Replacing Yosemite Lakes' water system

FRESNO, California (KFSN) -- A new multi-million dollar project to replace the aging water system at Yosemite Lakes is now underway.

Just one year after taking over as general manager of the Yosemite Lakes owners association Bob Civello noticed problems on the streets of this Madera County community.

Bob Civello said, "The first thing I saw were patches in the road and geyser going off in every different direction. Really a lot of wasted water in the park."

Nearly 60 water main breaks were reported in the past year in the system was built over 40 years ago. Problems started occurring soon after and each repair job cost $2,000 to fix. Civello started taking bids last year to rebuild the water pipe system. He soon worked out a plan with homeowners to cover the cost.

"we're going to this a little bit slower than we would like," said Rick Woods. "We would like to do this all at once. We would like to have five of those machines."

The project will take 20 years to complete and cost $13 million. Civello says each homeowner will only have to pay $150. The project could have cost up to 48 million dollars but Civello decided that was too much and there wasn't time to get funding from state and local leaders.

Civello said, "We're really taking a look at being one of the only communities in California that's taking a proactive view on the infrastructure while everyone else is complaining."

Construction on the first two and half miles of piping will take eight months with no impact on water pressure at each home.