Special to the town Crier
Jan Fenwick is the new president of the Purissima Hills Water District. Fenwick served as board vice president in 1998. She was appointed to the board in 1991 and is in her second elected term. The board elected Ernest Solomon as vice president.
Purissima Hills Water District serves 3,000 residences in Los Altos Hills.
Fenwick said the board is excited about "seeing real progress on our emergency water supply."
The district is planning to drill two test wells for use when other water supplies are cut out, such as in an earthquake, she said.
Work is also under way on an agreement to bring Santa Clara Valley water through California Water Services pipes to Purissima Hills customers in an emergency. Fenwick emphasized that no contract has been signed. Purissima Hills general manager Patrick Walter initiated discussions with Santa Clara Valley a year ago, she said. The agreement would involve construction of pipes connecting Purissima Hills system to California Water Services pipes.
Past board president Dan Alexander, a board member since 1972, said previous discussions with Santa Clara Valley Water District involved tying into Santa Clara Valley's system at Loyola Corners. "That was too many miles of additional pipe," he said.
Purissima Hills also has new equipment to take care of Y2K problems, Alexander said. "It's now running in parallel with the existing system during a test phase," he said.
Fenwick said water conservation through greater use of drought-tolerant landscaping is also on the Purissima Hill board's agenda. The Environmental Design Committee for Los Altos Hills has developed draft guidelines, she said. The committee recommends that at least 30 percent of landscaping be drought-tolerant.
"People forget that we have years of drought here in California where we don't have enough to water their (landscaping) investment," Fenwick said.
Fenwick's involvement in water issues dates back to the 1970s state attempt to build a canal to divert water from the Sacramento River delta to Southern California.
She played an active role through the Palo Alto chapter of the League of Women Voters in defeating the measure.
Maurice Johnson was elected in November to a four-year term on the Purissima Hills board, filing the seat vacated by Dan Seidel. Johnson had previously served on the board, but did not run for re-election in 1996. He joins Fenwick, Alexander, Solomon and Robert Buss, who has served on the board since its inception in 1954.