The Joint Venture partnership of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and the Triunfo Sanitation District developed a 12-step public involvement program to help the agency gain acceptance for a new reservoir to store reclaimed water. Close participation with a citizens advisory committee helped the agency involve its public in design and implementation of this project. This experience showed that the success of the public participation model depends on a sincere commitment on the part of the water agency and a complete acceptance that public participation cannot be turned off when the heat gets turned on. Includes 7 references, figure.