North of the River Municipal Water District (NORMWD) was formed in 1969 to provide wholesale delivery of State Water Project supply to the community of Oildale.
The District, being a governmental entity, used low interest water bonds to install an infrastructure that includes two 4.5 million gallon reservoirs, two 1.9 million gallon reservoirs, and two 1.2 million gallon reservoirs at various elevations in the District. In addition, there are many miles of pipelines, and other necessary facilities that include turnouts, pressure reducing stations and relief valves.
NORMWD provided wholesale water, using the infrastructure described above to Oildale Mutual Water Company and Highland Park Public Utility District. In the early 1980's, Highland Park Public Utility District requested that North of the River Municipal Water District be made responsible for their retail customers and facilities That consolidation was completed in 1982. And as of July 1, 2014, NORMWD integrated it's retail service with Oildale Mutual Water Company, leaving NORMWD as the Wholesale agency once again.
The incresasing demand for water in North of the River's Oildale community as well as the entire Bakersfield area brought together the North of the River Municipal Water District, East Niles Community Services District, California Water Service and the City of Bakersfield to enter into a 2005 agreement with Kern County Water Agency to double the size of the Henry C. Garnett Water Purification Plant. This expansion also included other improvements that doubled the size of the transmission pipeline to the District's reservoirs and increased electrical power supply, in part, with the construction of a one million megawatt solar electrical generation facility, lowering costs to our customers.
The 2005 agreement between North of the River Municipal Water District and the Kern Water Agency provided improvements and also included a commitment on NORMWD's part to purchase an additional 6,500 acre-feet of treated water per year from the agency, bringing the District's supply total to 15,000 acre-feet per year. This commitment includes an increasing delivery schedule that begins in 2012 with a commitment of 10,600 acre-feet of treated water and will continue to increase each year to a total delivery of 15,000 acre-feet of fresh and clean water.
This commitment on the part of NORMWD secured water into the future for North of the River's Oildale families and businesses. Revenue to operate the District and to meet the committed contract oblications is/was met with user charges to NORMWD's retail customer's, property tax revenue, and the Wholesale Contract with Oildale Mutual Water Company.