Agreement over Pechanga waterline moves to district board

By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 2, 2008 9:25 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA -- Plans for a recycled water pipeline serving Pechanga Resort's golf course moved through a water district committee Wednesday, but questions lingered on the agreement.

The 20-year contract would deliver approximately 1,000 acre feet of water ---- 325 million gallons ---- per year to the 18-hole golf course. The course, called, Journey at Pechanga, is scheduled to open to the public this summer.

Members of the Rancho California Water District's Operating and Engineering Committee voted 3-0 to move the contract forward for consideration by the district board's at its Jan. 10 meeting, but they did not make a formal recommendation to the board.

Commissioner John Hoagland said that, while he supported the big picture framed by the agreement, he would like some of the legal language to be more specific.

"It seems muddled," said Hoagland of the contract, highlighting a section indicating the Pechanga would have a right to sue if there were a breach of contract. He said the contract does not specify if legal issues would be hashed out in the tribe's court or in Riverside County Superior Court.

Other board members echoed those concerns on how the contract is written.

Hoagland suggested holding a session closed to the public to discuss the legal issues with the water district's attorney before the vote by the full board next week.

A separate recycled water supply agreement between Eastern Municipal Water District and Pechanga has already been approved. The Rancho California district and Eastern will own the water main once it's completed. Eastern does not have the facilities capable of delivering recycled water to the reservation. But Rancho California is connected to Eastern's system and has the delivery capability, thus the need for two agreements.

The Pechangas would be charged a rate of $246 per acre foot of water. There is also an additional $1.94 daily service charge, according to John O'Donnell, assistant general manager of engineering and operations for the Rancho California district. While the agreement remains to be worked out, tribal representatives plan to go ahead with the bidding process, which is set to start Friday, said O'Donnell.

"The waterline will allow us to conserve water by providing reclaimed water to irrigate most of the golf course," said Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro in an e-mail to The Californian on Wednesday. "Water is an important resource for all of us; we want to do everything we can to conserve it. Every day, reclaimed water gets dumped into riverbeds, unused, because there aren't enough places to use it."

Tribal members previously indicated that work could start by the end of the month along Pechanga Parkway as the 16-inch waterline is extended to the resort. According to the project's proponent, Pechanga Development Corp., the work should take four to five months to complete.

Expanding the use of recycled water in landscaping is a high priority for the Rancho California district, which adopted a mandatory reclaimed water-use policy in October for large landscaping customers. The goal of the policy is to free up more potable water for drinking, cooking and washing.

In December, the Temecula City Council voted to approve the permits for the pipe, which will run along Pechanga Parkway from Rainbow Canyon Road to Wolf Valley Road, and then extend southwest along Via Eduardo to the reservation.

The permits issued by the city carry certain restrictions. Although the city would prefer to have the work done at night, there are residences along the entire work area that would be sensitive to the overnight construction noise. Therefore, the majority of the work will be done between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Some of the work areas will be manned by traffic control officers to help move traffic around the construction sites.

Temecula's engineers have worked with Pechanga's engineers for several months to minimize lane closures during the construction process, but there will be several areas in the work zone that will require one lane of traffic to be closed along the parkway, officials have said.

"We want to make sure that everyone is aware of the anticipated congestion," said Temecula Director of Public Works Bill Hughes. "We have virtually done everything we can think of to minimize the impact. We have spent more time on trying to address the traffic impacts with this project, than any other road project in the city. Pechanga really stepped up to the plate."

However, the work on the water line, once completed, will set the stage for the city's planned road-widening project that will increase the number of lanes on four-lane Pechanga Parkway to six lanes.

-- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.