After getting a blessing from state officials, the Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD) will pursue its plans to build an ultraviolet treatment plant at Red Mountain Reservoir.

For 22 years, the district has used the 440-million-gallon reservoir – tucked away on Mission Road – both on a daily basis and as an emergency storage backup.

Its massive 22-acre surface is not covered. But FPUD has never had a water quality problem with it. In fact, Red Mountain has an exemplary record of operation and has exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements.

But new EPA rules require all open reservoirs to be fitted with covers, or equipped with treatment plants by the year 2012. The UV treatment system, estimated to cost $3 million to $5 million, will be a huge savings over the $15 million to $20 million the district thought it would have to spend to build a conventional water treatment facility to meet the new standards.

"UV treatment is cutting-edge, very safe, much cheaper and quite a bit faster than the old-fashioned method of building a filtration plant and then pushing the water through," said General Manager Keith Lewinger. Zapping the Advertisement

Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine Clinic water with ultraviolet light will kill any pathogens that could be present in the water. FPUD’s water flowing into Red Mountain Reservoir is already treated before it arrives in Fallbrook, at the Lake Skinner Filtration Plant in Temecula.

And Red Mountain’s water quality has always met or exceeded stringent state and federal standards. The UV treatment technique received the first of several needed approvals last month from the California Health and Human Services Agency. FPUD will be budgeting construction money for the process with a goal of beginning construction in 2008. The system is already in its preliminary design phase.

FPUD will be the first water district in the state to use the technology to meet the new EPA regulations. The new technique won’t harm the mineral balance of the water nor will it noticeably affect the taste of FPUD tap water to the average customer, although it could reduce some of the contaminants that affect the taste.

The new EPA ruling was put in place as an additional cautionary measure so that water leaving a reservoir is treated one final time before being delivered to customers’ taps.