Background

SDWC is a Class C California water company engaged in the business of selling water to 905 metered customers. The water system is comprised of one 500,000 storage tank, one pumping station with two pumps to raise the water to the storage tank and distribution pipelines consisting of 163,000 feet of mains in sizes from 1 to 12 inches in diameter. All of the water (approximately 91 million gallons annually) is purchased from Searles Valley Minerals Operations Co. (SVMO). SVMO pumps from 5 wells in the Indian Wells Valley. SDWC provides water service to the communities of Argus, Trona, Pioneer Point, South Trona, Westend, and Point of Rocks, all in the unincorporated area of Trona.

SDWC was formed in the early 1940s as an outgrowth of commercial operations to recover minerals and chemicals from brine pumped from Searles Lake, a dry lakebed in San Bernardino County. In order to provide water to operate plants and potable water to employee families located in communities along the lake's west shoreline, Searles was organized as a California corporation and was granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity by Decision (D.) 36822 on January 12, 1944.