Jeff Rigney, the director for San Bernardino County Special Districts, talked with Z107.7 about the status of water service in Pioneertown in general, and of a particular case of supposed special treatment in that area in particular. Reporter Dan Stork reports what we were told…
Jeff Rigney told us that there is an advisory—not a prohibition—about drinking water in Pioneertown, based on uranium and arsenic levels. In addition, there is a moratorium on new connections, based on a supply of water that is insufficient to meet potential fire suppression demand as well as day-to-day operations. (Properties that needed to be rebuilt or remodeled from the effects of the 2006 Sawtooth Complex fire, and which had had an existing connection, are exempt from the moratorium.) The long sequence of approvals needed to bring a pipeline from Yucca Valley to Pioneertown is in the works. A state grant was used to create a design for the project, which Rigney said makes him optimistic that a request for construction funding will be approved.
As to the “special treatment” complaint, he said that two or three years back (Rigney was unsure of the exact date offhand), an individual in the Pioneertown area was granted a building permit which, according to Rigney, should not have been granted. When, permit in hand, the individual asked Special Districts for a water connection, the matter was referred to the County’s Division of Environmental Health Services, which kicked it up to a California state agency, which approved the connection. Rigney summarized: “It was not something that should have happened.” But it did, and it rankles some other residents who want connections.
COUNTY EXPLAINS PIONEERTOWN WATER SITUATION, SORT OF
