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RMWD General Manager Wiley appointed to SDCWA Board

The Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) General Manager, Jake Willey, has been appointed to represent RMWD on the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Board of Directors. Wiley is assigned to serve on the Water Authority Administrative and Finance, and Engineering and Operations committees.

Wiley’s appointment stems from the retirement of former General Manager Tom Kennedy, who served as the district’s representative on the Water Authority Board for nine years during his tenure with the district.

RMWD Takes Care of Live Oak Park Bridge Brackets and Pipe Supports

When the County of San Diego approved a contract for the replacement of the Live Oak Park Road bridge which will impact two Rainbow Municipal Water District water mains, Rainbow utilized the county contract with Hazard Construction to add the water main relocation to the work.

Construction Contract Approved for RMWD Lift Station Replacement

Two actions taken at the Oct. 26 Rainbow Municipal Water District board meeting addressed the construction of the replacement for Lift Station No. 1.

The board approved a $15,181,157 construction contract with James W. Fowler Company and a $1,423,717 professional services agreement with Valley Construction Management for construction management and inspection services. Both actions had 4-0 votes with one vacant seat.

Rainbow Approves Purchase of Emergency Generators and Solar Battery Backup

The Rainbow Municipal Water District will be acquiring two emergency generators and a solar-powered battery backup system.

Rainbow’s board voted 5-0 April 27 to authorize general manager Tom Kennedy to execute purchase orders for the two generators and the battery backup system equipment. The purchases will be funded by a state Office of Emergency Services grant, and Kennedy’s $300,000 spending authorization matches that grant amount.

T.E. Roberts to replace Pipelines for RMWD

The Aug. 25 Rainbow Municipal Water District board meeting included the award of two pipeline replacement contracts to T.E. Roberts.

The company based in Orange was given a $280,399 contract for the Sagewood Road pipeline and a $301,734 contract for the Nella Lane pipeline. The two contracts were awarded on separate 4-0 votes with Helene Brazier abstaining from both.

Opinion: RMWD Investments in Natural Gas Benefit Ramona

The Ramona Municipal Water District has received some inquiries from concerned customers regarding the impact of the SDG&E power outages on RMWD’s water system during fire season and COVID.

As many of us in Ramona are aware, RMWD purchases 100 percent of our water from the San Diego County Water Authority and the water is pumped nearly 1,000 feet “up the hill” to Ramona. During the last several years, RMWD has made several important investments in natural gas technology and emergency generators to provide a second source of power for pumping, improve water reliability, reduce pumping costs and protect Ramona in emergencies.

RMWD Directors Approve Phase 4 of Untreated Water Plan

Ramona Municipal Water District Board of Directors agreed to help minimize customer costs associated with phasing out untreated water service as they unanimously approved Phase 4 of an Untreated Water System Implementation Plan on Tuesday, July 14.

RMWD Implements Plan to Dissolve Some Untreated Water Delivery

In an effort to save costs and reduce the impacts of declining untreated water sales, the Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) recently approved of implementing a three-phase strategy for converting from an untreated water system to treated, and in some cases, recycled water systems.

Opinion: Is RMWD Doing Right by Customers?

At this month’s board meeting, Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) approved “the Proposition 218 Notice for Untreated Water Pumping Rates.” Twenty-five years after the passage of Proposition 218, RMWD is finally admitting that its treated and untreated water systems are separate. As a result, RMWD calculated “(non)uniform pumping rates” for all water customers. The notice will be sent only to about 200 untreated water customers whose “pumping rates” RMWD proposes to increase. At the meeting, Matthew Prickett, among the largest water users, urged that the notice be delayed—not to avoid paying his fair share of such costs, but because the rates were not fairly calculated.

RMWD Sets Meeting to Consider Raising Water Pumping Rates

Ramona Municipal Water District board members unanimously approved April 11 to schedule a public hearing to consider raising untreated water pumping rates despite expressed reservations about another RMWD rate increase.

The vote to schedule the Proposition 218 public hearing for 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, was approved 4-0-1, with Secretary Jeff Lawler absent. The scheduled meeting will be held at the Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Lane.

Proposition 218, the “Right to Vote on Taxes Act,” requires local government agencies to hold a public hearing when rate increases are proposed to be able to consider protests to those rates affected by Proposition 218. The notice for the public hearing with the proposed increases is required to be sent to affected property owners at least 45 days before the public hearing.