Amador County – Amador Water Agency staff last week reported two spills discovered recently, including an estimated 15,000 gallons of raw sewage that leaked near Wal-Mart, and about 385,000 gallons of raw water that leaked onto Mace Meadow Golf Course.

Operations Manager Chris McKeage reported the spills last week to the AWA board of directors, including the estimated loss of 15,000 gallons of wastewater.

AWA General Manager Gene Macebo said an air release valve stuck in the open position and allowed wastewater to spill at a rate of about 10 gallons a minute. The valve was located next to a drainage swell that passes under the Wicklow Way bridge near Wal-Mart. Mancebo said the swell is a tributary to Rock Creek, but they do not believe sewage reached the creek. The leak was first noticed December 1st, and they were not sure how long it was leaking.

Mancebo said: “Somebody had noticed an odor and we investigated and that’s how we found it.” No sanitizing chemicals were needed, and the agency was only instructed to clean up the site.

McKeage said the other leak, discovered November 29th, was larger, but involved raw river water used as backwash to clean filters in the Buckhorn water treatment plant. He said it was still considered a spill, and was reported.

It was estimated about 385,000 gallons of backwash water spilled onto Mace Meadow Golf Course, and they did not find the leak for about two weeks.

Mancebo said during the storm, a tree fell and due to the ground being soft and wet, the tree broke the pipeline. It was not noticed for a while because it was under a tree and snow in a remote area.

Backwash is sprayed in summer at the golf course, and stored in a pond during winter. The pipe was carrying water to storage when the leak occurred.

The golf course captures runoff and stores it in ponds, and uses the water as irrigation. Mancebo said the leaking backwash flowed into the Mace Meadow ponds, went through the ponds, and “we believe some of it eventually did get out of the ponds and into a tributary to Pioneer Creek.”

He said: “We have had spills before, and water in backwash ponds is better quality that creek water during a storm event.”

They went through the reporting process and the Amador County Department of Environmental Health did not instruct the agency to add any sanitizing chemicals at either site.

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