Small water systems in a dozen communities east of Santa Fe faced a crisis.

In some, their members were angry over lack of accounting and haphazard meeting notices. In many, no one wanted to deal with the headaches of running the aging systems, and board members couldn't find new volunteers to fill board positions.

"All these systems were built in the 1950s or before," said Kathy Romero, a board member with the North San Ysidro community water system. "They were starting to fall apart and needed to be replaced."

Now an alliance of the 12 community water systems called El Valle Water Alliance will celebrate the groundbreaking of a new office Wednesday and the groundbreaking of its first new water projects. They're also celebrating their historic melding.

The alliance brings together the mutual domestic water systems of North San Ysidro, South San Ysidro, Ilfeld, San Juan, San Jose, El Ancon, San Miguel del Bado, Coruco, Villanueva, Gonzales Ranch, Sacatosa and El Cerrito. Total, the systems serve about 635 households and an estimated 2,500 people.

Gov. Bill Richardson four years ago recommended that community water systems join forces and share resources, according to Blanca Surgeon, a program manager with the Rural Community Assistance Corp. El Valle Water Alliance is the first of its kind in the state, Surgeon said. Communities in Dixon and around Jemez are working on similar alliances now, she said.

Until recently, Surgeon said, community water systems faced a barrage of problems. Official documents were scattered around villages in people's homes. Board meetings were often unadvertised or poorly advertised. And no one was being held accountable for money collected by the water associations. "Small communities never reported their finances to anyone in the state," Surgeon said. "That caused a lot of problems."

Small community water systems also face the same requirements larger systems do to meet new federal water-quality standards for uranium, lead and arsenic. Whether small or large systems, it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade them. In New Mexico, 95 percent of the community water systems, more than 500 total, serve less than 500 people each.

A task force in 2004 identified 10 regions in the state where collaboration between communities on water and wastewater projects would help resolve problems, including the El Valle area.

Individually, the communities went to the state Legislature for funds to improve their systems. It was always too little to finish the projects, and the lack of accountability for funds made the Legislature reluctant to give more, Romero said.

Surgeon and her staff began working with Romero and other board members from the various El Valle systems on joining forces. "Small, rural communities are reluctant to let go of control," Romero, now president of the alliance, said. "Once they were convinced we weren't taking away their autonomy and we weren't taking away their water rights, they could see the advantages. With all-volunteer boards and so many mandates, it's a problem staying in compliance, and we could help them do that."

Surgeon said her staff was worried about getting everyone to cooperate. "We thought there would be resistance, so we went in with facilitators and mediators," Surgeon said. "But no, people were ready."

"It took us about a year to incorporate," Romero said.

Alliance members drafted a list of priorities and created a capital improvement plan. In the last two years, the alliance has received almost $1 million to begin work on improving water systems.

On Wednesday they will break ground to start replacing pipes and work on the well houses in El Ancon, El Cerrito and Coruco. "We still have a long way to go but we're getting there," Romero said.

The new El Valle Water Alliance office in South San Ysidro will offer a centralized place where the records of all the community water systems will be housed. High-speed Internet access and a new accounting system will help all the systems with billing and collections, and filing necessary financial paperwork with the state.

The alliance board meetings are held the third Monday of every month.

"We have really good participation at our meetings," Romero said. "We bring in people from the Environment Department and from the Economic Development office to educate us on different things. We've had a lot of success in getting agencies to help us out.

"Overall, I think people are glad they are part of the alliance," Romero said.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.