Ramona Fixes Pipe, Lifts Strict Water Rationing

Emergency water-rationing restrictions in Ramona were lifted at midnight Wednesday after a break in the main waterline, which brings 8 million gallons of imported water daily to the North County community, was repaired.

But Ramona Municipal Water District spokeswoman Becky Coates urged Ramona residents to go easy on watering and other non-essential use for a few days until the district can replenish its water storage reservoirs that were emptied during the emergency.

The major pipeline, which supplies Ramona and most of San Diego Country Estates with potable water, broke Sunday night, forcing the district to draw water from nearby Sutherland Reservoir.

Coates said Wednesday that pipeline sleeving borrowed from the Helix Water District and parts imported from Riverside were adapted to repair the break, allowing pumps to again bring water from the Miramar water treatment plant.

Ramona residents now return to Stage 2 water usage, a condition they have been under for about a year. The restriction limits outside residential uses of water to even-odd day schedules and nighttime watering, she said. The community was the first in the region to begin a modified rationing system in response to the fourth year of below-normal rainfall in the state.

Coates said the district is asking that agricultural customers limit water use to the night for the next few days and is also restricting installation of water meters until Friday.

The water district spokeswoman said the cause of the break is still a mystery. Coates said that domestic water use totaled about 4 million gallons Tuesday, contrasted with the previous weekend’s tally of 7.5 million gallons a day.