Your Water is Our Promise: The CVWD Blog

Get ready for the arrival of daily hot, dry weather in June. By tending to chores and maintaining a regular irrigation schedule, your garden can look its best.

Chores

• You can prune oleanders, lantana, bougainvillea and hibiscus.
• Avoid pruning citrus foliage in the summer to prevent sunburn on trunk and primary branches.
• Do not top trees; remove only dead and crossing branches.
• Lightly thin excess interior growth of mesquites.
• To keep roots cool and slow moisture evaporation, add a 3-inch-thick layer of mulch to roses, shrubs, and young trees.

Watering

• Irrigation is important before temperatures top three digits daily.
• Water deeply, but infrequently. Use a soil probe or a long screwdriver to check water penetration depth. They will move easily in wet soil but will not move much when they hit dry soil.
• Soil should be damp down to 1½ feet for vegetables and 2 to 3 feet deep for trees.
• To deter root rot, allow soil to dry out between waterings.

Fertilizer

• If citrus trees show an iron deficiency (young leaves looking yellowish), apply chelated iron.
• If your plants need fertilizer in the summer, wet the soil both the day before and then immediately after you apply the fertilizer. That way, fertilizer will be more diluted and will not damage the roots.

Planting

Palms are a safe choice to plant or transplant in June.  Plant or move as early as possible in the month so they will have time to recover with good growth, responding to sunshine and deep irrigation.

• Dig a planting hole twice as wide and just as deep as the existing rootball.
• With twine, tie fronds up over the bud for protection. As new growth shows, snip the twine.
• You can apply a root stimulator to the soil after planting to encourage fast rooting.

For more help

 “Lush and Efficient: Desert-Friendly Landscaping in the Coachella Valley” lists more than 300 plants with over 800 photos. You can search by several dozen categories. Find the 160-page book at our CVWD store for $10 with free shipping. Or, look at a PDF of the book here. 

Engineering design of a project to improve sanitation infrastructure that will allow construction of more affordable housing in Mecca was approved May 24 by the CVWD Board of Directors.

A lift station near the intersection of Avenue 66 and Hammond Road in Mecca that pumps wastewater to Water Reclamation Plant 4 plant was built in 1993. It now needs upgrades to help meet sewer demands for planned and future developments in Mecca.

Dudek, a construction engineering company in Encinitas, was awarded the $683,981 contract for designing the Lift Station 55-11 Capacity Upgrade Project. Construction on the multi-year project is anticipated to start in fiscal year 2023-2024.

The new infrastructure will accommodate planned developments in Mecca, such as the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition’s Nuestro Orgullo project, College of the Desert East Campus expansion and other housing developments.

The board also:

• Authorized an agreement with the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens and SCE for electric vehicle charging ports at the Living Desert.  The Living Desert, which sits on land owned by CVWD, plans to renovate its parking lot and install 64 charging ports.
• Recognized the 20^th anniversary of Auto Part Specialist II David Roberts.
• Awarded a contract for $3.8 million  to Jones Brothers  Construction   for replacing 8,800 feet of leaking concrete pipe with PVC pipeline  along 58^th Avenue from Van Buren Street to east of Harrison Street in Thermal. Improvements on this irrigation lateral will also include new metered delivery points, vaults, valves, meters and removing baffle stands.
• Authorized staff to seek bids for construction of the Monroe Street Truck Sewer Project. The multi-year project will connect 33 homes, a church and a park in Thermal to CVWD’s sewer collection system.  Grants will fund the total cost of $2.6 million.
• Approved an agreement with CDM Smith for design of the Water Reclamation Plant 10 (WRP 10) Headworks improvement Project. Constructed in 1974, replacement parts are not always available for headworks equipment. Total engineering design cost is $1.9 million.
• Approved an agreement with West Yost Associates for $2.6 million to implement the CV-SNMP Development Workplan and execute the First Supplement to the Memorandum of Understanding regarding collaboration on the Coachella Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan.

Approved a nonpotable water agreement for Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, which irrigates its golf course and landscape with water from its well.  Plans outline Sunnylands connecting to nonpotable water pipelines from WRP 10 expected to go under construction in summer 2024.

CVWD Board of Directors authorized staff May 10 to seek bids for design and construction of a multiyear project that will take nine customers off groundwater.

The 2020-2021 Nonpotable Water Pipeline Connection Project will deliver about 5,200 acre-feet of nonpotable water per year for turf irrigation. The water will originate from the District’s largest water reclamation plant in Palm Desert to the customers’ existing on-site storage facilities.

The new connections will serve seven golf courses including Annenberg Estate, Rancho Mirage Country Club, and Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage; Suncrest Country Club in Palm Desert; Jack Ivey Ranch Country Club and Tri-Palm Estates and Country Club in Thousand Palms; and Palm Royale Country Club in La Quinta. The 12 miles of new pipeline will also bring nonpotable water for landscape irrigation to Indian Wells Tennis Garden and Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells.

Total cost of the project is $32,530,000. Design plans for the project are expected to be complete in June 2022.

In a related matter, the board authorized a nonpotable water agreement for the Jack Ivey Ranch Homeowners Association in Thousand Palms.  Currently, the Jack Ivey Ranch Country Club irrigates its golf course and landscape with groundwater from a well.  Plans call for connecting Jack Ivey Ranch to the nonpotable water distribution system in summer 2024.

The board also:

• Adopted new sanitation rates and charges for fiscal years 2023-2027 based on a cost of service study launched in August 2021. The new rates effective July 1, 2022 reflect a 7.8 percent increase in fiscal 2023. For instance, a residential monthly charge in 2022 is $1.55. In 2023, the charge will be $1.69.  
• Recognized retirements of  Customer Service Representative Ofelia Navarro,25 years;  Welder George Escobedo, 19 years; Chemist Michael Stenzel, 30 years; and Cross Connection Tech Steve Hodges, 14 years.
• Clarified that the $67.5 million in federal funding CVWD recently received is a loan, not a grant. The funds are earmarked for replacing irrigation lateral pipelines that branch off the Coachella Canal and the proposed Mid-Canal Storage Project for the canal.