County Water Authority Treatment Plant Malfunction Leads to Massive Notification of Water Customers


300,000 residents in San Diego County, including those in the Valley Center MWD service area, have or will receive written notices this week about a malfunction at the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant which occurred on April 21 and 22, 2019. While water quality was never actually impaired, federal regulations and state water officials have required that the notifications be sent.

VCMWD officials were first notified by the SDCWA of the malfunction on June 4, 2019, 6 weeks after the event.  SDCWA officials explained that they held up notification of the impacted member agencies until the Authority received the formal notice of violation from state water officials which was on the June 4 date. 

Gary Arant, General Manager of Valley Center Municipal Water District emphasized that “if there had been an actual water quality emergency, the public would have been notified immediately. In fact, our weekly bacteriological samples taken during the violation period and since then have been negative, with our wholesale water supply from the SDCWA continuing to meet all state and federal standards.” 

According to information from the SDCWA, “A malfunction at the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant resulted in a citation from the State Division of Drinking Water, though the water in regional pipelines continued to be safe for all uses due to additional treatment processes that are in place.  The malfunction lasted for about 15 hours on April 21-22, when ozone dosage levels in the plant fell below state-mandated levels because a valve failed to fully open. Ozone is a common disinfectant used in water treatment systems to kill bacteria and other organisms. To be effective, water must be in contact with the proper dosage of ozone for specific amounts of time.”

 Again, according to the SDCWA, “Corrective actions were taken immediately, and the lapse was reported to state regulators. The (treatment plant operations) contractor has updated its operational procedures and installed additional monitoring equipment to prevent similar problems in the future.”

 Agencies taking water from the treatment plant during the time of the malfunction include the City of Carlsbad, Helix Water District, City of Oceanside, Otay Water District, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, Rainbow Municipal Water District, Ramona Municipal Water District, Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District, Vista Irrigation District, the City of San Diego, Vallecitos Water District and Valley Center Municipal Water District.

None of the affected SDCWA Member Agencies were informed of the malfunction until the formal citation was issued by the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water, San Diego Region.  According to Arant, “With notification by the SDCWA somewhat eminent, the fact there was no real water quality or health risks involved, when we were finally notified on June 4, we decided not to do our own public notification which would have just resulted in confusion when the SDCWA notices came out.”

The notices from the SDCWA will have contact information included. Residents should call the SDCWA phone number or go to the website link which will be shown on the mailed notice for more information about the incident.  “Water Authority staff members are really best qualified to answer the public’s questions and concerns and the public should contact them,” explained Arant.

Arant expressed that the timing of all this is really unfortunate, “Right after receiving notice of VCMWD’s Consumer Confidence Report for Calendar Year 2018 being available by mail or on our website, our customers will receive the Water Quality Violation notification about the Twin Oaks Treatment Plan Malfunction. We are going to have customers scratching their heads, I am afraid.” 

Arant again emphasized that at all times the water was safe to drink due to the multiple water treatment barriers at the plant. Even with that, “the regulations require that the public be notified of a significant failure or malfunction in the public water system.”  He pointed out that next year’s Consumer Confidence Report for Calendar year 2019 will also discuss this incident.

The Roadrunner asked SDCWA the following question:  “Why didn’t the SDCWA release this information in April after the incident happened?”
The following response is attributed to Jim Fisher, Water Authority Director of Operations and Maintenance:
When a treatment issue is discovered it is immediately reported to the Division of Drinking Water (DDW).  In consultation with DDW, the issue is immediately investigated to determine if there is a potential for an immediate impact to public health requiring Tier I notification.  In this case, it was determined that there was not an immediate threat to public health and that Tier I notification was not required.  It takes DDW 4-8 weeks to issue a Tier II citation and the citation was issued on June 4. The citation required the Water Authority to notify the public within 30 days.  Because this event impacted multiple member agencies it required extensive coordination to prepare for the notification.  In addition, the Water Authority requested a four-day extension to issue the notification on July 8 so that customers would not receive it over the holiday weekend.

One response to “County Water Authority Treatment Plant Malfunction Leads to Massive Notification of Water Customers”

  1. R. Michael Wilkinson says:

    I read a LOT of “CYA” here. Pathetic.

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