As the community of Redmond and surrounding region continued to grow, the Ames Lake/Tolt Hill area became a very desirable area. Ames Lake was close to the emerging high-tech industry but with a rural country feel. It became the location for several Street of Dreams homes. These upscale developments with larger homes were built in the Association’s service area. They were on landscaped (and irrigated) acreage and used significant amounts of water.

After years of battling and negotiating with the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe on water rights issues, it became clear that additional water rights in the Snoqualmie River Valley (WRIA #7) were not going to happen. Therefore, the Association had to become more efficient with the water rights they had. As the Association’s membership grew, the Department of Ecology’s restricted water rights became increasingly important for water conservation.

ALWA was one of the early regional adopters of Water Use Efficiency Plans and programs.

Transitioning to an internal management structure

In the mid-2000s, the Association began the transition to an internal management and operating structure. The Board wanted to provide a well-considered set of checks and balances, self-governance, and operation transparency. Satellite Management Services was previously the contracted business manager and certified water system operator of the Association. It was a family-owned business run by Renny and his brother “Butch” Lillejord, later with Renny’s daughter and son. They serviced many of the water associations and small water systems in the upper and lower Snoqualmie Valley for many years.

Satellite Management Services also provided services for the Sallal Water Association, a federally funded sister water cooperative formed under the Farmers Home Administration. The Sallal Water Association also transitioned to a new self-governing and staffing basis concurrently with ALWA.  A mutually beneficial back-up system still exists in this long term partnership between Sallal and ALWA.

The Board proceeded to initiate detailed business and engineering analyses of the system. They hired in-house personnel to manage the business office and field operations. First, Sharon Bakke was hired as a part-time administrator to serve the Association and the Board of Directors. The Board initiated the transfer of the Association’s business records and office operations from Satellite Management Services directly to the Association.