By Jim Reece - The Amador Water Agency and the city of Ione dedicated the new 2-million gallon potable water tank in the outskirts of Ione Thursday Morning with dozens of people in attendance. AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie opened the festivities and thanked the board members in attendance, including Paul Scott and Madonna Wiebold and Chairman John Swift. Swift said the project was the third major project dedication in his tenure on the board of directors. The first was the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant, The second was the Amador Transmission Pipeline and the third was this, the Wildflower Water Tank. The 2-million gallon, above ground water storage tank will serve Ione, the fire needs in the area and the currently neutral Wildflower housing development. Swift introduced Ione Mayor Andrea Bonham and councilman Jim Ulm. AWA GM Abercrombie said Ryland Homes paid 2.2 million dollars for the tank and also paid for the financing of the project, another 2 million dollars. JTS Communities paid 360,000 dollars for the pump station. Abercrombie said the AWA construction crews worked on the pump stations, saving about 150,000 dollars on the project. Abercrombie introduced vice president of land development, Doug Goldsmith of Ryland Homes, who told of how the economic climate led to the stoppage of work on the Wildflower housing development and nearly stopped the building of the tank. But they persisted with the investment, he said. Goldsmith said Ryland decided to continue with the tank and the company has a lot of money invested. Also attending were Dana Jorgensen of Sen. Dave Cox’s office and Ione City Manager Kim Kerr and City Planner Chris Jordan. The dedication ended with Goldsmith, Swift and Bonham toasting the completion with glasses of water, then tossing the water onto the side of the tank.