Issa introduces new bill to benefit FPUD

FALLBROOK — The Fallbrook Public Utility District is continuing to jump legal hurdles in an effort to gain access to cheaper, more reliable local water in the Santa Margarita River.

The FPUD board recently voted to support a bill, HR 125, introduced by US Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Temecula), that would allow the federal government to give FPUD a low-interest loan to finance the Conjunctive Use Project with Camp Pendleton. This project would end more than 60 years of litigation between FPUD and the federal government that has prevented the district from using the river, even though FPUD has for years been legally entitled to a portion of the river.

The new bill contains the same language as the earlier bill Issa introduced, HR 4389. That bill was passed unanimously by each member of the House of Representatives but expired before the Senate reviewed it.

“We expect the bill to move quickly this time,” said General Manager Keith Lewinger. “This will be a great benefit to Fallbrook, one that has been a long time coming.”

The river could meet as much as half of FPUD’s future needs. That would make the district less reliant on expensive imported water. With the price of imported water expected to double over the next decade or two, the project is increasingly important and is expected to result in lower water rates for FPUD customers.

The project would take surface water from the river in the winter when there is a surplus and store it underground for use in drier months. Other benefits include the fact that the water would be higher quality than water from the Colorado River because the water would be treated with a nano-filtration system.

The project would also provide 100 percent of Camp Pendleton’s water needs.

Engineering, economic and environmental feasibility studies for the conjunctive use project are currently underway and are targeted for completion in December.

Federal funding grants in the amount of $700,000 for the feasibility studies have been provided to the Bureau of Reclamation. These grants were secured over the past two years through the efforts of former Congressman Ron Packard, whom the district contracts for government relations services. Without the funding secured by Packard Government Affairs, FPUD would have had to allocate funding for the feasibility studies from its reserves or other means.