Howell Mountain Mutual Water Company (HMMWC) was formed in 1985 after Angwin residents realized there were limitations with the private water system previously serving them. The private system was constructed mostly in the 1930s and 1940s by Dick Friesen, who had started damming streams and creating lakes in the 1930's. Friesen initially piped the water from the reservoirs he had created to Pacific Union College in Angwin. He later put in a filtration system and started selling his water to homes in the area.
During World War II, with many resources in short supply, Friesen used unconventional items – such as old acetylene tanks he made into pipes – to extend the system. As a result, the system was in poor shape in 1985. Much of the pipe, some of it already 40 to fifty years old, had been improperly laid and was beginning to rust.
Angwin’s community council recognized the problem, studied the purchase of the system, and eventually got a low-interest state loan to buy the system, forming Howell Mountain Mutual Water Company, a system owned by the residents it would serve. Later that year, HMMWC got another loan from the state’s safe drinking water program to upgrade the system. The loan bought a new, state-of-the-art conventional treatment plant, replacement of distribution pipelines, storage facilities and maintenance, office buildings.
In 2013 we installed a new computerized control system (SCADA) for the filter plant which replaced an outdated analog system. A new 500,000 gallon water tank that holds the treated water for distribution to the community is now online. This tank replaces the old concrete holding tanks that were leaking and were over 50 years old. Numerous leaks in the distribution system have been repaired which greatly reduced plant run time and reduced water loss by over 30%.
During World War II, with many resources in short supply, Friesen used unconventional items – such as old acetylene tanks he made into pipes – to extend the system. As a result, the system was in poor shape in 1985. Much of the pipe, some of it already 40 to fifty years old, had been improperly laid and was beginning to rust.
Angwin’s community council recognized the problem, studied the purchase of the system, and eventually got a low-interest state loan to buy the system, forming Howell Mountain Mutual Water Company, a system owned by the residents it would serve. Later that year, HMMWC got another loan from the state’s safe drinking water program to upgrade the system. The loan bought a new, state-of-the-art conventional treatment plant, replacement of distribution pipelines, storage facilities and maintenance, office buildings.
In 2013 we installed a new computerized control system (SCADA) for the filter plant which replaced an outdated analog system. A new 500,000 gallon water tank that holds the treated water for distribution to the community is now online. This tank replaces the old concrete holding tanks that were leaking and were over 50 years old. Numerous leaks in the distribution system have been repaired which greatly reduced plant run time and reduced water loss by over 30%.