II. System Description

The Casmite water system obtains its water by pumping from an underlying aquifer. Production is approximately 79 acre-feet per year. The water is pumped into two 11,000-gallon plastic holding tanks. The water is then distributed by gravity flow to the system's customers through 4-inch water mains. The water is considered potable as pumped from the aquifer.

Casmite provides water to seven customers, and no new customers have been added to the system since the 1960s.¹ Six of the customers are metered; one is not. One of the metered customers, however, is the Casmalia Community Services District, an entity created under California law. Casmalia takes delivery of water from Casmite at a meter and, in turn, delivers the water to 52 residential and two commercial properties through its own pipe system. Each of the Casmalia properties is metered and billed by the Community Services District for its usage. Casmite's unmetered customer is Mrs. David Tompkins who receives water in exchange for an unrecorded easement. Other than names and addresses, nothing else is in the record concerning the other metered customers. See Tr. 62:2-11 (Stricklin, Sept. 13, 2004).

¹ The pleadings are confusing about the number of Casmite customers. This decision is based on the seven customers identified in the application of December 22, 2003.