Bighorn Desert-View Water Agency meeting recap: 25 year recognition, water tour and take permits
The Bighorn Desert View Water Agency began the monthly meeting two hours early so that a 25-year anniversary resolution certificate could be presented to David Rewal. Directors joked that David must have started when he was 5 years old and mentioned that they wanted to give David his award at last month’s meeting on August 13, but he was deeply involved with getting Highway 247 opened up after a water leak flooded the road down to one lane.
Steve Bardwell is the President of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association and gave a presentation on water-wise landscaping. The MBCA was founded in 1969 and began their water-wise landscaping projects in 2011. During the Covid pandemic, video and in-person hybrid programs were introduced, which are still ongoing. All the videos can be viewed on YouTube.
Here Bardwell explains the progression of hybrid tours:
“We found that there was real popularity with liking to see the videos that we produced, so we then began doing a hybrid of various in-person tours and some video tours, video shorts as well. They’ve been very successful”
Next, an Operations presentation was given by David, regarding the installation of new booster pumps. These boosters were produced and installed following in-house designs, which saved the agency substantial funds. David ran down the list of work performed recently including the leak repair on Highway 247, the Landers school service line repair, valve maintenance and chlorine housing replacements.
The Mojave Water Agency will be holding a Water Tour on Wednesday September 16, 2026. Participants meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Joshua Tree Community Center, 6171 Sunburst Avenue in Joshua Tree. The tour will visit Joshua Basin Water District, Hi-Desert Water District and the Bighorn Desert View Water Agency, after which lunch will be served.
The event is free, but pre-registration is required.
The 15-item consent calendar was quickly dealt with, including a retroactive authorization of payment to California Department of Fish and Game for $179,986,50 for two Western Joshua Tree incidental take permits.
