News and Views

PANEL OKs FUNDS FOR BIG BEAR, HIGH DESERT WATER IMPROVEMENTS

WASHINGTON – The House Appropriations Committee Thursday backed a request by Congressman Jerry Lewis to help fund water supply improvements in the Big Bear Lake area that are urgently needed to help fight wildfires in that community surrounded by millions of bark-beetle-killed trees in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The committee included $375,000 in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Interior, which is set to be considered on the House floor next week, Lewis said. The spending bill also contains $375,000 to help the Town of Yucca Valley convert to a sewage treatment system from the current septic systems, which are polluting the groundwater basin that serves the town and nearby federal lands.

“The federal government has a long-standing commitment to helping communities improve their drinking water quality and resources, and I thank my colleagues for approving these projects in areas that are surrounded by our federal lands in San Bernardino County ,” said Lewis, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. “Although the major investment in these systems will come from local taxpayers, it is entirely appropriate that we help accomplish these goals with federal funds.”

The Big Bear funding is especially important because the community has for some years been threatened by dangerous wildfires caused by the millions of dead trees killed by drought and bark beetles in the San Bernardino National Forest . Lewis has joined with Sen. Dianne Feinstein to provide more than $100 million to cut down the trees in and around the forest and reduce the danger.

The City of Big Bear Lake, Department of Water and Power will use the $375,000 to replace rapidly aging pipes throughout the city.  Delivering its potable water from 70-year-old 2-inch diameter pipes has led to declining water quality at the faucet, widespread water loss, and most critically – low water pressure, Lewis said. 

Because of this lack of water pressure the city does not have the capability to effectively fight a large fire within city boundaries. The cost of forcing the water through the pipes also requires major power consumption, making Big Bear Lake the second highest rate payer in the region.

“This project will benefit the citizens of Big Bear Lake in many ways, providing better water supplies, cheaper rates and dramatically increasing safety,” Lewis said.

The funding for the Yucca Valley sewer system will help that rapidly-growing area deal with both water quality and supply problems, Lewis said. The population has nearly doubled in the past 20 years to more than 21,000 residents, and the continued use of septic systems is degrading the groundwater basin – the only significant water supply in the arid region.

The Hi-Desert Water District, which serves the community, is embarking on a $27.5 million project to provide sewers and a wastewater treatment system. The community has received $350,000 in federal funding requested by Lewis in 2005, and has spent $2 million on its own to begin development of the system. In addition to cleaning up the groundwater, the project will allow for recharge of the basin with water that is currently being allowed to flow away after use.

In addition to the water projects, the Interior Appropriations bill contains a number of items that will benefit visitors to the area’s national forests and parks, Lewis said:

• $1 million to begin expansion and modernization of a northern entrance visitor center for Joshua Tree National Park. The center on the south side of Twentynine Palms in the Morongo Basin , would provide display space for important cultural collections that are currently kept from public view. Congressman Lewis is working with the city and park service on a long-term plan to improve this visitor center.

• $650,000 to purchase land from willing sellers in the Garner Ranch area of the San Bernardino National Forest . This funding was requested by the administration to continue a land acquisition project that has received grants secured by Congressman Lewis over the past decade.

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