By Rachél Lather, President, Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors

As we prepare to welcome a new year, I’ve been reflecting on just how transformative 2025 has been for Soquel Creek Water District, our customers, and our regional partners. At the start of the year, I shared that 2025 would be pivotal—and with the year nearly behind us, that prediction has certainly proven true.

A Historic Achievement

Without question, the most exciting milestones of 2025 revolved around the Pure Water Soquel Groundwater Replenishment and Seawater Intrusion Prevention Project. After more than a decade of analysis, planning, funding, and construction, the District is embarking on fulfilling its long-standing commitment to secure a new, safe, and reliable water source for our customers.

This achievement represents much more than an engineering and environmental success—it’s a community success. It reflects years of thoughtful public engagement, collaboration with local and regional partners, and the support and patience of our customers. Pure Water Soquel is completing the startup and commissioning, and we are excited to be on the cusp of replenishing the groundwater basin, protecting it from seawater intrusion, and strengthening long-term water reliability for generations ahead.

This year, we were honored to be recognized as the 2025 Organization of the Year by the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce and medium-size Agency of the Year by California WateReuse Association. 

Strengthening Regional Partnerships

This year also reminded us just how important strong partnerships are. As noted earlier this year, delivering Pure Water Soquel required more interagency collaboration than any project in our history. In 2025, we carried that spirit forward.

We continued to work closely with the Mid-County Groundwater Agency, neighboring water providers, and state and federal partners. We also partnered with the City of Santa Cruz to expand our beloved Water Education Assembly program this year. The Assembly program provides lessons about water conservation, pollution prevention, protecting watersheds, and the hydrologic cycle through unique, crowd-pleasing stage shows.

Proactive Water Quality Management

Alongside our water supply achievements, the District continued leading the way in water quality stewardship. This year included significant progress on addressing California’s new hexavalent chromium (chrome-6) regulations, including public outreach, pilot testing, and advancing the design for a treatment system for three wells in the Seascape area. 

Through all these efforts, one thing has remained constant: your drinking water has remained safe, and we have kept our community fully informed at every step.

Renewed Focus on Core Services

Even as we achieved major project milestones, our day-to-day mission never changed. In 2025, the District continued:

• Maintaining and upgrading critical water infrastructure
• Proactively managing groundwater resources
• Delivering clean drinking water efficiently and reliably
• Supporting customers with conservation tools and programs
• Using technology and data to enhance system performance

Whether the year brought heavy winter rains or long dry spells, our community continued to shine in its commitment to using water wisely.

Looking Ahead With Confidence

At the beginning of 2025, I shared that Soquel Creek Water District had evolved from being solely a water purveyor into a water purification and groundwater replenishment agency. Now, after a year of major accomplishments and important lessons learned, that expanded role feels more real—and more hopeful—than ever.

As we move into 2026, we carry forward a profound sense of momentum, responsibility, and gratitude. We will remain nimble, collaborative, and forward-thinking as we continue planning for long-term water reliability in a changing climate.

I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to our customers, partners, and community members. Through droughts, construction impacts, and major regional challenges, you have remained engaged, supportive, and resilient. The progress we celebrate today belongs to all of us.

Happy New Year and thank you for continuing to do your part as we proudly continue to do ours.

Ms. Lather has been on the Board of Directors since 2016, became President of the Board in 2020, and is serving again as President through 2025. She is a resident of Aptos and a retired civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience. Ms. Lather also serves on the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission.