LACSD's $14.7M recycled-water upgrade debate heats up
The long-running Lake Arrowhead Community Services District fight flared across several groups. The focal post breaks down the District's own April 28, 2026 board agenda packet: a $14.7M recycled-water process upgrade, with $700K in FY 2028-29 and $7M each in the two following years, drawing 17 comments. The argument: how much will land on ratepayers, and how much of it funds water for the Lake Arrowhead Country Club. Cross-posted widely — expect this one to keep running.
A poster pushes back on the budget debate, arguing the April 28 LACSD draft budget — including its proposed $14.7M recycled-water production upgrade — was a draft plan, not a final commitment.
Meanwhile, posters note the LACSD board has cancelled its October meeting days before the Nov 3 election, calling the lost chance for public questions a transparency failure.
A longer letter to Arrowhead Woods owners recaps the 2022 SB 1405 fight and the 2020 state directive on PFAS in the lake, arguing ratepayers were kept in the dark until 2023.
The debate continues: a poster argues that owning property and paying LACSD bills shouldn't disqualify residents from questioning how ratepayer money is spent, and challenges Country Club president Maria Hardin-Carter and former LACSD board member Steve Keefe for attacking questioners instead of addressing the documented agreements.
A separate post urges neighbors to vote in this important election.
The LACSD election is underway, and a cross-posted endorsement urges ratepayers to vote for Ben Naraghi and Paul Burney.
A former LACSD president recounts the 2007 contract history behind the recycled-water fight: the deal required the Lake Arrowhead Country Club to take recycled water instead of lake water at a discount, and set up a mechanism for wells on club property.
A poster answers LACSD board member Eric Chappell directly, defending the Burney, Harrison and Naraghi candidacies and pressing for answers on the Supplemental Water Supply Fee, a $5M interfund loan for pension liabilities, and free recycled water for the Country Club.
A new post presses the LACSD board-spending case and urges votes for Rob Harrison, Paul Burney and Ben Naraghi, citing deferred infrastructure repairs and 65% asbestos-cement drinking-water pipes per the district general manager's report.
In the same LACSD debate, a poster ran the numbers on board member Eric Chappell's claim of 10,544 feet of water and sewer line repaired in two years at $4,128,644 — about $391.56 per foot — and argued that at one mile a year, replacing the remaining 198 miles would take 198 years.
The LACSD debate widened: a ratepayer post now calls for a full independent forensic audit of the district going back at least 20 years, citing the roughly $42 million collected through the Supplemental Water Supply Fee between 2004 and 2019 and questioning what it delivered.
On the eve of the election, a candidate for the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District Board of Directors posted a reflection on why they are running — safe drinking water, a healthy lake, responsible spending, and a district that operates openly — drawing 19 reactions and 11 comments.
On Election Day, a candidate pressed sitting board member Eric Chappell on the district's infrastructure problems — what has been proactively repaired, what was done to prevent a recurrence of the 300-gallon sewage spill, and what the board has done to assess the wastewater system — calling crumbling infrastructure a more urgent issue than funding a solar farm.
In the same debate, another post challenged Chappell directly to name the three most serious infrastructure problems facing LACSD and to spell out specific actions, costs, funding, and a realistic timeline for each.
Rob Harrison says that if the unofficial results hold, he'll represent Division 3 on the LACSD Board, thanking supporters and outgoing board member Michelle Ambrozic and pledging greater transparency and accountability.
A follow-up post declares the LACSD ratepayers 'now have a seat at the table' following the election.
