RMWD approves recycled water rate study

Directors of the Ramona Municipal Water District Board approved a rate study for the recycled water produced at the San Vicente Water Reclamation Plant at their Aug. 13 meeting.

At the board’s July 23 meeting, directors Joe Zenovic and George Foote, who serve on the board’s Spangler/San Vicente Ad Hoc Subcommittee, recommended the study, saying they want to provide clarity on the costs of recycled water and promote transparency to ratepayers.

The recycled water from the San Vicente plant is sold to San Diego Country Estates Association to irrigate its golf course and to Spangler Ranch, a nearby avocado grove. The two groups signed a 10-year-agreement with the water district in 2008. SDCEA and Spangler Peak each pay $35 per acre foot of recycled water. An acre foot is 325,851 gallons.

The study will be provided by Bartle Wells Associations, an independent third party rate analyst, that will review the recycled water program and determine the cost of its production at the plant, according to the district. The study is estimated to cost less than $15,000.

The recycled water rate study will be done in conjunction with a rate and fee study for the Santa Maria Wastewater Reclamation Plant.

The contract with Bartle Wells was approved 4-0 with Director Kit Kesinger absent.