Town Hall Slated for County Water Company Customers

Several agencies will be hosting a Town Hall for the County Water Company of Riverside customers.

The Town Hall, which will be held on Nov. 1, will inform customers of County Water Company (CWC) will have the opportunity about how the transition to public water agencies will effect them.

The meeting will start at 9 a.m. at 24291 Beverly St., Wildomar, and will be hosted by Eastern Water Municipal District (EWMD), Elsinore Valley Water Municipal District (EVWMD), and the Riverside County Economic Development Agency (EDA).

Water supplied by the privately-owned County Water Company of Riverside, did not meet state and federal safe drinking water standards. High levels of nitrates were measured in the water they supplied to their customer base. Also, an aging infrastructure often left their 140 customers of a community that straddles the border with Menifee and Wildomar, with periods of no water service.

California Senate Bill 1130, authored by Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside), ), was passed unanimously, in February, as urgent legislature to assist these residents.

EMWD, EVWMD, along with officials from the county, and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), have been working on a permanent solution to bringing these residents new infrastructure and a safe and reliable source of drinking water.

Expected to be discussed at the Town Hall is a timeline to the transition and what steps property owners need to take to ensure paperwork is filled out, to prevent a disruption to their water service.

Through a $6 million dollar grant provided by the CDPH, the EMWD and EVWMD will construct a new infrastructure for this community. Construction is projected to be completed with in a year and once done, properties with existing structures on them, will become customers of the public water agencies.

In the meantime, EVWMD is constructing a temporary emergency water line that will serve current CWC customers with safe drinking water. The Riverside EDA will assume responsibility of billing customers until the construction of new infrastructure is completed by the two public water agencies.

Once completed, Menifee residents will be served by EWMD and Wildomar residents will be served by EVWMD.