Excerpted emails from ‘IWD water & sewer rate increase, Spring 2023’
Mary Stroud wrote on 5/18/23 4:07 PM:
On a side note, our family has been noticing that the water quality from the tap is quite poor lately; the water is visibly cloudy – alarmingly so when we changed the water in our fish tank. We contacted IWD and Brian came out to test our water about two weeks ago. The reading for chlorine was .09 And should normally be above 1, as Brian explained it to me. He tested the water at other points on the street and found the same results. He also opened up the fire hydrant at the end of the street to try to clear the lines, with little to no effect. I have noticed the same cloudiness when visiting friends and also when eating out at restaurants in town. It seems to me a district-wide issue, but what do I know? I’m not a water scientist or field tech, I just know when water doesn’t appear right in my water glass.
Kelly Visel wrote on 5/18/23 4:24 PM:
Mary – Yes! Our water has been tasting and looking off as well. I thought it was the filter in our fridge, but we changed it and haven’t seen any changes in water quality.
Sheila Zacker wrote on 5/21/23 10:19 AM:
I have noticed my water after it stands in the glass for a few hours has a murky film on the top. This is happening on South Circle and the water smells very strong of chemicals.
John Jacobs
May 22, 2023, 10:35:24 AM
Neighbors-
(I have started a separate email thread to focus on the water quality concerns that have been raised by numerous residents in the last few weeks, and separate them from IWD’s rate increase proposals.)
I just returned from a discussion with Leo Havener, General Manager of IWD, regarding the water quality issue that has been observed by many residents. I brought with me a sample of water drawn from my own kitchen tap about an hour previous to this discussion, a brand new bottle of water purchased from Fairway minutes prior, and two clean glasses. I poured them into each glass for comparison:
The glass on the left is the bottled water. Glass on the right is Idyllwild tap water. Leo is in the background.
Leo said that he is aware of numerous calls and comments from IWD customers (not solely along Pine Crest/Riv Co Play Rd) regarding this issue over the last few weeks. He says that IWD’s crews have flushed the lines in the Pine Crest area, and have tested the water three times, and the test results have not identified any kind of health concern with the water. He pointed out that clarity is not considered a health issue as far as water regulation is concerned, and he did acknowledge that there is an obvious difference. He said he genuinely does not know what has changed in the system that has resulted in the water clarity issue.
I pointed out that this clarity issue is relatively recent (last several weeks), and that there is obviously some kind of change that occurred in the system that has had this impact. I pointed out that while it may indeed pose no health risk, it is an obvious aesthetic problem that is going to cause alarm with any user who closely inspects their water, and that better communication should be distributed to all customers regarding this status. I also commented on the fact that this quality issue comes at a particularly difficult time, given that IWD is pushing for a significant water rate increase.
The overall tone of this conversation remained rational, however Leo was very firm in his belief that there is nothing wrong with the quality of the water. He also stated his belief that there are a good many customers (and residents) in Idyllwild who tend to be generally unhappy with anything, under any conditions. (These are virtually his own words.) His resistance was quite clear, and further discussion didn’t seem to have much positive potential, so I ended it.
Apparently one local resident has contacted a California Water Board regarding this issue, stating that they have noticed this problem, communicated it to IWD, and the conditions have not changed. They have also requested further testing of the water. That reply may be forthcoming.
For the time being, my own suggestion is to continue to communicate your concerns to IWD, especially if you haven’t already done so. If you are aware of other residents outside of the Pine Crest/Riv Co Play Rd area who are experiencing the same issues, strongly encourage them to contact IWD as well. It is important to identify that this issue is not a problem specific to this neighborhood, but is system-wide.
951-659-2143
Please continue posting up to this email thread with your experiences with the water, and any interactions you have with IWD (or any other water quality resource).
_________________________________
John Jacobs
Pine Crest – Riverside County Playground Rd. Neighborhood Watch
Idyllwild, California 92549
888-522-9001
www.pinecrestwatch.org
Jacob Booher
May 22, 2023, 6:52:52 PM
John, thanks for recounting your meeting and creating this new thread.
I also engaged with IWD this morning and similarly learned nothing of value.
IWD saying essentially, “we don’t know why our water tastes and looks very different but you shouldn’t worry about it” isn’t very helpful. Although these changes are likely the result of something innocuous, it’s unreasonable to expect us to simply trust IWD’s seemingly unfounded assertion of that.
