Amador County – Three candidates for the Amador Water Agency District 5 seat also answered individual questions at the Upcountry Community Council candidates forum Monday at the Upcountry Veterans Hall on Buckhorn Ridge Road.

The three challengers for the seat vacated by retiring Director Terence each fielded a different question about AWA issues important to UCC members.

Candidate John Asmus was asked what “water conservation action” he would take on the board. Asmus said of the 40-50 percent of water coming to cities through the AWA, a small amount goes to Upcountry. The rest of the residents are on wells.

He said they should find out the average water used per area, and create a method of incentivizing saving water, possibly in a cistern for area irrigation use.

Asmus said for sewerage, in District 5, they could possibly use water from the Arroyo Ditch to help clean the sewage, and the ditch water could be used about nine months a year.

Candidate Arthur Toy was asked “what responsibility does AWA have to provide water for fire protection services?” Toy said he was sure AWA engineers would be happy to study engineering and flow needs for fire protection, but funding would need to be agreed upon and located in those areas.

He said pipe diameters are “1-and-a-half inches on some mains here,” and it was “major capital improvement project to get mains upgraded,” with still another capital improvement project to build adequate storage for fire fighting.

Toy said people of the districts would have to plan on that, and he did not see it happening this year, or next year.

Candidate Dale Turner was asked: “What are the primary issues of the AWA water conveyance system?” He said he did not know.

District 1 candidate Paul Molinelli Senior said “the primary one is paying for it.”

Turner was given a new question, and was asked: “What is the scope of responsibility of the AWA and its board.” He said the AWA board should provide policy and direction for the general manager to run the agency.

He said “that is not happening now, because the general manager is being micromanaged,” and he “spends all his waking hours just getting ready for special meetings.”

Turner said when he was Mayor of Livermore, his city council met once every two weeks, for no more than 4-5 hours, while the AWA board meets for 6, 8 or 10 hours. He said shorter meetings allow people to give input, without having to wait too long for items of their interest to reach the floor.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.