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Water is back on at the Civic Center fountain. Oceanside is considering making it the first to use recycled water. Photo by Promise Yee
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Water flows again at Civic Center fountain, city considers recycled water

OCEANSIDE — The Civic Center fountain is bubbling with water again after being dry for more than a year due to needed repairs and the state drought alert.

There is currently potable water circulating through the fountain.

The city is exploring initial steps to supply it with recycled water.

If efforts are fruitful it would be the first fountain in North County to use recycled water.

Before recycled water can be turned on, the health department must issue a use permit to the city. This takes a review of operations to ensure community health and safety.

“It consists of plan submittal, plan review, site inspection and permit issuance,” Cari Dale, city water utilities director, said.

In preparation for recycled water conversion a hired consultant conducted two site walks of the fountain area in August to examine fencing, spray nozzles and adjacent planters. The walks familiarized the consultant with the project site, in order for him to guide the city through the permit process.

Oceanside is now in the process of preparing plans for the first permitting review.

An additional task the city faces is piping recycled water it produces to the fountain.

Oceanside is working with Fallbrook Public Utilities District to modify the outfall agreement they share, and quitclaim pipeline that can be used to deliver recycled water to Oceanside’s downtown.

If recycled water is used, safeguards will be taken to ensure people don’t come in direct contact with the water. Decorative fencing, which was put up to guard the empty fountain, will remain in place. Fountain nozzles will be changed to make sure there is no misting.

Oceanside considered filling the fountain with recycled water last year, prior to fountain tiles, electrical and plaster work being completed.

Due to the level II drought alert at the time, the only allowable way for the fountain to be filled was with recycled water.

A decision was made after work was completed in April 2015, to wait for drought conditions to improve before refilling the fountain. A bright blue fence was installed around the empty fountain, which still stands.

There is no estimated date to secure a recycle water use permit, nor a known timeline to acquire and convert the needed pipeline.

City staff will look into project costs, and then make a recommendation to City Council.

Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery and Councilman Jerry Kern weighed in on the use of recycled water in the fountain.

Kern said he is glad to have the fountain up and running.

“It’s part of the design (of the Civic Center), it looks great,” Kern said.

Kern said while using recycled water would set a good example, he does not agree with keeping the blue fence up. He said if it takes having potable water in the fountain to remove the fence, he is in favor of continuing potable water use.

“The fence has got to come down,” Kern said. “The prison look is not good for City Hall.”

Lowery said he supports using reclaimed water in the fountain.

“It will take some time and money to get there, but it’s a very worthwhile project,” Lowery said.

Lowery said people love the fountain, and often stand right up against the fence to enjoy the view. He added he is OK with the fence staying in place to keep people from entering the fountain.

5 comments

bill wisniewski September 13, 2016 at 9:07 am

VOTE FOR ANYBODY BUT CROOKED , CORRUPT , LOBBYIST-LOVING , dirty cop, BEAZER HOMES’ prostitute, JIM WOOD! NEXT YEAR, OCEANSIDE WILL BE WOOD-FREE. IT’S TIME TO TURN THE PAGE! BYE! BYE! JIM……………………..

bill wisniewski September 13, 2016 at 9:01 am

hey mayor JIM WOOD: nice legacy, buddy…. instead of cheering your gracious retirement, we are forced to run you out of Oceanside on rails, with extreme prejudice! not unlike back in the day when we ran out crooked, corrupt COLONEL HORNE , for whom HORNE STREET IS SHAMEFULLY NAMED!

bill wisniewski September 13, 2016 at 8:55 am

“the prison look” is most appropriate for our racketeering, prostituted, lobbyist-loving, BEAZER HOMES COMPANY TOWN CITY HALL! IT WILL ACCLIMATE OUR RINO POLITICAL PROSTITUTES TO LOMPOC CLUB-FED!

Peggy Vosburg September 13, 2016 at 7:26 am

A consultant to walk the area? Are you kidding me! Huge waste of money. How ridiculous. Then this person has to walk the city thru the permit process???? The City does not know it’s own permit process? Yikes!

Mandy Barre September 12, 2016 at 9:19 pm

Why can’t city employees perform the “walk-thru” work? Sounds pretty simple and there are good people in Oceanside.

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