Judge Authorizes Big Basin Water Company Receivership

Cheers erupted in the courtroom on Friday, September 29, when Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann approved a ruling to move forward with a receivership for beleaguered Big Basin Water Company (BBWC). Originally scheduled for November, the hearing was expedited to September due to the ongoing decline of the water system. A receiver will now be appointed to step in and manage the company’s assets, operating decisions, and finances. 

Reports of outages, muddy water, and lack of response have plagued the company for years. Boil notices since the 2020 CZU fires are frequent and often enacted without sufficient notice according to residents. over the years, the Water Resources Control Board has applied many citations and noncompliance orders against BBWC for failure to provide adequate supplies of clean, potable water. 

BBWC owners Jim and Shirley Moore argued against the petition stating that they had a buyer – Central State Water Resources (CSWR), a water utility company based in Missouri. However, while a temporary operations agreement is in place, no sale has been finalized. “The important thing is that the company that is buying us are serious. They put in money,” Shirley Moore said. “After the CZU fires our company was destroyed. We worked hard to get it back to where we were supplying customers with water again.” Moore claimed that CSWR was doing a good job, had brought in new equipment, and planned to dig a new well and apply remote monitoring of tanks. “They filled a 200k gallon tank when our pressure was low in our system.”

Attorney Tiffany Yee representing the California State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, pushed back against some of the Moore’s claims indicating that light needed to be shed on BBWC’s financial situation, that funds had not been expended to bring the system into compliance, and that some of the CSWR funding appeared to have gone toward a wastewater treatment plan that was not part of the receivership pleading. “It’s misleading for Mrs. Moore to say the money goes to infrastructure problems. This did not come out of nowhere, the division has tried to work with BBWC for many years. We’ve issued citations and orders and fielded hundreds of complaints from system customers,” Yee said. “Regarding a sale to Central State, the fact of the matter is that the system is on the brink of collapse and still no compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Not from Big Basin Water, the Moores, or Central State. Central State’s involvement with a potential sale doesn’t change that this system is out of compliance.”

A July 2023 Proposed Order for Appointment of Receiver of Big Basin Water Company from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office (see below) stated, “The Division has made the determination that the System is unable or unwilling to adequately serve its users, and that the System is unresponsive to the rules or orders of the Division.”

In confirming his ruling and referring to the receivership, Judge Volkmann said to the Moores, “This is not adversely impacting what you can do with Central State. But the issues with Central State are not persuasive to the issue before me. The issue of appointment of a receiver, I don’t take lightly. There’s ample evidence to appoint a receiver.”

The order should be signed and filed sometime this coming week. The receiver, already named in a tentative ruling as Silver & Wright LLP will be tasked with submitting a plan to the state within 120 days for bringing the system into compliance. 

During the hearing, Shirley Moore placed blame for the declining system on customers for fighting rate increases saying, “We would apply for a rate increase and the customers would shoot it down. The money was just not there and the customers would not support us.”

Boulder Creek resident Shandra Hunt said, “The customers of BBWC have been living with water insecurity for years. To wonder if anything is going to come out of your faucet and if it’s going to be drinkable or make you sick is no way to live.”

A follow-up case management conference is scheduled for December 18, 2023.

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