New Water Supply Given to 140 Homes in Southwest Area

After years of dealing with unhealthy and insufficient well water, residents of 140 homes on the border of Menifee and Wildomar have been given a clean, safe water system through the cooperate efforts of two water agencies and various local legislators.

The launch of that new water system was celebrated on Monday during a ceremony featuring executives of the Eastern Municipal Water District and Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, as well as local politicians who help made it possible.

For more than two years, officials of EMWD and EVMWD have been working on a transition of service for residents living along Bundy Canyon Road in a southwest portion of Menifee bordering Wildomar. Under the previous service by County Water Company of Riverside, a single well tested unsafe for drinking water because of high nitrate levels.

"Today, that all changes," said Paul Jones, general manager of EMWD (above). "We are proud to announce this community has been connected to a new emergency water supply line. The public health crisis that enveloped this community is over. This is the result of the work of many local agencies and elected officials who recognized the problem and were determined to make things right.

"Over the next year, our agencies will work together to create a permanent water system that will provide service for generations to come."

According to Ron Sullivan, an EMWD director, residents in the past often had no access to water at all.

"About three years ago, the well wasn't working," Sullivan recalled. "It was drawing air and no water. EMWD sent out a tanker truck to give people water. That happened a couple times. We all decided we truly needed to do something here, not knowing what that path would be.

"Success comes when everybody works together. It was relatively easy to write the grants and get the money through the state. The real yeoman's work came at the end of it with the legislators."

Both Sullivan and Andy Morris, president of EVMWD, acknowledged that they needed the support of local legislators, including California Senator Richard Roth (above), state Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez and Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.

"Fresh drinking water may be a necessity, but many of us take it for granted until you don't have it," Roth said. "This took a while because there was a problem with liability. When you hook up to an old system, you never know what you're going to find. It was a product of many people and agencies working together."

Over the next year, existing pipelines in the CWC service area will be abandoned and new infrastructure will be installed to replace the emergency fresh water supply recently installed.

A key component of the project was a $6.5 million grant from the California Department of Public Health.