The state has established drinking water quality standards designed to protect human health. IWD’s water must live up to those standards. I simply want IWD to confirm its water is currently meeting those standards. If IWD has performed water quality testing to confirm no contaminants of concern are present in our now-cloudy water, they should tell us that and be willing to show us the results. If they have not already performed that testing, they should do it ASAP. It’s a small ask to give us all some peace of mind. I’ll be telling this to IWD leadership tomorrow.
I made the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) at the State Water Resources Control Board aware of this situation. DDW is the regulatory body responsible for overseeing IWD’s water quality. I was able to speak with Jeanne Sabin, who oversees our area and is very familiar with IWD. Based on what I told her about the situation, she was unable to think of a probable cause. She is going to investigate the situation by speaking with IWD’s plant manager. I asked that she/DDW come up and test the water. She is not yet persuaded that it’s a necessity, but will consider doing so. Should you want to reach out to DDW, you can email DWPD…@waterboards.ca.gov. Please note that this email address is not routed directly to Jeanne, but someone will forward your email to her.
Should this issue persist without a reasonable explanation from IWD or DDW, we could have our water tested by a private company. Just throwing out that option of last resort for later consideration.
Sincerely,
Jacob
dawn.p…@
May 23, 2023, 2:12:14 PM
Hi Neighbors,
I so appreciate that we have this dialog amongst our neighbors. And I also support being persistent with IWD and also perhaps getting the water quality tested.
But I want to let some of the newer residents know that this is not a new problem. We have had intermittent issues with water color for all the years that we’ve lived in IDY. I was told by IWD many years ago that we occasionally have issues with manganese. https://wqa.org/resources/manganese/
I used to be friends with a past President of the IWD Board and he told me that it was caused when the fire department flushed hydrants or when Idy Arts or Idy Pines filled up their pool.
At one time I did some research and learned not use bleach to try to clean my white tub or to put bleach in a load of white clothing. Apparently, bleach just makes the staining worse. But I also thought that I read that manganese was not toxic and in the link above I’m seeing information that conflicts with what I thought I knew.
One or both of us should be back in IDY again on a regular basis by the end of the week. And then, I’ll engage in our IWD issues. Both of these issues are important (rate hikes and water quality).
Dawn
Kelly Schlenz
May 23, 2023, 2:21:36 PM
Hey Dawn,
I am the director over at Idyllwild Pines. I saw the mention of the fill of our pool impacting water clarity in the past. This should have only been the case when the old pool at the end of lower pine crest was in operation as that is the only section of Idyllwild Pines (previously another camp) that is exclusively on Idyllwild Water. Our other pool when it needs filling is done so off our wells, the only practice was to drain the pool every year, we only do that now when we have to. Thankfully with improvements over time to our systems our usage to the towns system has pretty drastically decreased. Just wanted to add some clarity in case there was concern.
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John Jacobs
Jun 12, 2023, 10:12:50 AM
Neighbors-
Just wondering if anyone has noted a change in the water quality issue that developed about six or eight weeks ago. Personally, I haven’t noted any improvement in the clarity- it remains slightly white/cloudy, though I haven’t noticed any significant change in taste, smell or feeling about the water. Just kinda disconcerting to see that very slight milky haze…
_________________________________
John Jacobs
Pine Crest – Riverside County Playground Rd. Neighborhood Watch
Idyllwild, California 92549
888-522-9001
www.pinecrestwatch.org
dawn.p…@
Jun 12, 2023, 10:36:34 AM
I do see it and realize you weren’t talking about manganese. We have a super duper filter for drinking water so I’m not too worried but it isn’t as clear as before.
Dawn Papaila
kyoshinvelez
Jun 12, 2023, 11:00:42 AM
I put a glass out overnight, and it was basically clear, but seemed to have some tiny particles in it.
Thanks for all your efforts, John. I am concerned if there’s any issue with the water quality, as there was some years ago.
Thank you,
Valerie Velez
Jacob Booher
Jun 12, 2023, 11:20:04 AM
The water is still cloudy at our house.
More than two weeks ago I asked IWD to send me the results of the water quality testing they said they performed near us on Riverside County Playground Road. I also asked to see the recent results of the daily testing they perform and any other recent water quality tests. Only today did IWD start sending me relevant results. So far they’ve sent only a small subset of what I’ve requested. I hope the remainder will follow soon.
I’ll be reviewing all results IWD shares with me against the state’s water quality standards. I’ll also be sharing all results with my contact at the Division of Drinking Water to ensure we have a water quality scientist’s perspective on the results.
I’ll report back as I learn more.
– Jacob