Big Basin Water Co. operator announces abrupt departure - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Big Basin Water Co. operator announces abrupt departure - Santa Cruz Sentinel

BOULDER CREEK — Customers of a private water company in the San Lorenzo Valley spent the weekend in limbo after the system’s service provider abruptly announced its departure.

Big Basin Water Co. customers awoke Friday morning to a “service termination” email from Central States Water Resources, which had been operating as the company’s service provider since approximately early August.

“Effective immediately, CSWR-California Utility Operating Company is no longer the service provider for Big Basin,” reads the email message. “This includes billing, customer service, maintenance, and all related water services and advisories.”

Ann Thryft, part of an eight-person volunteer group of customers that have helped facilitate Big Basin Water communications and updates to neighbors for months, said the unexpected change has residents on edge and looking for answers.

“One of the biggest customer concerns is: who is in charge and how do we contact them?” Thryft told the Sentinel. “No. 2 is: are we going to keep getting water?”

Santa Cruz County officials told the Sentinel Monday the county was stepping in with short-term funding to ensure the system stays up and running and shared the same in a message to Big Basin customers on Friday using its emergency communications platform, Cruz Aware.

Central States Water is a private water provider headquartered in Missouri that, according to Big Basin Water owners Jim and Shirley Moore, had entered into both a purchase and operating agreement for the business. Central States had been subcontracting a more local water company, Cypress Water Services, to manage the Big Basin system directly.

JM Brown, an analyst for Supervisor Bruce McPherson whose district includes the Boulder Creek area, said McPherson’s office has $40,000 in District 5 discretionary emergency funds that will allow Cypress Water to continue the day-to-day work of keeping the system operational. He said the funds, approved in this year’s budget by the county Board of Supervisors, were set aside specifically to support Big Basin Water customers in the event of an emergency.

“I’m relieved that we have a court-appointed receiver in charge now, which should assure customers that their service will be stabilized,” said McPherson in a statement to the Sentinel. “The biggest, most immediate challenge is how to fund the system in the short term, considering ratepayer revenue does not fully cover the costs.”

After years of spotty service, poor communication and a failure to bring the water system back into compliance with regional standards, state water authorities filed a lawsuit against Big Basin Water this summer. The filing led to the appointment of a receiver – Silver and Wright LLP – by the court in early October, which was tasked with managing the water system and bringing it back into compliance.

Nicolas Jaber, an attorney and project manager of receiverships with Silver and Wright, confirmed that Central States Water had terminated both the operations and purchase agreement with Big Basin Water that had been agreed to prior to the law firm’s appointment.

“What’s most important right now is ensuring the customers don’t see any disruption in their service and that’s what that emergency funding is allowing us to do,” said Jaber, later estimating that the $40,000 is likely “a few weeks of funding.”

He said the long-term solutions remain a question mark, but the law firm is engaged with state and county officials to try to locate a funding source that will not only cover operational costs but also the investments needed to rehabilitate the system.

The order to appoint Silver and Wright was signed by Oct. 5, but Jaber said his team still hasn’t received critical information from Central States and the Moores, noting that he had just been provided only a partial customer list.

Jaber said a virtual town hall with Big Basin customers and a plan to transition customer service communications to Cypress Water were both in the works but had no details to share Monday. For now, Jaber said customers with immediate, pressing questions should direct them to Cypress Water, but declined to confirm the best email or phone number for reaching the company.

“My request to the customers would be to just bear with us for a few days here as we transition in,” he said.