By Mayor Acquanetta Warren, City of Fontana
As contentious as the water conversation often is in our state, the City of Fontana is blessed by having partners that work extremely well together to serve our residents and business community. We are served by three water providers: Fontana Water Company (FWC), Cucamonga Valley Water District (CVWD), and West Valley Water District (WVWD). Water treatment and sewer service for the city is primarily provided by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA).
Continuing to invest into water, wastewater and recycled water infrastructure is critical. The region needs to continue to have a reliable and affordable water supply to support the growing economy with exciting and innovative programs such as the Chino Basin Program (CBP). The CBP is a local water supply reliability program spearheaded by IEUA which will treat and store currently inaccessible, unused local recycled water supplies in the Chino Groundwater Basin increasing water reliability for participating agencies and their partners in particular the City of Fontana.
The largest customer base in our city belongs to Fontana Water, a private water utility regulated by the CPUC, which has provided safe, clean and reliable water service to the City of Fontana for over 75 years.
FWC’s public drinking water system serves more than 237,000 customers and consists of 31 active groundwater production wells that produce high quality drinking water from three separate groundwater basins, local surface water supplies from nearby Lytle Creek, and imported water supplies from IEUA and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District. These sources of supply are distributed throughout Fontana through more than 700 miles of pipelines ranging in diameter from 2 inches to 42 inches, and 27 storage tanks with more than 33 million gallons of available water storage capacity.
Collaboration with the City and the other water service providers in our region has enabled Fontana Water Company to meet the water needs of one of the fastest growing communities in the Inland Empire and helps the City and its residents to better understand the vital needs of a public drinking water system.
Fontana Water Company has developed a number of programs that will help provide a reliable water supply for today and tomorrow. These programs are continuously updated and available to customers on our website at www.fontanawater.com.
The central, or core area of the city’s western boundary is served by CVWD, whose service area includes more than 50,000 water connections. That area includes the City of Rancho Cucamonga, portions of the cities of Fontana, Ontario, Upland, and some unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County.
CVWD has three water treatment facilities located within the district’s boundaries, which treat local surface water from the canyons and imported water from Northern California. The Lloyd Michael Water Treatment Plant (LMWTP) is CVWD’s marquee/flagship water facility: It can treat up to 60 million gallons per day (MGD) using conventional water treatment, carbon filtration and ultra-violet disinfection. It is one of the larger drinking water treatment plants in the Inland Empire.
CVWD operates and maintains 750 miles of water mains and pipelines, 34 reservoirs with a total capacity to store 95 million gallons, and dozens of pump stations that meet the water demands of our customers every day.
Key to the success in water conservation that CVWD has experienced over the past decade has been an aggressive public education and outreach program. CVWD participates broadly in community events and conducts several educational outreach programs throughout the district including the wildly popular annual earth day celebration. More information about CVWD’s conservation and public outreach programs can be found at https://www.cvwdwater.com.
As the Mayor of one of the fastest growing cities in Southern California, I can attest to the importance of having great partners and always finding a way to work together. I am grateful for the work that our water providers put forth to serve our community. As I always say, Fontana working together, moves Fontana forward.
This article appeared in California Water Magazine Inland Empire edition, 2023. Learn more about California Water Magazine at this link.