Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board is expected to hear a presentation on its draft water conservation plan Thursday, which could cost more than half a million dollars to implement over 5 years, but could save as much as 35 million gallons of water in that time frame. AWA Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo said they would have to pay about $100,000 the first year to be able to use less water, but it would be good to be able to get grant funding to finance the conservation plan. Leslie Dumas of RMC will give a presentation Thursday on the latest draft of the conservation plan. Dumas said Tuesday that California is working on rate recovery and the state is about to put out “project solicitation packages” for funding grants through its Integrated Regional Water Management Plan. She said AWA’s conservation plan could be eligible for funding for an IRWMP grant, through the Amador-Calaveras region. But IRWMP would depend on passage of a bond ballot initiative for additional funding. She said a bond proposal is being pushed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be placed on the November ballot. Dumas said the bond measure would include funding for water use reduction and “best management practices” that were part of the governor’s “20 by 2020” plan. The plan looks at implementing a state-wide 20 percent reduction of water usage by the year 2020. Dumas said the “state’s gotten more interested in water conservation,” and the “AWA would be in a good position to get funding for the project.” RMC’s draft 5-year plan could cost more than $100,000 a year to implement, but it could save 19.7 acre feet of water its first year, and more that 20 acre feet a year the next 4 years after that. The reduction of water usage would also reduce revenue from water sales by $13,000 to $15,000 a year. The 5-year plan’s total implementation cost was listed as $627,000, including $71,000 in lost revenue from water sales. The plan could save 108.5 acre feet of water over 5 years. The term “acre foot” is the volume of water that would cover one acre to the depth of one foot. An average Amador County family uses 1/3rd to ½ an acre-foot a year. An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons. A savings of 108.5 acre feet of water equates to 35.4 million gallons. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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