The San Diego Union-Tribune recently published an article written by Deborah Brennan about the “new source of recycled water” for Olivenhain Municipal Water District customers in Encinitas: $7.8 million was invested to install a distribution network that includes seven miles of pipeline.
The system “started taking shape in spring 2015” and “will offset 350 acre-feet of potable water demand per year.” General Manager Kimberly Thorner reported that recycled water is about 15 percent less expensive than potable water, offering a savings to users. This recycled water was formerly disposed of by pumping into the ocean.
Olivenhain’s water recycling strategy is quite different from that of Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) as presented by staff at the December 2016 Board of Directors Orientation meeting. RMWD treats the recycled water produced by its two reclamation plants as a waste product without significant value to any customer. This view of reclaimed water persists in spite of long-standing and convincing evidence that the water is very valuable. Existing customers consistently argue over what share of this water they will receive in order to offset expensive water purchased from San Diego County Water Authority — the alternate source of water supply for these water customers.
The RMWD Board should reject the staff view that disposal of recycled water at little or no cost to users is long out-dated. The RMWD Board should see the issue from the perspective of recycled water users and sewer users — the water is very valuable because it offsets the need to use more expensive water from alternate sources. This view of the value of recycled water is not new. Among others, San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) articulated this view in a report reviewing RMWD that is now years old.
This issue is important to sewer ratepayers because RMWD may not charge customers more for sewer services than the cost of providing sewer services. RMWD is required to charge water and sewer customers proportionally for services. This is a critical difference from a tax that need not be proportional to benefits. Each dollar that recycled water customers pay reduces sewer customer assessments by one dollar. It is in the public interest for RMWD to value the recycled water produced by the two reclamation plants based upon how customers use the water and the cost to RMWD of obtaining water from an alternate source.
It is surely in the public interest for RMWD to treat reclaimed water so that it may be added to the supply of irrigation water and sold at irrigation water rates. This relieves sewer customers from having to pay disproportional costs for the sewer systems — hundreds of dollars per customer each year.
Gary Hurst is a Ramona resident.
