Senate Bill Helps Bring Clean Water to West-Side Residents

Map shows areas of Menifee (pink) and Wildomar (green) that will benefit from the improved water service.

Residents in 140 homes in a neighborhood on the border of Menifee and Wildomar will soon have clean tap water to drink and better overall water service because of a bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown July 21.

Senate Bill 1130, authored by Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside), was passed unanimously as urgent legislature to assist residents who have been without clean drinking water and sometimes without water at all, according to a news release from Eastern Municipal Water District.

For years, area residents have been served by the privately-owned County Water Company of Riverside. According to the EMWD, the groundwater that is made available to residents is high in nitrates and does not meet federal or state drinking water standards.

IN 2012, EMWD placed a portable water tank in the community, which lies north of Bundy Canyon Road and west of Murrieta Road. Efforts by EMWD and the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District to assist involved legislation designed to provide legal protection to those entities as they provide service in the area.

In the coming months, EVMWD will take the lead in constructing a temporary lifeline to its system to provide safe drinking water to the community. Permanent improvements will be constructed through a competitive public bidding process and could be online by mid to late 2015.

"This is a moment to celebrate," said Andy Morris, president of the board of directors for EVMWD. "Despite the many challenges faced, the people of this community will receive access to the clean, reliable drinking water they deserve without laying the burden of cost on our rate payers."