diligent voice for those in Vista Montana, and for those of our neighbors who live elsewhere in Division 5. MSWD has labored for decades to provide our community with excellent water, a resource that has always been precious but which is now even more so given our long-lasting drought conditions and the challenges facing us all due to climate change.
Alder-LaRue: MSWD is a local water agency, but precisely because of its mundane presence in the lives of those it serves its actions affect everyone in its purview in a very real way. My hope is that my presence on the board can be a voice for those in this community who may feel their views are unheard or unrecognized. Despite any other label that can be assigned to us by virtue of our work or our background, we are all citizens, and as such we have a very real responsibility to be active participants in the process of governance. My candidacy for this board position is a reflection of my desire to both participate on my own behalf and advocate on behalf of others.
Alder-LaRue: My husband and I live full-time in Vista Montana, situated squarely within the boundaries of Division 5 of the MSWD; we bought our home in this community earlier in 2022, and though we are new to Desert Hot Springs as residents, we are both long-time residents of the Coachella Valley. As homeowner in, and resident of, the area I seek to represent I can firmly assert that my interest in this post is that of a resident directly affected by decisions taken by the MSWD board as a whole. Our challenges for the future will be like those of the past, only climate change will make efforts at conservation and astute water management even more crucial as we move forward into this decade and beyond.
Alder-LaRue: Mission Springs Water District has developed a robust program of encouraging its users to both be cognizant of their household water usage and to take steps to conserve where and when possible. In a sense the concept of water conservation is somewhat like the proverbial “low-hanging fruit”. One cannot open a phone or read a newspaper or watch any television news program without receiving the message that conservation is no longer an optional activity for any individual or household. The larger backdrop of climate change notwithstanding, California’s history with regard to water has often been characterized as boom-or-bust, with bust, or drought. I’ve lived in this state almost continuously since 1978 and well know that water, or its lack, has been an almost constant theme throughout that time. In our desert environment conservation cannot be merely an option, rather it must inform every decision made by each of us as consumers and by every water agency as well. Has MSWD done a good job with regard to conservation? Undoubtedly. Could MSWD do more to foster conservation and wise water usage? Without question. But any program, no matter how well designed, can only bear fruit with active customer engagement.
Alder-LaRue: Efficiency, economies of scale (in terms of capital expenditures and the like) and its hand-maiden of asserted increased productivity are just some of the standard rationale usually given when any type of consolidation is proposed. I will also observe that it often seems proponents of consolidation are usually the same folks who would intend (whether stated or not) that they, not others, would be the better stewards of the resultant post-consolidation scheme. The real question, it seems to me, is whether or not the constituents of Division 5 in the Mission Springs Water District are better served by remaining within the structure of a smaller, well-organized entity that is, by definition, truly local or whether the residents of Desert Hot Springs shall, in any significant way, benefit from closer association, or even incorporation, into the DWA. To date I have seen no compelling data, or rationale, that such would in fact be the case. Perhaps I can be educated otherwise, but I am not unaware that proponents of consolidation can sometimes be motivated by factors other than “efficiency”.
Alder-LaRue: Clearly the settlement of this ongoing litigation is in the best interest of MSWD ratepayers. I cannot speak to the facts and circumstances that gave rise to the lawsuit, other than to state that I have read its history. Why this unfortunate situation occurred is a set of facts about which I am ignorant as to the details. The important thing is to do what has been done: Acknowledge the error, compensate those damaged by it, and then move on to ensure that such an error is not repeated. Entities are comprised of people, and I am confident that the personnel at MSWD do their utmost to serve the needs of this community with intelligence and commitment. Rigorous adherence to “best practices”, adoption of new technologies for water system distribution and consumption, and maintaining a keen eye on the political and economic environment should allow MSWD to offer high-quality water to its constituents at the lowest possible price.
Erin Rode covers the environment for the Desert Sun. Reach her at erin.rode@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @RodeErin.