Letter: Lompico Water has more to fix than pipes

EDITOR,
We agree that the Lompico County Water District is in a sad state (“Sad state of Lompico Water District,” Letters, Feb. 26), but suggest that the state of the district as a whole is a bigger problem than that of the tanks and pipes. The disrepair of the infrastructure is the result of years of deferred maintenance by the management, which is also evidenced in organization, records, finances, staff responsiveness to board directives, etc.
The board of directors has spent the past year trying to get a clear handle on the state of the district, and every answer seems to lead to questions — patching one leak just causes more to spring. The hole just seems to be getting deeper. To begin to get an idea of what’s been going on, please read the county’s review of employee-accrued hours, a copy of which can be obtained at the district office — it’s an eye-opener.
At this point, the most important thing is to keep the water flowing. Repairing the tanks and pipes is important, but the bigger question may well be whether the district, as a district, can be repaired. The suggestions for repairing the infrastructure all involve large amounts of money, either through grants, bonds or rate hikes.
Grants are few and far between for badly managed small districts, and many grants that were available were never brought to the attention of past boards by the manager, whose job that is. Bonds would be added to our property tax bill, if we could find an agency to buy such a bond from a district with finances even an auditor can’t understand. A rate hike big enough to pay for new tanks and pipe repairs could price residents out of the canyon.
Perhaps it’s time to think beyond the tanks and pipes to how to keep the water flowing.