FPUD provided with temporary chlorination facility

The burning of Red Mountain during the Fallbrook (Rice) Fire cost the Fallbrook Public Utility District the chlorination facility for FPUD’s Red Mountain Reservoir, but FPUD is currently using a temporary portable facility provided by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The acquisition of the temporary chlorination facility was a combined effort of FPUD, the Metropolitan Water District, and the San Diego County Water Authority.

“The fire went over the Red Mountain Reservoir. They lost their chlorine facility,” said County Water Authority general manager Maureen Stapleton during a report on fire damage at the CWA’s October 25 board meeting.

Keith Lewinger, who is FPUD’s representative on the CWA board, was unable to attend the meeting due to his need to handle the situation in Fallbrook.

The County Water Authority identified a temporary portable chlorine facility MWD had available. The temporary facility arrived in Fallbrook on October 25. “It is now being hooked up,” Stapleton said. “That means there will not be a boil water notice, and that is tremendous news.”

The fire actions discussed during the CWA board meeting also included mutual aid agreements to supply generators to some CWA member agencies to ensure that water delivery could be powered. Stapleton also reviewed maps of CWA facilities within the fire area, although no flow control facilities or pump wells in the area of the Fallbrook fire seem to have been damaged.