As most customers are aware, wind events, proactive power shutoffs by SCE, and the devastating wildfire in progress that began in Somis and swept west through the northern foothills of Camarillo are impacting our ability to maintain some services within the District. Since the start of these incidents, District staff has been monitoring the wind, the direction of the fire, areas without power, and the impact of these events on our critical infrastructure. Camrosa staff has been very busy deploying generators to key District facilities to deal with power outages and in many cases manually monitoring control systems where communication was lost. Staff was onsite throughout the night to provide support and maintenance as needed. Our critical infrastructure for our potable water system and wastewater collection and treatment systems are fully functional. Our hearts go out to those in Camarillo and neighboring areas who have lost homes, were evacuated, or were affected by this fire.
We are aware that within our non-potable system, the Yucca pump station was/is down because of power interruptions and so portions of the non-potable system are without non-potable water or have very low pressure. In these types of events, Camrosa’s top priority is keeping the potable system fully operational since fire hydrants are connected to the potable system. The potable system is primary in order to provide for the health and sanitation needs of our customers. At this time, we do not have additional available generators to provide prolonged power for non-potable system infrastructure. We want to remind our non-potable customers that as part of receiving non-potable service, they agree that non-potable service is interruptible and is not meant for fire protection or health and sanitation purposes. We want to also remind non-potable customers that non-potable water is not suitable for any potable purposes, including the watering of livestock or pets.
Thank you for your patience and support throughout this incident.