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Ramona Residents Urged Not to Use Water Today
San Diego County Water Authority News Release
October
26, 2007
District Works to Restore Service; public cooperation essential to
water service restoration; boil-water order will remain in effect when
service resumes
Ramona Municipal Water District residents are urged not to use their water
today as the water system re-fills to a sufficient capacity to provide
adequate firefighting capability and resume deliveries to the entire
community.
"Significant progress was made during the night and all service connections
were successfully turned off," said Dennis Cushman, assistant general manager of
the San Diego County Water Authority. "It is imperative that all customers
stay completely off the public water supply system until water district crews
turn their meters on."
Crews from the Ramona Municipal Water District, assisted by crews from the
San Diego County Water Authority, Helix Water District, City of San Diego, Padre
Dam Municipal Water District, Vallecitos Municipal Water District, the
Sweetwater Authority and Western Municipal Water District, worked around the
clock Thursday and early Friday morning to turn off 10,000 service connections
to the Ramona Municipal Water District distribution system. Turning the
water connections off was an essential step in allowing the water distribution
system to refill -- a step vitally necessary to restore full water service.
All connections were turned off by 3 a.m.
Plans are to begin restoring water service to residential customers beginning
at 6 a.m. Saturday. Restoration will proceed in an orderly, sequenced
manner and measures will be taken by the crews to ensure the restoration of
service proceeds in a safe manner that minimizes potential damage to the water
distribution system. Water officials estimate it could take 48 hours or
more to fully restore all 10,000 service connections to the system. Some
businesses and essential services along the Main Street Business District, such
as medical service providers, may have their water restored as early as Friday
afternoon.
"The public's cooperation is vitally important to ensuring the system is
fully restored in a safe and timely manner," Cushman said. "Residents are not to
try to restore their own connections; water district service crews will return
to turn on each connection when it is appropriate and safe to do so."
To help ensure connections are restored as quickly as possible, service crews
from the Ramona Municipal Water District will be assisted by extra crews from
the San Diego County Water Authority and other retail member agencies via mutual
aid agreements.
When customers' service is restored, they are strongly urged to conserve
water and to limit water to indoor use only. Outdoor water use is
prohibited until further notice.
Ramona Municipal Water District staff conducted water quality tests today,
with results expected in about 48 hours. When water service is restored,
the do-not-drink order remains in effect until test results show no
health risks and the County Department of Public Health officially lifts the
do-not-drink order.
Water districts are also providing water trucks that can deliver water for
livestock today. Anyone needing livestock water can call the Ramona
Municipal Water District at (760) 788-2284 to coordinate delivery.
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The San Diego County Water Authority is a public agency serving the San
Diego region as a wholesale supplier of water from the Colorado River and
Northern California. The Water Authority works through its 24 member
agencies to provide a safe, reliable water supply to support the region's $150
billion economy and the quality of life of 3 million
residents.
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