California Water Service Partners With County of Tulare and Local Community Organizations to Consolidate Struggling Central Valley Water Users

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Grants from Department of Water Resources to Support Disadvantaged Communities

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grant funding from the State of California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) to the County of Tulare will enable local water provider California Water Service (Cal Water) to connect two small, disadvantaged communities struggling with failing domestic wells with its Visalia system. The consolidation is intended to help ensure residents in West Goshen and on Harrison Road receive a reliable supply of safe, clean water for years to come.

While 80 customers that had been part of West Goshen Mutual Water Company were added to Cal Water’s system in 2014, another 50 residences in West Goshen had domestic wells and were not part of West Goshen Mutual and the original consolidation. Through DWR’s Small Community Drought Relief Program, the Community Water Center helped secure $3.45 million for Tulare County, so that Cal Water can extend its water mains and connect the remaining 50 customers, whose groundwater wells are failing and do not meet water quality standards.

Cal Water will also be able to extend its pipes and connect about 25 customers whose wells have gone dry along Harrison Road and Avenue 266, through a grant of approximately $535,000 that Self-Help Enterprises helped secure from DWR’s program for Tulare County. Officials for both projects hope to break ground in 2023 and complete construction by the end of 2024.

“We believe everyone should have reliable access to safe, clean water,” said Marty Kropelnicki, Cal Water President and CEO. “To that end, we are pleased to partner with Tulare County, our local community organizations, and the Department of Water Resources to support residents in the West Goshen and Harrison Road communities, particularly as climate change will continue to have more frequent and severe impacts on the region’s water supplies in the future.”

About California Water Service
California Water Service provides high-quality, reliable water utility services to about 2 million people statewide through 494,500 service connections. What sets Cal Water apart is its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for its customers and communities. Guided daily by their promise to provide quality, service, and value, the utility’s employees lead the way in protecting the planet, caring for people, and operating with the utmost integrity. Integral to Cal Water’s strategy is investing responsibly in infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, and community well-being. The utility has been named one of “America’s Most Responsible Companies” by Newsweek and a Great Place to Work®.  More information is available at www.calwater.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about the Company, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Such words as would, expects, intends, plans, believes, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to: ability to operate the West Goshen, Harrison Road, and Avenue 266 service areas in an effective and accretive manner; natural disasters, public health crises, pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of a contagious disease, such as the outbreak of coronavirus (or COVID‐19); governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; consequences of eminent domain actions relating to our water systems; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief and other actions; changes in water quality standards; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; electric power interruptions; housing and customer growth trends; the impact of opposition to rate increases; our ability to recover costs; availability of water supplies; issues with the implementation, maintenance or security of our information technology systems; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; the adequacy of our efforts to mitigate physical and cyber security risks and threats; the ability of our enterprise risk management processes to identify or address risks adequately; labor relations matters as we negotiate with unions; changes in customer water use patterns and the effects of conservation; the impact of weather, climate, natural disasters, and diseases on water quality, water availability, water sales and operating results, and the adequacy of our emergency preparedness; and, other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph, as well as the annual 10-K, Quarterly 10-Q, and other reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements.

Released December 15, 2022