Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors recognized its former past President Terence Moore, who last year, left office after three terms and 12 years.

General Manager Gene Mancebo said District 5 Director Terry Moore was “instrumental in the development and completion of the Plymouth Pipeline and the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant, the Amador Transmission Pipeline, Regional Wastewater and Recycling Master Plan, guiding the development of the Gravity Supply Line, and serving several years as Board president.”

Moore thanked AWA staff for their efforts in assisting agency governance and he gave the new board advice, telling them to “move away from the day to day workings of the Agency, and look at the big picture issues.”

He said such big items included “consolidation of the four water systems, getting a storage tank in the Upcountry, and getting the Lake Camanche system off of well water and onto a surface water supply.”

The AWA Board approved supporting Assembly Bill Number 8, sponsored by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, which would halt the closure of Preston Youth Correction Facility for six months to allow additional analysis of the impacts of the closure.

Mancebo said the “agency expects to lose approximately $80,000 in annual revenues from water sales to the Preston facility, and an additional estimated $40,000 from indirect impacts of the closure.”

In a staff report, AWA Operations Manager Chris McKeage said he is working with the state “on permissible temporary options for disposing of the excess water” in the Buckhorn backwash system. He said “one option could be running the water to a nearby leach field.”

Trucking the water to a wastewater treatment plant was discussed, but McKeage said the “agency has yet to locate a plant that can take what is essentially raw Mokelumne River water, due to permit or capacity issues.”

McKeage said AWA has purchased a second-hand filtration plant to recycle backwash at Buckhorn. Recycling the water “will greatly reduce the amount of water sent to the Mace Meadow pond, partially alleviating the winter overflow problem in the future.”

The used filtration plant cost $5,000 and will require an estimated $65,000 of AWA staff time and materials to get the equipment on-line, which McKeage hopes will be in mid-February. McKeage estimate a new plant would have cost as much as $250,000 before installation.

A voluntary water conservation notice remained in effect for AWA customers along Highway 88 from Mace Meadow to Pine Grove, due to recent heavy rains have filled water treatment plant backwash ponds at Mace Meadow Golf Course.

AWA is required to ask for voluntary water conservation by all of its public water customers in systems at Mace Meadow, Rabb Park, Pine Grove and the Central Amador Water Project Retail.

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