Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors on Thursday heard an update on grant applications for the agency, which total $141 million in requests made or supplemented in the last 2 years. AWA Finance Manager Mike Lee told the board that $885,000 is the good news, or the amount awarded, in 3 grants. That includes $367,000 for Gayla Manor leach fields, and $270,000 in Prop 84 funding for regional approaches to water reuse. Lee said the Department of Water Resources told him the AWA should see a third grant award of $247,000 “come through in the next couple of days,” for the Lake Camanche Groundwater Supply and Study Management Plan. The list included 41 active, awarded or pending grants, of which 4 were worked on in 2008, the rest in 2009. Director Debbie Dunn asked to agendize the Prop 84 grant, saying she has been approached about projects to use the funds. Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo said the intent is to look at a kickoff date for the project, which “already has a scope of work,” and money usage cannot “veer from that scope.” Lee said the bulk of the 41 grants (about 25) were rejected by the state, although 4 were being reviewed by the California Department of Public Health. Those include disinfection projects at Camanche and Buckhorn, and 2 different grant sequences for conversion of the “Bosse-Previtali raw water ditch conveyance” to a treated water conveyance. Lee said Integrated Regional Water Management Plan funding was coming open soon and considered a “cash cow,” and the state was close to opening its “water use efficiency” grant program. He said the state is “just barely starting to look at” some of its grants. Director Gary Thomas asked Lee to “tell me about this (Gravity Supply Line) here pending,” saying he thought they needed alternatives and studies of pump replacements, and they have “a lot of balls up in the air.” Board President Bill Condrashoff said he would like to see an application for a grant for pump replacements in the Central Amador Water Project system, which the GSL would replace. Lee said staff decided not to apply for grants to replace those pumps “because it was too expensive.” Thomas asked about missing the grant cycle, and Lee said the GSL grant (submitted for the cost of the entire project, at $13.4 million) would be reserved for between 18 months and 3 years, once awarded. Dunn asked: “We did apply for $13 million?” and thanked Lee for doing so. The agency expects to get $5 million from USDA for the GSL project. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.