The Acorns That Helped Overhaul A Small Rural Drinking Water System
By Christian Bonawandt
While no major municipal water utility has ever claimed to be overfunded, it is much easier to cover the cost of large projects when it can be spread across hundreds of thousands of residents. But this is a stark contrast to the mathematical reality of smaller utilities like the Madison Community Services District (CSD). Located in Yolo County in the southern Sacramento Valley, Madison is a tiny community with around 450 permanent residents and 300 seasonal farm workers. Its small size can make it difficult to attract the attention of those who control the purse strings for major projects.
No one knows this better than Leo Refsland, general manager of Madison CSD, which is responsible for drinking water, wastewater, parks, and streetlights. Refsland’s title only hints at the scope of his role: he is the district’s one and only full-time employee. In other words, he doesn’t wear many hats; he wears them all.
Meeting health and safety requirements adds another layer of pressure to this already demanding role. And yet, with no budget for staff and less room for error, Refsland recently led the charge in coordinating and financing the complete replacement of the community’s entire drinking water distribution system.
13,000 Feet Of Failure
The drinking water project was not the first system overhaul Refsland had taken on. He stepped in to run the Madison CSD in 2007 after the district was hit with a cease-and-desist order from the state following years of non-compliance on the wastewater side. All the previous employees had quit, the board didn’t have a quorum, and Refsland had never worked for a utility. His experience included welding and a stint driving a water truck, but his main qualification was simple: he was the only applicant.
“I had no knowledge of any of this stuff at that time, but it seemed like something I could do,” he told Water Online. “A lot of it was learning on the fly.”
It took almost six years to get the wastewater system back into compliance, but by then the severity of the drinking water system had become painfully apparent. The community was being served through 13,000 feet of asbestos-cement piping installed in the 1960s. The expansive clay soil in which it rested would contract in the summer and fall, then swell in the wet winter and spring months, endlessly jostling the brittle pipes. As a result, the system was suffering as many as 12 breaks each year, with patchwork repairs costing $1,000 per break and draining the district’s budget. Making matters worse, the system had no functional isolation valves, meaning every repair required shutting down service to the entire community.
Turning Acorns Into Funding
Replacing every main line would cost millions — a cost that was mathematically impossible for local ratepayers to bear. Thankfully, his experience rehabbing the wastewater side taught him a valuable lesson in grant writing and politics at large: “Never bring leaders a problem without also bringing a solution,” he said.
Refsland started by applying for $20,000 to $40,000 equipment and rehabilitation grants through Yolo County and community groups like the local Rotary Club. By delivering those initial projects on time and within budget, he established a track record of reliability.
“It just started off really small and kept growing until it grew into what we have today,” Refsland explained.
Building on these early successes, Refsland continued pursuing funding and, in 2022, secured a $3.8 million grant through the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Small Community Drought Relief Program. But the celebration was short-lived. Post-COVID inflation and rising labor costs drove construction bids beyond the available grant funding. Suddenly, the project faced a devastating shortfall.
To close the gap, Refsland worked with a coalition of dedicated partners he credits with keeping the project alive. He named Elisa Sabatini, Yolo County’s natural resources manager, as a valuable resource who helped pull together funding, as well as Petraya Marchand and the team at grant consulting firm Consero Solutions, who relentlessly pursued funding leads.
That collective persistence paid off when the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation stepped in with a critical $990,000 Doyuti T’uhkama Grant to cover the deficit and clear the final hurdle for construction. The term Doyuti T’uhkama means “to give the acorn,” a reference to planting small seeds that grow into towering oak trees.
“I wish I could take credit for that, but it wasn't me,” Refsland insisted. “I've been very fortunate to be surrounded by some really talented people who have been very generous with their experience and their connections and their wisdom.”
Little Victories
Construction of the new distribution system officially began in January 2026. Just ten months later, on October 20, 2026, Refsland switched the entire community to the new system — but not before the old network had one last “hold my beer” moment, he joked. While the new mains were being installed, the system suffered the most breaks it had ever seen, with three in the final weeks alone. Thankfully, with the switchover, those last breaks “miraculously repaired themselves by abandonment,” Refsland said.
For fellow operators and utility directors navigating similar rural infrastructure hurdles, Refsland’s core advice is simple: “Don’t give up, keep trying, and build off the little victories.” In small, unincorporated communities across the country, piecing together funding and maintaining a safe, reliable water supply isn’t just routine utility administration; it is the bedrock of community survival.
Christian Bonawandt is an industrial content writer for Water Online. He has been writing about B2B technology and industrial processes for more than 25 years.