Esperanza's Sanctuary / Sky Valley, California
#LeaveID8AloneWe stopped the ID-8 divestiture as a community.
Desert Edge • Sky Valley • Indio Hills • 4,800 Residents
In early 2026, CVWD General Manager Jim Barrett signed a Letter of Intent to hand the ID-8 water system over to Mission Springs Water District, setting in motion a $50 million grant application that would have permanently transferred domestic water service away from Desert Edge, Sky Valley, and Indio Hills. Every single ID-8 resident opposed it.
On May 27, 2026, the CVWD Board formally rescinded that Letter of Intent, publicly acknowledged it should never have been issued without a board vote, and adopted policy requiring board authorization for any future consolidation action. The community showed up, documented everything, and made it impossible to look away.
But the fight raised a bigger question. The official reason given was chromium6 in four ID-8 wells. That is real. What was never fully answered is how a general manager signed a commitment of this magnitude with no board vote on record, why residents were shown three inconsistent maps of the service area, and whose interests were actually being served by a rushed $50 million application.
The documents below tell that story.
Every public records request, every response, every agenda gap and authorization question is documented below. This page exists so the communities of Sky Valley, Desert Edge, and Indio Hills have direct access to what was obtained on their behalf.
Explore the Story and the Records
The CPRA folder is a living collection, added to as responses come in and only partially organized. Everything in it was obtained through formal California Public Records Act requests and belongs to the public.
The short version of a long paper trail.
On September 23, 2025, the CVWD board heard a proposal to divest ID-8 to MSWD. Not a single ID-8 resident supported it. The board voted to table the item, conditioning any return on MSWD completing a financial and feasibility analysis and a genuine public process. Neither condition was documented as completed.
In the months between the September vote and the February signature, the public record shows a series of undisclosed interagency meetings: a private CVWD staff meeting about ID-8 issues in October 2025, a formal CVWD and MSWD two by two director meeting later that month, and a special meeting of all five CVWD directors in November 2025 with no subject listed in any public agenda.
Based on that Letter of Intent, MSWD adopted Resolution 2026-03, authorizing a $50 million State Water Resources Control Board grant application. When the resolution came to a public vote on April 20, 2026, it passed 3 to 2 only after a community member called out the original wording on the record and the title was amended to include the word "potential."
A formal complaint was filed with the Riverside County DA's Public Integrity Unit. The CVWD board's May 2026 rescission of the Letter of Intent publicly confirmed what the records had already shown: the signature should never have happened without a board vote.
A complaint has also been filed regarding MSWD's Special Districts Leadership Foundation Platinum District of Distinction certification, and the State Water Resources Control Board was formally notified with supporting documentation in April 2026.
The full documentary record is available in the Google Drive folder linked above.
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