District flushes hydrants to repair water main leak

As residents are dealing with mandated water cutbacks and watching their lawns turn brown, it did not sit well with at least one Ramonan to see the commodity continuously running from a hydrant into the street on Monday morning.

“My yard’s dying,” said Roberta Bordenkircher after driving through a puddle of water that had accumulated on Hunter Street between Kelly and Raymond avenues.

According to Ramona Municipal Water District, in order to fix a leak in a water main at state Route 67 and Rotanzi Street, water had to be flushed out of the pipe.

“The line has to be drained,” said David Barnum, RMWD general manager.

“This is what they have to do, unfortunately,” said water board president Darrell Beck.

Although Barnum said he did not know how many gallons were released, he said it amounted to $200 to $500 worth of water.

“Our top priority is to ensure our customers aren’t out of water for a period of time,” he said.

The leak, Barnum said, was small and staff notified customers in the area of the emergency shutdown that began at 8 a.m. The shutdown affected 50 to 100 customers, he said.

Water could be seen flowing from hydrants along Hunter Street — at Kelly, Raymond and San Diego avenues.

Bordenkircher said she understands when it involves maintenance but questioned whether the released water could be put to a productive use.

“We’re facing potential fines,” she said, adding that she has lowered her water use by almost 42 percent. “I just thought it was a waste.”

Both Barnum and Beck, however, said there is no viable alternative.

To bring in water tankers and fill them with the flushed-out water would cost thousands of dollars, said Barnum.

“That would be prohibitive, expensive in this case,” he said. “This is basic standard operating procedure. I understand the public’s concern on this.”

Barnum referred to the City of Poway, which in early June dumped 550,000 gallons of drinking water from a reservoir because it was no longer safe to drink. According to an article in the Poway Chieftain, the assistant city manager said the decision to release the water into a nearby canyon was made after determining that transporting it by tanker truck back to Lake Poway for treatment and redistribution was not feasible.

Beck said he met with Barnum and district staff Monday morning to talk about the water main repair and noted that the line is almost 60 years old.

“I’ve been concerned about the old pipes ever since I’ve been on the board,” he said.

The state mandates that Ramona reduce its water consumption by 28 percent when compared to 2013 levels, and Poway by 32 percent.