Altadena Fire Survivors Face $3,000 Bill to Keep Their Water Flowing

A year after the Eaton Fire wiped out 75% of the homes it serves, the Las Flores Water Company told its shareholders they must pay $3,000 each — or the utility may not survive.

Nearly 200 residents gathered Thursday at the Altadena Library to hear the grim arithmetic: the small private water company lost both its reservoirs in the January 2025 fire, operates on a quarter of its pre-fire revenue, and was apparently underinsured.

Because mutual water companies are ineligible for many state and federal disaster funds that public utilities receive, the cost of survival falls on customers who are themselves still recovering.

“I think we’re going to get hosed again,” said Altadena resident Michael Barlett, according to KABC. “We’ve already suffered so much and we’re getting suffered again. This time, it’s financially, but just to have an extra $3,000 paid and assessed … it’s too much to keep a company that’s not viable, viable.”

Las Flores, one of three private water companies serving Altadena, was hit hardest by the fire. The company proposed two options: a $50 monthly charge for five years, or a $3,000 lump sum with interest paid back at the end of the period.

No vote was taken at last week’s meeting; the proposals will be decided at a future meeting.

Board President John Bednarski acknowledged the burden but said the company had no choice.

“We have to keep the lights on at the company and keep the water company serving water because that’s a primary utility for people,” Bednarski told LAist. “But I also think that as we start rebuilding, we want to build back better than we were before.”

The assessment would not be collected until homeowners are able to return and live on their properties, the company said. However, for customers already back in the area, charges could begin as early as February or March.

Resident Shawna Dawson Beer called the proposal “a Band-Aid on a sinking ship,” according to KABC. She and other residents argued that consolidation with another water provider may be the only realistic path forward.

“We do not have a viable water system here without that, not for another disaster, not for the increased density that is coming to our community,” Beer said.

Las Flores is reportedly exploring a merger with Lincoln Avenue Water Company, which serves about 5,000 homes and businesses in western Altadena. The two companies have applied for funding from the State Water Resources Control Board to study whether they can merge. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, has publicly supported the idea.

Some residents questioned how low-income families would afford another expense during recovery.

“My concern is the $3,000. How are low-income people going to pay this?” asked resident Vallitta Sharpe, KABC reported.

Morgan Z Whirledge, an Altadena Town Council member who lost his home in the fire and was recently elected to represent Census Tract 4601, said the proposal added to an already overwhelming recovery process.

“This is an added layer of burden,” Whirledge told LAist. “This comes at a really inopportune time for people in this recovery process.”

Greg Pierce, senior director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and lead author of reports on post-fire water system damage, said private mutual water companies face a structural funding disadvantage.

“These systems really have been on their own,” Pierce has said.

Overall, the fires caused more than $2 billion in damage to infrastructure overseen by L.A. County — excluding the costs of restoring small water companies. Federal funding has lagged; the Trump administration has still not approved nearly $40 billion in recovery funds requested by Governor Newsom in February 2025.

Anish Saraiya, director of Altadena recovery for Supervisor Barger’s office, said long-term help would require state and federal assistance.

“It is paramount that the county gets that funding,” Saraiya told LAist. “It is going to take that kind of scale of assistance to help us rebuild this community.”

Las Flores customers are shareholders in the company — and for now, they have no other source for water.