Wildomar neighborhood gets emergency water line

WILDOMAR, Calif. (KABC) -- Imagine turning on the tap, and not knowing if you'll have water, and if you do, questioning whether it's safe to drink.

That's what life was like for one neighborhood in Wildomar.

"We still had to use bottled water for everything, like cooking, coffee, everything," said Lyndsey Amagrande.

But perhaps it's no longer a fear. Thanks to more than $6 million in state grants, and a lot of legal wrangling, an emergency line is now carrying a safe and reliable water supply to residents.

"It will save us money, and it's relieving just knowing that it's not going to be shut off," said Amagrande.

A solution was delayed for so long because the water districts were afraid of being sued if they hooked up the emergency pipe, and something went wrong. So they had to wait for special state legislation to be approved, to prevent such lawsuits.

"We didn't want to expose our existing customers to any kind of litigation," said Greg Morrison with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District.

In addition, Morrison says the county of Riverside needed to step in and take control of the infrastructure that belonged to the mom-and-pop water company that was supposed to be in charge.

"This particular organization was way in over their head," said Morrison.

So the tap water is now working, and residents here have a message for those who might take their water supply for granted.

"If they lived here, they'd know how fortunate, really, they are, because you have to have water to live," said Amagrande.

The emergency water line is just a temporary fix. A water district spokesperson says they should have a permanent solution within a year and a half.