City files another lawsuit against water district

With two other legal disputes between the two public agencies still pending, the city of Tehachapi on May 1 filed suit against Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.

The civil case, a complaint for declaratory relief, was filed in Kern County Superior Court and is related to a dispute over an agreement the parties made in 2020.

According to the city’s filing, the object of the agreement “was to enhance the quantity and quality of the water supply of the Tehachapi Basin through upgrading the city’s wastewater treatment plant and more efficient handling and storage of treated wastewater.”

In a presentation to the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council in October 2021, Jay Schlosser, the city’s development services director, said the city’s plan is to upgrade the treatment of the city’s wastewater to tertiary level, then return it to the ground to eventually become part of the potable water supply.

The legal filing notes that the city and water district agreed that in exchange for the city’s improvements and contribution to the water supply in the Tehachapi Basin, the water district agreed to grant additional pumping credits to the city based upon the volume of treated wastewater delivered.

“This action arises because TCCWD has demonstrated it does not intend to abide by and honor its obligations under the MOU,” the legal filing states. “The city seeks declaratory relief so that the project contemplated in the MOU may proceed.”

The dispute over what the city calls a groundwater sustainability project and the water district refers to as IPR — an acronym for indirect potable recharge — was also mentioned in the Kern County grand jury’s report about the water district in June 2023.

The grand jury advised the two parties to proceed to arbitration and noted that the “public is best served by the parties honoring all aspects of the MOU.”

In its response to the grand jury in August 2023, the water district said there was no dispute to arbitrate and that the district had never attempted to unilaterally alter the MOU terms by lowering the amount to half of the recharged/reclaimed water.

According to the May 1 legal filing, the city has invoked the dispute resolution procedure in the agreement and requested that the water district participate in mediation.

“TCCWD refused to mediate and instead questioned the nature and existence of any dispute,” the complaint states.

COMMENTS

In an email on Saturday, water district General Manager Tom Neisler said the