RMWD adds cultural and tribal monitoring consultant tasks to Rice Canyon Pipeline project

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Rainbow Municipal Water District’s Rice Canyon Pipeline project will have cultural and tribal monitoring during construction.

The official Rainbow board action Dec. 7, which was approved on a 4-0 vote with Pam Moss absent, approves a change order to the as-needed consulting services contract the district has with Helix Environmental Planning. The board also appropriated an additional $115,000 to cover the cost of the cultural and tribal consulting work.

“This is an important part of our commitment to our tribal neighbors,” said Rainbow General Manager Tom Kennedy.

The Rice Canyon Pipeline project will construct an 18-inch water main from the Rice Canyon Tank to the Citro development which was formerly known as Meadowood. The pipeline will deliver water from the Rice Canyon Tank Zone and connect to the water main on Horse Ranch Creek Road, so it will also serve the Horse Creek Ridge development and existing customers.

Because a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California connection is used for the Rice Canyon Tank Zone and that line will still have capacity after the development projects are completed, additional customers can receive service using MWD water which costs less than San Diego County Water Authority supply.

The transmission main will be constructed by Tri Pointe Homes and given to the Rainbow district after it is completed and accepted as satisfactory, although Rainbow will reimburse Tri Pointe Homes for the cost of the water line.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approval of the Meadowood project in January 2012 included the certification of the Environmental Impact Report. Because the pipeline is associated with the development, Rainbow determined that any impacts from the pipeline project were adequately analyzed under the EIR.

During Rainbow’s April 2020 board meeting, an addendum for the analysis and review of impacts associated with the pipeline was adopted, although that addendum noted that the pipeline is less than one mile in length and within existing Rainbow right-of-way and that all associated impacts were adequately evaluated in the EIR and would not result in any new or more severe impacts than were addressed in the EIR.

Supplemental technical studies included a cultural resources report to ensure all resources evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act were adequately analyzed and consistent with the findings in the original CEQA document.

The cultural resources report determined that cultural monitoring would not be required during construction due to the site’s steep topography and the location of cultural resources in the area. That determination was supported by a field survey with a local Native American monitor and extensive in-house record searches of the National Register of Historic Places for San Diego County, national historical landmarks, California points of historical interest, historic resources inventory files, archaeological inventory files, a bibliography of previous cultural resources investigations, and various historic maps.

Although the cultural investigations met CEQA requirements Rainbow will implement cultural and tribal monitoring as an act of good faith and protection of local tribal resources. Artifacts and culturally sensitive areas of Luiseno ancestors may be impacted. “There’s some potential for this,” Kennedy said.

Rainbow opted to ensure that any resources discovered will be protected. “They don’t think they’re going to find much,” Kennedy said.

The construction is expected to last for 260 working days. That time will include approximately 50 days of full-time monitoring by an archaeologist provided by Helix Environmental and 100 days of full-time monitoring by a Native American monitor from the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians.

The level of monitoring was based on ground disturbing activities and coordination with the Rincon tribal historic preservation officer and cultural resource manager. The Luiseno representatives who were involved with the Citro project were also consulted to ensure consistency between the development and the pipeline.

The $115,000 is the maximum approved amount for the cultural and tribal monitoring. If a determination is made that no cultural or tribal resources will be impacted during construction the contract amount will be reduced.