Ramona Municipal Water District and the city of Poway have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to look at the feasibility of sharing water resources.
Poway has been looking to diversify its water resources for the past 30 years, but the city is at a point where it needs to develop this.
In 2019, backed-up storm drains contaminated the drinking water, leading to Poway’s first-ever boil water advisory. Eric Heidemann, Poway's director of public works, said that event paved the way for the current MOU.
“It was born out of that, but (what's) really important to know is that about four or five months before that event happened, we had sent a letter to the San Diego County Water Authority initiating conversations to get this project going,” he said.
For Ramona, it's a way for the community to lower water costs.
“Right now, we buy water solely from the (San Diego) County Water Authority," said Erica Wolski, general manager of the Ramona Municipal Water District. "And those costs are very high for treated water because of the (desalination) plants that’s included. And all the storage and everything that’s included.”
Right now, there is a Water Authority flow control facility on Espola Road between Blue Sky Ecological Reserve and Country Day Road that connects Poway and Ramona. The valve, however, only flows one way to Ramona. The MOU allows both sides to explore the feasibility of building a two-way valve.
“We’re hoping that if we buy raw water, send it to Poway and then they treat it for is, it would be a lower cost per acre-foot than if we buy it from the County Water Authority,” Wolski said.
Because of the short connection between the two communities, the treated water does not have to sit in Ramona's pipelines for a long time. This saves the water district money from adding more chlorine to bring the water up to safe standards.
Poway, in turn, will get another source of treated water when its water treatment plant is offline. Currently, Poway can send water to Ramona on an emergency basis, but not the other way around.
“We’re looking at a design that will help you know install kind of a bidirectional meter that will allow flows to go both ways. So in essence, we would be sharing this facility with Ramona.”
The preliminary results of the feasibility study won’t be ready until early next year. Both agencies would still need to formally approve the project before work can begin.
