Vallecitos signs going up: No outdoor water use for 11 days

By: NED RANDOLPH - Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 22, 2006 10:35 PM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS -- The Vallecitos Water District and city of San Marcos are posting large signs around town reminding residents to conserve water -- and halt all outdoor water use -- from Nov. 27 to Dec. 7 as a treatment plant expansion in Riverside County crimps upstream supplies.

A planned expansion to Skinner Filtration Plant near Temecula will cut off the filtered water supply to the San Diego region for 11 days affecting virtually all 27 member districts.

Vallecitos, which supplies drinking water to 88,000 customers in San Marcos as well as parts of Escondido, Vista and Carlsbad, imports 100 percent of its water from the Skinner Plant, which is operated by the Metropolitan Water Authority of Southern California.

"Most of the agencies are urging everyone to conserve as much as they can," said Vallecitos' general manager, Bill Rucker. "We're relying on people's good faith and neighborliness to make sure we don't hit the wall."

Signs as large as 4 feet by 8 feet reading "The Aqueduct Shutdown November 27-December 7; No Outside Water Use" are being placed at major intersections throughout the district.

There is also a large banner draped from the San Marcos Civic Center parking garage, and postings on three message boards on San Marcos Boulevard, Mission and North Twin Oaks roads.

"If everyone irrigates deeply Friday through Sunday, they can last through the shutdown," Rucker said. "Hopefully, we've got enough information out through different communication sources. This is a total aqueduct shutdown for all filtered water to San Diego County."

Skinner filters water that originates in the Rocky Mountains and travels down the Water Authority's Colorado River aqueduct to Lake Skinner.

The authority timed the shutdown to the traditionally cooler period of late November and early December. The previous construction phase to the Skinner plant occurred in February; it cut water to North County during a dry, hot Santa Ana event.

"That huge Santa Ana hit, and people were watering right and left," Rucker said. "We never locked anyone off, but our water system almost went dry."

During the impending shutdown, Vallecitos will rely on its storage facilities and emergency supplements from neighboring districts -- Olivenhain Water District, Vista Irrigation District the city of Escondido. Vista and Escondido can get water from Lake Henshaw and San Luis Rey, and Olivenhain has a large reservoir and treatment plant at Mount Israel.

Currently the Water Authority is building a 100-million-gallon per day treatment plant in Twin Oaks Valley next to a new 40-million-gallon reservoir. Next year, the new storage will be on-line, Rucker said.

"I'll have a treated water source in my district," Rucker said. "We will not have this happen again."

To help conserve, customers are asked to turn off outdoor irrigation controllers; avoid all nonessential water use, including outside irrigation of any type, hosing down walkways, washing cars and filling swimming pools or hot tubs; and run only full loads in the washing machine and dishwasher. Also, customers can take shorter showers and limit toilet flushes.

Other notices have been distributed at San Marcos area schools, run in local newspapers, and gone out in letters to homeowner associations, agricultural, and commercial customers.

"We're hoping that everybody in our water district stops outside water use. If we find someone, we will stop them and explain to them," he said. "We're relying on (their) community spirit."

-- Contact staff writer Ned Randolph at (760) 761-4411 or nrandolph@nctimes.com.

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