Residents of a Central California community in jeopardy of running out of water have escaped being shut off, as a long-term settlement and agreement with their main water supplier has been worked out.
After years of unpaid bills and contentious back and forth, the Western Hills Water District and Kern County Water Agency said in a joint statement on Thursday that water service to the Diablo Grande development, about 30 miles outside Modesto, will continue.
The agreement will also eliminate the development’s outstanding debt to the agency. “The existing $14 million obligation between WHWD and KCWA will be erased and will serve as consideration to resolve the outstanding dispute,” Mark Kovich, the water district’s board president, wrote in a letter Thursday to residents…