Ramona water district digs into roads for pipe repairs after county has paved them

A labyrinth of aging water pipes is putting the Ramona Municipal Water District on the hook for the costs of repairing water leaks and conducting emergency repairs on water mains, which are among the district’s primary responsibilities, but also for costs related to repaving roads after the pipe work is completed.

And in some cases, the work is being done on streets that have only recently been resurfaced by San Diego County, increasing the cost of the repair, officials said.

The water district recently repaired a 47-year-old asbestos concrete pipe at Sixth Street and Telford Lane and the cast iron portions of the district’s water system at Sixth and E and Seventh and G streets. But long stretches of Sixth and Seventh streets had recently been repaved as part of the county’s annual resurfacing project.

The emergency repairs were made due to leaks, according to the water district. The pipeline repairs were all completed on the same day they were reported, between Dec. 1 and 8.

Tim Clement, administrative services manager for the water district, said the excavation area was filled with cold patch materials after the pipeline work was completed. Permanent paving will be contracted out to ensure the work meets county road specifications, he said. The work is scheduled to begin the week of Jan. 18.

Many of the cast iron pipelines are nearly 100 years old, and although the district regularly maintains the system through a valve maintenance program, water leaks periodically occur as the pipelines continue to age, Clement said.

“Emergency repairs are addressed as the leaks are detected and the repairs are typically completed the same day to ensure our customers do not have extended water outages,” he said.

Although the excavation, traffic control and repairs at these intersections have been completed, Clement said the total costs are currently unknown. He said the county will complete and pay for the road restoration at Sixth Street and Telford Lane, and a Ramona Municipal Water District paving contractor will complete the road repair at the two other locations.

Clement said the water district is hiring a contractor for road repairs at Sixth and E and Seventh and G streets, but the repair at Sixth and Telford was completed in coordination with the county because a prior county storm drain project was the cause of the leak.

Donna Durckel, county Land Use and Environment Department spokeswoman, said the county had just completed resurfacing Sixth Street from Main Street/state Route 78 to Telford Lane as part of its annual project when the pipe work was done. The cost for resurfacing Sixth Street was about $180,000, or $18,000 for each block, Durckel said.

The Ramona Municipal Water District was notified over a year ago of the county’s plan to pave Sixth Street, Durckel said. As a result, she said the water district will be required to repave the entire Sixth and E street’s intersection to the county’s satisfaction after their work is completed.

Additionally, the county paved 0.89 miles of road from the Telford and Ashley intersection to the Olive and Elm streets intersection on Nov. 24 and Dec. 2. These two intersections are connected by several blocks on Seventh Street. The county’s paving was done before repairs were made to the Seventh and G streets pipes, Durckel said.

“The county was not aware of the upcoming repairs despite coordination with the Ramona Municipal Water District on this project, she said in an email. “It is standard county practice to avoid cuts to new pavement.”

The county recently resurfaced Sixth Street from Main Street to Telford Lane as part of an annual resurfacing project.

(Julie Gallant)

The county has a $40 million budget in fiscal year 2020-21 for street rehabilitation projects for pavement restoration, which includes overlays and slurry seals, on county-maintained roadways, Durckel said.

Jim Bolz, county Department of Public Works project manager, said it’s generally the utility company’s responsibility to bring a road back to adequate surface standards after pipe repairs. But if it’s a section of road the county is planning to resurface soon, then the water district would make a temporary fix and the county would resurface the entire road, he said.

The pipe repair on the freshly paved roads was unavoidable due to the emergency situation, Clement said. But the district is also working to address its 220 miles of water mains that contain aging or undersized pipeline infrastructure.

In April 2019, the district board approved an updated infrastructure facilities plan that includes a program for replacing pipes. The plan calls for aggressive replacement of existing cast iron pipelines, some that have been in the ground since 1927, according to a staff report. The district has budgeted $3.4 million over two years toward the plan, which consists of $1.95 million in 2020-21 and another $1.45 million in 2021-22.

At the Oct. 13 board meeting, directors Thomas Ace, Jim Hickle, Jim Robinson and Bryan Wadlington unanimously approved a $2.41 million contract with L.V. Civil Construction Inc. for an estimated eight-month project to replace cast iron waterlines at B, E, Fifth and Ninth streets.

Durckel said the county has not resurfaced any of these roads in the last two years.