WATER SYSTEM

WATER QUALITY

Every month the Operational Technical Services (OTS), under contract by the SVMWC, collects two water samples and sends them to the laboratory for bacteriological testing.

If the test results indicate the presence of total coliform bacteria, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is notified, and 12 repeat samples are taken and sent to the laboratory to determine the source of contamination.

If all the new samples are free of bacterial contamination, the assumption is that the first samples were contaminated during their collection and therefore there is no water-quality problem.

If some of the new samples are contaminated and the others are not, the OTS gets an indication of where the contamination could be happening. At that time the CDPH usually recommends that the water supply be chlorinated, and a Boil Water Notice issued to SVMWC members by delivering both printed and email notices.

Once the source of contamination is isolated and eliminated, follow-up samples are collected. The Boil Water Notice is rescinded when there is an absence of total coliform bacteria.

State law mandates safety devices that isolate the drinking-water side of our supply system from anything that could contaminate it, such as sprinkler systems. We are evaluating our existing program and determining what would satisfy the State’s mandates.

• Backflow Program Flyer
• Backflow – Cross-Connection Control Program
• SWRCB Cross-Connection Program
• Water quality reports here.

WATER CONSERVATION POLICY

Adopted by the Board of Directors on July 29, 2022.

SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE

SVMWC’s water system consists of:

• Two vertical wells on the valley’s floor (one in the village’s parking lot, the other at the edge of the golf course), which tap aquifers below the valley.
• A pump house on the valley’s’ parking lot.
• A horizontal well on the mountain, which taps a stream.
• Two water storage tanks near each other above Summer Place.
• A distribution network of pipes and water usage meters.

Most of the water year-round is supplied by the horizontal well, which directly feeds the upper storage tank. The lower tank replenishes the upper tank when the horizontal well does not supply sufficient water. The lower tank is replenished with water pumped from the two vertical wells on the valley’s floor.

Water to homes is supplied either by gravity from the tanks when they have sufficient water supplied by the horizontal well or otherwise pumped up from the vertical wells on the valley’s floor.

SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS

SVMWC’s system was constructed in the 1950s. In 2005 SVMWC started major projects to replace and improve the system’s seriously deteriorating storage and distribution infrastructure to ensure reliable operation and reduce extensive leakage. More here.