FALLBROOK: Bill to authorize water project may be up for vote in January

By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Tuesday, November 25, 2008 5:07 PM PST ∞

FALLBROOK ---- A U.S. Senate bill that would authorize the construction of a water diversion and purification system on the Santa Margarita River at Camp Pendleton has been delayed, but may be up for a vote in January, officials said Tuesday.

Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Keith Lewinger said that House Resolution 29, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, was held up last month after making it out of committee in the Senate ---- further than either of the two previous bills behind the project ever went.

"The word we got was that it won't be heard by the full Senate during the lame-duck session, but they plan to ... move the entire package that was held up" early in 2009, Lewinger said. "The bill's already had a hearing. Now they just need to vote on it on the full floor of the Senate, and it appears that will happen in January."

Known as the "Land and Water" package, the group of bills was on hold this fall because of the economic crisis and other issues demanding the Senate's attention, he said.

The $140 million plan that the Fallbrook district and Marine Corps are proposing would produce up to 16,000 acre-feet of drinking water per year, yielding as much as 30 percent of the water that Fallbrook customers use on an annual basis.

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

Plans call for a "diversion gate" near Lake O'Neill at Camp Pendleton that would channel water from the river into massive underground pools. From there, the water would be purified in a new reverse-osmosis treatment station and pumped either to houses on base or uphill to Fallbrook.

If the Senate bill is approved, Lewinger said the district will seek another resolution authorizing a federal loan to fund the project.

He said it was encouraging to hear that the Senate may take a vote on the bill in January, but that local officials have discussed the possibility of a bond issue to seek funding for the project apart from the federal government.

"That's always an option," he said. "Once the environmental work is done, the board could decide to privately fund it, which would mean some sort of a bond issue, or certificates of participation."

The district and Marine Corps are working on environmental and feasibility studies to see what impacts the project would have on local wildlife, and whether it would be cost-effective.

Lewinger has said that the project would be a key source of local drinking water during future water crises.

A first draft of the project's environmental impact report is due out in June.

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