Introduction

Americans in recent decades have tended to pay attention to infrastructure only when they are either: (1) asked to pay for its maintenance and modernization, or (2) faced with a sudden disruption in service. The recent CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which forced the evacuation of the entire San Lorenzo Valley (SLV) and resulted in millions of dollars in property damage, provides a prime example of this latter phenomenon.

A San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) online Town Hall on September 3rd attracted many hundreds of concerned valley residents with urgent and entirely legitimate questions about our fire-impacted local water supply. SLVWD staff struggled valiantly to answer these questions under the frustrating constraints of limited data and state-imposed regulatory restrictions on the precise messaging that the District was allowed to employ.

To properly appreciate the challenges that the SLVWD confronted in this fire and to fully appreciate the – in many ways – outstanding response of District staff, it would have been helpful for these same citizens to also have attended the series of five emergency SLVWD Board meetings held between August 19th and September 9th. The goal of this article is to briefly share some of this behind-the-scenes strategizing and engagement with the public at large.

Before the Fire

Like many other water districts across the country, the SLVWD has been struggling for years to manage an increasingly aging infrastructure (e.g., water tanks, pipes, meters, etc.) with inadequate public investment. Rate increases have enabled some long-overdue improvements to be initiated, but these same rate increases have also provoked public outrage which has been further inflamed by misguided claims that the District’s financial woes are all due to mismanagement rather than chronic underfunding.

In 2020, the District also began grappling with a new threat to its infrastructure and to the safety of the entire SLV: the greatly-increased potential for a catastrophic wind-driven wildfire. It was easy to envision scenarios in which damage to the District’s water supply (e.g., burnt or melted tanks or pipes, loss of power for pumps, etc.) could severely compromise the ability of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the state agency that coordinates other fire agencies in fighting major wildfires, to fight the fire itself.

For example, the District had miles of above ground High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) pipes for transporting raw water from intakes to the District’s treatment plant that were extremely vulnerable to fire. These pipes were at least 25 years old and snaked across highly inaccessible, heavily forested slopes and ravines. Replacing these pipes with a more fire-resistant solution was obviously a “good idea,” but it would have also entailed a major investment. The HDPE pipes were originally preferred because metal pipes are less flexible, less earthquake-resistant, and far more expensive and environmentally disruptive to install.

In response to this new reality, the District intensified its emergency planning and also began working with Panorama Environmental, outside experts contracted for fire management planning, to develop a more comprehensive assessment of current vulnerabilities and to seek funding for further fire management activities. The recent “Prepared, Not Scared” bill enclosure was an additional small step in this direction. Unfortunately, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire struck while the District was still in the midst of these preparations.

During the Fire

The first few days of the fire fight were gut-wrenching for all as both the District’s vulnerability and CAL FIRE’s insufficient manpower were painfully on display. The first emergency Board meeting on August 19th revealed that the situation was dire: fire-fighting resources focused on preserving downtown Boulder Creek, and it was agreed that the District Manager would take direction from CAL FIRE in prioritizing the flow of water to fire-fighters downtown. Early in the morning of August 21st, the fire reached the District’s Lyon Water Treatment Plant, the Big Steel Booster, and Lyon, Little Lyon, and Big Steel Tanks, causing major damage and also the loss of about 4 million gallons of water. All of this was deeply disturbing to learn.

It is also important to appreciate, though, that SLVWD personnel worked tirelessly and extremely closely with CAL FIRE from the earliest hours of the CZU Lightning Complex event. With fire district escorts, they personally inspected and attended to remote sites throughout the valley, and they similarly visited residents’ homes as needed. They proactively controlled the flow of water both to support CAL FIRE’s evolving fire-fighting strategy and to prevent contamination of key water supplies (e.g., as a potential consequence of melted HDPE pipes). SLVWD staff also regularly provided the Board of Directors with detailed status reports, with clearly articulated plans for immediate remedial actions, and with corresponding requests for emergency spending approval.

The Board of Directors was highly supportive of the staff and highly attentive to the needs of SLVWD customers throughout this entire sequence of events. Only by attending the emergency Board meetings could one begin to appreciate the complexity and scope of the valley’s water delivery infrastructure together with the extreme commitment and competence of the SLVWD staff. Board President Steve Swan was subsequently moved to write, “I’ve never been prouder to be involved with such a great team of dedicated people.” (Santa Cruz Sentinel Guest Commentary, Sept 11, 2020).

After the Fire

As the immediate fire threat receded, the District found itself facing five new urgent challenges:

• Rapid restoration of service

• Water contamination concerns

• Watershed damage

• Customer support

• Fresh financial obligations

Since then, the District has been working non-stop to address these.

