Saturday 9 a.m., October 27, 2007
District Works to
Restore Water Service to Ramona
Public cooperation
essential to water service restoration; do-not-use until further
notice.
The Ramona Municipal Water
District, the San Diego County Water Authority and other retail water agencies
from around San Diego County are mobilizing close to 100 operations and
maintenance employees to work through the weekend to restore service to the
Ramona community.
In response to a mutual aid request from Ramona, a team
of 60 operators from the Water Authority and 10 of its member agencies will work
with more than a dozen Ramona Municipal Water District operators to re-open
service connections throughout the community. The teams will start work at
6 a.m. Saturday and continue until all connections are restored. (Water
connections to essential businesses and services, such as supermarkets and
medical offices in the downtown area and school facilities, will be restored
late Friday.)
The operators will be supported by five valve repair teams,
five backflow/cross connection specialists and additional administrative support
employees. Additional staff from the Ramona water district and the Water
Authority continue to restore optimal flows at the Ramona pump station, which
lost power earlier in the week.
Ramona MWD and Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California personnel conducted water quality tests this
morning and results are expected in 48 hours. They are still performing
additional water quality sampling. Residents are still urged to adhere to the
Department of Public Health's do-not-use order until test results come back
negative and the County Department of Public Health officially lifts the
"Do-Not-Use" order.
The Water Authority has also stationed a service crew
at the Ramona Pump Station along with Ramona MWD staff to ensure any problems
are addressed immediately as SDG&E and the electrical contractor crewmembers
work to restore full power.
Ramona, the Water Authority and Helix
are also coordinating water trucks to make deliveries of water for
livestock.
