Water Districts Bill Worries Officials

Alarmed by a water-district consolidation bill in the Legislature, the City Council is looking into ways to preserve the Serrano Water District.

Based in Villa Park, the district provides water for the entire city as well as part of Orange and some unincorporated areas.

A bill sponsored by Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) would consolidate all county sewer and water districts into one large agency.

City Atty. Leonard Hampel told the Villa Park City Council this week that AB2109 appears to have a good chance of passing and becoming law, which means that the Serrano Water District’s existence is in peril.

Mayor Joseph S. Barsa said the city wants to keep Serrano as an independent agency because it has long provided bargain water rates for Villa Park. He said residents also in effect control the water district, for all five of its board members are Villa Park residents.

Hampel said existing state law provides a way for cities to absorb water districts. But Hampel said that Villa Park could not use that law right now. He said state law requires the boundaries of a water district to be 70% within the absorbing city and 70% of the registered voters in the district also to be in that city.

The Serrano district’s boundaries and customer base are larger than that, Hampel said.