High levels of fluoride, arsenic, and uranium in the wells in Pioneertown mean the residents can’t drink the water and have to have it hauled in. And the lack of drinkable water has also led to a building moratorium in the Pioneertown area. The County’s Special Water District has developed a project to pump water up Pioneertown Road—with the cooperation of the Hi-Desert Water District and Wildlands Conservancy, among others. According to the County’s Special District’s Project Manager, the Pioneertown Water Project all hinges on getting a signed agreement from the Wildlands Conservancy to allow the county to place a storage tank and booster station on the property the Conservancy owns on Pioneertown Road. And the county has another contract under review—this one with Hi-Desert Water District—for using the district’s pipes to pump the water to Pioneertown. But even though the county is close to settling those contracts, it’ll still be months before the project breaks ground. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains what’s next in the process to bring clean drinking water to Pioneertown…
The County’s Special Districts Project Manager Tim Millington said if everything goes according to plan, the agreement between the Wildlands Conservancy and the county could settled by the end of September. But the agreement then has to be submitted to the Board of Supervisors for approval, and putting an item on their meeting agenda takes six to eight weeks, which means the earliest the supervisors could approve the agreement is in November. A memorandum of understanding with Hi-Desert Water District also needs to be approved by the supervisors. The next step is to put the multi-million dollar project out to bid for 30 to 60 days, while at the same time applying for a grant that would fund 100 percent of the project. After the bids are closed, it’s another six to eight weeks before the winning bid is on the supervisors’ agenda for approval of the bid contract. Once the contract is approved, there’s typically a lag time while the contractor orders and waits for the project materials. Millington estimated the project’s construction time to be 60 to 90 days, which means that, at the earliest, Pioneertown residents can’t expect clean water until at least the middle of summer 2015. And that’s if everything goes smoothly, with no hiccups.
