COBB >> The Starview Water System on Cobb Mountain suffered heavily from the Valley Fire, losing more than 130 customers and a large amount of infrastructure.
Yet, the extinguishing of the flames perhaps did not signal the end of the damage.
According to Lake County Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger, debris and tree removal efforts caused further destruction to the remaining piping, forcing outages in service and boil-water advisories to some of the 14 remaining customers in the network.
The culprit, Dellinger said, is the heavy machinery used by debris removal crews contracted by CalRecycle — running over or digging up lines or other items — and the falling of trees by contractors of PG&E.
Special Districts has made repairs to the damaged pipes, but the reimbursement of those costs have become an issue.
“We haven’t got any firm commitments,” Dellinger said. “Financial Solvency to these systems is going to be an issue because you don’t have people to pay for the service.”
Cobb Area Water District (CAWD) has reported some complaints as well, especially towards PG&E and its contractor, Mountain Enterprises.
General Manager Robert Stark told the Record-Bee that the damage done to the water mains in the Pine Ridge Estates subdivision was so extensive that new ones need to be built — a project that would cost millions of dollars.
“You’d be throwing money into the garbage,” Stark said, addressing the possibility of just repairing them. “There’s no way to use this water main.”
According to his estimates, a new system would require 8,000 feet of water main to be built underneath a road with the piping costing about $140 a foot. In the meantime, CAWD plans to service the customers with a temporary line.
He alleged that clean up crews were unaware of the piping markers located on the property, which they removed in the process. Without this knowledge, damage was caused as trees were cut down and thudded on the ground, damaging water pipes.
Three to four repairs were made by CAWD crews a day, he said.
Now, Stark wants PG&E to come up with the money to pay for the project.
“We’re not trying to pull anything over on someone,” he said. “We just don’t want our customers to pay for something they didn’t do … We are going to do our best to protect them.”
When asked about damages done to the water systems, a spokesperson from PG&E reported that they have only received two complaints from CAWD. He said that PG&E crews repaired both issues last week.
“We haven’t been contacted by the water district about damage at any other locations,” PG&E’s Brian Swanson said, adding that he didn’t know if PG&E and Stark are talking about project funding.
Allegations made against CalRecycle crews in the Cobb area were all disputed except for one case of a water supply line breaking on Cobb. CalRecycle indicated that in the cases they are aware of, damage has all been caused by other operations.
According to CalRecycle Public Information Officer Lance Klug, the Loch Lomond incident was authorized for repayment. Furthermore, he claimed that operations crews are aware of the markings on the properties.
The state’s waste management agency has finished debris removal on most of the lots destroyed by the fire and the county estimated that 30 remain, which will be cleaned in the warmer and drier months.
Taking the place for cleanup operations is the Lake County Department of Environmental Health, which is handling the water issue. Director Ray Ruminski said he has also received reports of erosion control measures being altered by dragging logs.
“We’re following up on all the complaints we’ve received,” Ruminski said. “It’s chaos.”
