Rainbow MWD accepts Horse Creek, Palomar infrastructure

The Rainbow Municipal Water District now owns the water and sewer infrastructure which will serve the Horse Creek Ridge and Palomar North Education Center developments.

The acceptance of the infrastructure involved separate Rainbow board votes Oct. 23 for Horse Creek Ridge and the Palomar College campus. Both votes were 4-0 with Bill Stewart absent,

"It's a pretty standard thing that happens with every development," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy. "This is just a fairly large one."

The acceptances of the infrastructure also included a one-year warranty. "If something fails the contractor has to fix that," Kennedy said.

The one-year warranty period began Oct. 23. The facilities were inspected and tested prior to the district's acceptance.

Developers pay for the water and sewer infrastructure to serve the development and their contractors construct the infrastructure. After the construction is complete the water agency accepts the infrastructure and subsequently owns and maintains it.

Rainbow's board approved the water and sewer construction agreement with D.R. Horton, which is building the Horse Creek Ridge development, in November 2016. The water and sewer construction agreement for the Palomar College campus was approved in December 2017.

Three different engineering firms designed the infrastructure facilities for Horse Creek Ridge, and the improvements consist of four sets of plans. Horse Creek Ridge Unit 1 includes water and sewer mains in Andalusian Way, Gold Palomino Way, and Friesian Way. The Horse Creek Ridge recycled water and sewer improvement plans include recycled water and sewer mains in Horse Ranch Creek Road.

The Horse Creek Ridge 12-inch water transmission pipeline and 12-inch sewer main includes water main and sewer force main in State Route 76 between Interstate 15 and Pankey Road. The Horse Creek Lift Station off of Pankey Road, also known as Lift Station No. 3, is the fourth plan. The infrastructure from those four plans was accepted by the Rainbow district Oct. 23; other water and sewer facilities which are in various stages of completion will be presented to the Rainbow board for acceptance once they are completed.

The sewer lift station has a capacity of 1,670 gallons per minute. The accepted infrastructure also includes 14,870 linear feet of sewer main, 1,147 linear feet of sewer force main, 8,911 linear feet of water main with appurtenances, 5,620 linear feet of recycled water main, and 64 manholes.

The Palomar College water and sewer mains run through the campus property and connect with existing mains along Horse Ranch Creek Road. The sewer main connects to and conveys flow from the Pala Mesa sewer under Interstate 15 to the recently-completed sewer main underneath Horse Ranch Creek Road. That new sewer main allowed the 12-inch sewer line east of Interstate 15 to be abandoned, which eliminates a significant source of inflow and infiltration to the sewer system in the area served by the Horse Creek Lift Station, so the replacement of the older sewer line decreases the peak weather flows for that system and allows for more efficient use of the district's sewer infrastructure.

The Palomar Community College District was responsible for the construction of the public water and sewer mains through the campus property.

The sewer's tie-in with the Pala Mesa sewer was completed Oct. 8. The project constructed 652 linear feet of 12-inch sewer pipe, 36 linear feet of 10-inch sewer pipe, 40 linear feet of eight-inch sewer pipe, and five manholes which are now part of the Rainbow system while also rebuilding and lining an existing manhole. Approximately 55 linear feet of 12-inch water main was installed to serve the campus.

Because the Rainbow district no longer needs the easement for the abandoned 12-inch sewer main parallel to Interstate 15, a quitclaim of the easement to the Palomar Community College District is forthcoming and will be brought to the Rainbow board for action in the future.