FALLBROOK: Federal water bill closer than ever to approval

House Resolution 29 would pave the way to tap the Santa Margarita

By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Friday, September 19, 2008 6:10 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- A $140 million plan that would use the Santa Margarita River to supply drinking water to homes and businesses in Fallbrook looks poised to move forward, with a bill in the U.S. Senate close to approval.

House Resolution 29, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, would authorize the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to build a treatment plant and pipeline at Camp Pendleton, which would be funded by the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Keith Lewinger, the utility district's general manager, said two previous bills to accomplish the same thing died in committee before they could be approved.

"Hopefully, the third time's the charm," Lewinger said Friday. "We've been doing this for six years now, and this is the furthest we've ever gotten. We're pleased at that, but we're hoping we don't have to start over again."

If the legislation is approved, a second bill to authorize a federal loan for Fallbrook's $60 million share of the project would need to be filed next year, he said.

Producing 16,000 acre-feet of water per year, the project could meet up to 30 percent of Fallbrook's demand and would provide a stabilizing source of local water for the Marine Corps base, too.

An acre-foot is equal to 326,000 gallons.

What to do with all the fresh water that flows through De Luz and the Marine Corps base into the ocean has been intensely disputed in Fallbrook over the past 50 years, Lewinger said.

Because the river comes into contact with people and roads only along a small stretch in De Luz, its water is surprisingly pure, scientists have said.

During the 1960s, the utility district was looking into building a dam in De Luz to create a fresh-water reservoir, but that plan was abandoned decades ago.

The current plan is to build a "diversion gate" near Lake O'Neill at Camp Pendleton that would channel water from the river into massive underground pools.

From there, it would be purified in a new reverse-osmosis treatment station and pumped either to houses on base or uphill to Fallbrook.

"This is a win-win for Fallbrook and Camp Pendleton," Issa said in a statement Friday. "We’re on the edge of turning an old water-rights dispute into a formalized sharing agreement supported by the federal government."

Frederick Hill, a staffer with Issa's Washington, D.C., office, said the resolution could expire if it is not approved by early January, when the 110th session of the U.S. Congress ends.

But that appears unlikely, since the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee already gave the bill a green light. All that awaits is the Senate's approval and the president's signature, Hill said.

"We're expecting the full Senate to act on it next week," Hill said, adding that even if the bill expires, "we would at least know that the road has been paved for future passage."

The project would require the Marine Corps and the Fallbrook utility district to pay the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to build the treatment plant and about 10 miles of pipeline ---- an expensive proposition, but one that Lewinger said would have immense payoffs.

Water supplies from Northern California's delta region are becoming less reliable and more expensive, thanks to a ruling in 2007 by a federal judge that halted pumping in the delta at certain times of year to protect an endangered species of fish.

With the court ruling slashing imported supplies, using water from the Santa Margarita makes more sense than ever, Lewinger said.

"It's cheaper, it's higher-quality and it's more reliable," he said of the water that would result from the Camp Pendleton project. "You usually only get two out of three of those ---- if it's reliable and higher-quality, you usually pay more.

"This community's been waiting for over 50 years to utilize its water rights in the Santa Margarita River, and this is the best project to do it," he said.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.