Service Restoration. Approximately 350 customer connections were lost during the fire, and the District reported on September 17th that all but one of these had been restored. The bulk of the fire damage, however, occurred in more remote sections of the valley. The District lost 7.5 miles of pipe, multiple tanks, tank-adjacent piping, power sources, and various pieces of equipment. The District’s top priority was to restore adequate function to the system, and staff began installing replacement parts within just a few days of the damage. Some of these repairs were permanent, but others were temporary, and there are four repairs still on hold awaiting FEMA involvement. To assist with this effort, the District hired three additional local workers and engaged with various local contractors. Meanwhile, the District will be operating with substantially less storage capacity and reduced winter access to surface water.

Water Contamination. Potential contamination of the water supply was an immediate and obvious concern for both the District and the public. Recent California wildfires have shown that there is potential for the water delivery system to be contaminated by Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) such as benzene (and also by bacteria and nitrates). The District minimized the danger of widespread contamination by proactively isolating threatened tanks and by maintaining pressurization in the Highway 9 corridor. However, any depressurized sections of the system can potentially suck in VOCs from melted pipes. Recognizing this possibility, the District – in conjunction with the overseeing state regulatory agency (the State Water Resources Control Board) – immediately issued a precautionary “Do Not Drink / Do Not Boil” order and initiated a comprehensive water sampling and testing program. The order initially applied to over 5000 connections, but by September 9th, it remained in effect for only about 500 customers. The District also acted promptly to provide all affected customers with access to a safe alternative water supply. Unfortunately, the state-mandated constraints on the District’s communications prevented the District from adequately responding to customer questions about how aggressively they should act to minimize exposure to the potentially contaminated water in their pipes.

In contrast, the District has done a good job of expediting test results and keeping the public informed of its ongoing findings. The most concerning result has been the repeated detection of benzene in samples from the Riverside Grove neighborhood. The District is removing service lines that are either damaged or connected to damaged homes in this neighborhood, and it is also performing repeated flushing. For other homes still subject to the “Do Not Drink / Do Not Boil” order, testing will continue until the District can demonstrate to the State that test results are reliably below the minimum mandated level. The District will also be attentive to the possibility of future contamination when winter rains can potentially wash toxic ash into the surface water supply. Potentially toxic ash was distributed throughout the valley, but the degree of toxicity and the location of problem areas remain to be assessed.

Watershed Damage. The CZU fire burned 252 acres of the District’s Felton Watershed property and roughly 1600 acres of the Felton Empire Grade Sub-Watershed on Ben Lomond Mountain (along with other areas to the north), and the watershed was further impacted by the associated fire-fighting activities. The immediate concern is with the potential for soil erosion and debris flows in response to winter rains. The District is currently only in the early stages of engaging with this issue.

Customer Support. The District has been doing its best to promptly address customer questions with its limited personnel (email communications are preferred). The District has suspended late fees thru September, and it has a catastrophic event policy that applies to the roughly 120 homes in the District that were destroyed. On September 17th, the Board approved a resolution to not charge customers any more in August than they were charged in July as an expedient means of avoiding contention about anomalous water use during the evacuation period. (It is worth noting that much of the excessive water consumption in August was due to customers who left sprinklers running during the evacuation; this is highly undesirable behavior because it fails to protect homes while simultaneously compromising fire-fighting and creating an added burden for District staff, who need to manually turn off water to prevent it from being wasted.)

Financial Impact. The estimated cost of the CZU fire to the District is over $10 million. Much of this will ultimately be paid by FEMA and Cal OES, but the District will need to secure a bridge loan to cover expenses while awaiting reimbursement. In the early days of the fire, the Board authorized emergency expenditures of $200,000 and then another $350,000. As of September 17th, the District was approaching $1.3 million in repairs to date with another $1 million expenditure now pending for interior cleaning and recoating of the two Lyon storage tanks. Fortunately, the District has been able to draw upon its $3 million in cash reserves to cover this.

The Road Ahead

What can we learn from all of this?  In the months immediately ahead, the primary focus for everyone will be on recovery and restoration.  A valuable local resource that all affected homeowners should avail themselves of is the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County .  It is also important to appreciate that the wildfire threat to the San Lorenzo Valley remains substantial.  Homeowners should be more motivated than ever to follow through on maintaining defensible space and taking other fire-protection measures.  But there are also huge looming questions about our wildlands management policies and preferences as well as our ability, as a community, to adapt to the changing climate conditions around us.

Last but not least, ballots for the November election will be available in less than a month, and there are two open seats on the Board of Directors for the SLVWD.  The fundamental lesson of recent weeks and months is that the SLVWD is a high-functioning organization but also one that continues to face daunting challenges.  Four well-qualified Director candidates are on the ballot, but the differences between them will ultimately have real consequences for all of us.  Now, more than ever, voters need to make the effort to learn what each candidate has to offer so that we can collectively select the two who are best equipped to help guide our local water district through the difficult months and years ahead.

For more nonpartisan information about the November, 2020 candidates, about the ongoing operation of the SLVWD, and about the various important water-related issues facing our valley please visit: https://www.friendsofsanlorenzovalleywater.org/november-2020-election