Rainbow water slapped with $13,000 fine

A $13,000 penalty was placed on the Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) on December 6 by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) after the district failed to meet deadlines for ten of the short-term directives given in an August citation from DHS.

A new citation was given along with the penalty and included 19 new directives with deadlines on or before January 31, 2006, and one with a February 28, 2006, deadline. The board discussed the matter at their December 7 meeting and created a plan in a special meeting two days later.

“We’re going to do our damndest to accomplish [the deadlines] time,” said board president Larry Sundram in an interview.

If the district does not meet the deadline of a provision, they could be fined up to $200 per day, notes the citation. Heather Collins, South Coast Section Chief of DHS, noted that the most recent fine could have been higher, but the agency was encouraged by a proactive resolution the district had already created for that day’s board meeting.

This is RMWD’s fourth citation from DHS since November 1993.

Earlier in the meeting, Rua Petty was sworn in as a new director. Petty is replacing Robert Glick, who was recalled in the November election.