Agricultural Water and Ramona Water District Policies

By Kit Kesinger

The Ramona Water District can help the Agricultural Community by providing lower cost water

What the Water District can do for the Ag Industry in Ramona is provide lower-cost local water - a combination of Sutherland Reservoir water and ground water. Today, 100% of the water delivered in RMWD's raw water system comes from San Diego County Water Authority (CWA). It's the highest priced source of water available, costing Ramona millions of dollars more per year than local water would.

GROUND WATER: The main advantage of ground water is, it's the least expensive water that could be used in the existing Ag Water System. The main disadvantage is that ground water from the west side of the Santa Maria Aquifer has high salt levels (measured as Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS), which wouldn't benefit Ramona's avocado growers.

SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR WATER: The main advantage of Sutherland water is that it has very low TDS, and could be used to dilute ground water TDS for use in the Ag Water System. The main disadvantage is that a pipeline is needed to bring Sutherland water from Wellfield Park to connect with the Ag Water System in west Ramona. The combined cost savings from slightly less expensive Sutherland water and very inexpensive ground water would pay for the pipeline and other improvements to bring Sutherland Reservoir water to the Ag System.

There are 3 major advantages to this plan:
1. Once the pipeline improvements have been paid off (20 years or less), the cost of Ag water would drop significantly. There might be a slight cost savings immediately, depending on the actual costs and how financing is structured.
2. During average rainfall and wet years, enough water can be brought from Sutherland Reservoir to reduce TDS in the Ag Water System to below CWA levels. The lower TDS would include water stored in Lake Ramona, which would then reduce TDS in the following dry years.
3. The Ag Water System would become more reliable, with alternatives to CWA water during mandatory cutbacks or other interruptions of water from the Colorado River.

A feasibility study has already been done for this project. During my first term on the Water Board, I worked with Doug Wilsman and District Engineer Tim Stanton to create a preliminary design, and financial estimate of the capital costs and payback period. At that time we determined the project had too long of a payback period. However, in the current economy it should easily be cost effective, due to lower interest rates, lower construction costs and higher water prices.

The current Water Board is not working for lower priced Ag water. However, it's been one of my top priorities since my first term on the Ramona Water Board.