The 1927 invention of the garbage disposal has made life easier for many, but Irvine Ranch Water District reminds customers at this time of the year that this important appliance can also cause many headaches if used improperly. In addition, fats, oils and grease, or FOG, poured down the drain is the leading cause of sewer spills.

Despite what you might hear, not everything can go into a garbage disposal. And fats, oils and grease should never be poured down the drain.

Over time, the grease sticks to sewer pipes and when it builds up, blocks the entire pipe, resulting in costly repairs and cleanups.

To prevent problems, here are tips for getting rid of left over cooking grease and more tips on what not to put into a garbage disposal:

• Place left over grease into containers with lids, such as jars, and place into a trash receptacle for pick up on trash day.
• Mix oils with absorbent materials, such as coffee grounds, put in a lidded container and dispose with the trash.
• If cleaning a greasy pan, pour grease into a container and wipe excess grease from the pan with paper towels. Place the towels into the trash.
• If using a deep fat fryer, mix oils with absorbent material, such as cat litter, or soak up excess oil with newspaper and put into the trash.
• Do not put rice or pasta down the garbage disposal. No matter how long the appliance runs or how much water is run down the drain, rice and pasta will never break down small enough.
• Do not put any animal bones, skin or fat down the disposal.
• Do not put egg shells down the disposal. Contrary to some information out there, egg shells do not sharpen the blades of the disposal.
• Do not put any kind of stringy vegetables, such as asparagus or celery down the disposal.
• Peelings or rinds of any kind, such as from potatoes, carrots or those from fruit, should never be put down the disposal.
• In addition, when using the disposal, put in only small amounts of table scraps at a time.
• When in doubt, play it safe and put scraps into the trash can.

For more information about the FOG program, please visit our website.

Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 7, so remember to set your clock back one hour before going to bed Saturday night.

The semi-annual time changes coincide with seasonal changes in weather, when irrigation controllers and sprinkler times should change. Water use lowers as the weather cools, so it’s a good idea to check your controller at the same time you change your clocks.

To ensure that your service is not interrupted, change the batteries in your controllers, as well. It’s also a good time to change the batteries in your home smoke detectors.

Irvine Ranch Water District is proud to announce that both Standard & Poors and Fitch credit rating agencies have assigned AAA ratings to the September issuance of IRWD’s Certificate of Participation (COP) and October General Obligation (GO) bond debt issues.

“This rating reflects the strong financial strength of the District,” said Mary Aileen Matheis, president of the IRWD Board of Directors. “The excellent AAA credit ratings resulted in low interest rates on debt which help us keep our customer rates among the lowest in the county.”

The COPs and GO debt issues were the first new money bonds issued by IRWD since December 2010 and will provide reimbursement for capital projects funded by the District in recent years. Each of the new credit rating reports pointed to key District strengths including its water supply reliability, strong operational and financial management and policies, extremely strong debt service coverage projections and liquidity and above average service area demographics.

On August 16^th, pricing of District’s 2016 COPs issue was completed with investors showing strong demand for the District’s AAA-rated debt. The issue closed on September 1^st with bond proceeds of approximately $148.5 million, including $100.0 million in new money proceeds for reimbursement of capital infrastructure expenditures, and $48.5 million for an advance refunding of a portion of the District’s 2010 COPs issue. The all-in fixed interest rate for the issue was 2.90%, including 3.16% for new money debt and 2.05% for the shorter-term refunding bonds. The refunding portion of the bond issue will lower the interest rate currently being paid on the 2010 COPs issue and provide an interest savings to the District of approximately $6.2 million. The largest investors in the new COPs issue included Merrill Lynch, UBS Asset Management, Vanguard, Wells Fargo and Gannett Welsh.

On September 28^th, pricing of District’s 2016 GO bond issue was completed with investors again showing strong demand. The bond issue closed on October 12^th with proceeds of approximately $130.5 million for reimbursement of capital infrastructure expenditures. The all-in fixed rate for the issue was 3.32%. The issue attracted a significant number of retail investors who purchased many of the shorter-term maturity bonds. The largest institutional investors included Blackrock, State Farm Insurance, Vanguard, Northern Trust and First Republic Bank.

Tax-exempt interest rates have recently been near historic lows providing an opportunity to lock in these low rates for the long-term with fixed rate debt issuance.  

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Background: IRWD finances the facilities it needs to provide water and sewer service to our customers by issuing general Certificates of Participation (COPs) and General Obligation (GO) bonds, much like you finance your home with a mortgage from the bank. Bonds issued by IRWD are typically used to fund basic water and wastewater infrastructure – which includes projects like reservoirs, ground water wells, water pipelines, water pump stations, sewage lift stations, sewer treatment and disposal and sewage collection pipelines. IRWD’s infrastructure serves about one fifth of Orange County and includes more than 1,500 miles of drinking water pipelines, more than 500 miles of recycled water pipelines, more than 1200 miles of sewage pipes, 36 reservoirs, 26 wells and four water treatment plants.

Credit agency ratings reflects the independent opinion regarding the credit worthiness of the issuer to make timely principal and interest payments on its debt. Credit rating agencies assign ratings to a particular debt issue and to all the outstanding debt issued under the same security or credit pledge.

Three Irvine Ranch Water District engineers and the retired director of water quality were more than happy to step up and offer their expertise to Irvine Unified School District students working on their science fair projects at the annual Ask-A-Scientist Night.

IRWD professionals have participated in this event since its inception more than 20 years ago. Students filed through the room dedicated to Water and Earth Earth Science at Rancho San Joaquin Middle School October 13 to sit down with the professionals and hopefully, come away with ideas on how to accomplish their projects.

Joining other science and engineering professionals in talking to students were Jacob Moeder, Engineer/Planner, Toni Lynch, Assistant Engineer, and Mark Marcacci, Engineer, and retired IRWD Director of Water Quality John Hills.

The science fair is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, 2016 at Portola High School. IRWD professionals will also help judge water-related projects that day.

For more information on our educational programs, please visit our website.