Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday supporting the Amador Water Agency in its pursuit of a Gravity Supply Line in the upcountry, and urging AWA to complete the project.

Rich Farrington brought the resolution to Supervisors, with a support letter from the Amador County Fire Chiefs’ Association, and pending support of the Amador Fire Safe Council (for the Chiefs’ letter). One of the chiefs, Amador Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Dave Bellerive said “we’re in complete support of it.”

Association President Charles Blankenheim in an Aug. 9, 2010 letter with the resolution said “providing hydrants at locations wherever the pipeline intersects county, state, federal or Sierra Pacific Industries roadways will mitigate any impact on the fire agencies, and will actually improve fire suppression activities in the areas affected by providing a pressurized system that can be utilized for quick filling and transport by engines and water tenders to both structure and wildland fires.”

The extensive resolution urged the “Amador Water Agency to build the Gravity Supply Line” in the Upcountry “to improve fire protection and secure a more reliable water supply system for the CAWP Water District.”

It said the Amador County General Plan Safety Element approved in 1974 “requires attention be given” to “wildfires, range fires, urban fires, and peak water supply requirements,” and it states that “major public projects which are found to be necessary for the mitigation, correction or control of hazards or problems indicated in these elements be included with appropriate attention in the individual jurisdiction Capital Improvement Programs.”

The resolution said a “1991 study for AWA by Engineering Alliance and Bartholomew Engineering “found that a large part of the Upcountry water system” cannot “meet the fire flow criteria in most areas.”

It noted the Fire Chiefs’ Association support, and said “Cal Fire has rated most of the Upcountry area as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.” The resolution noted that a “wildland-urban interface fire Upcountry could cause loss of life, destroy homes and commercial businesses, and result in a large loss of revenue to the County.”

It noted that a 2009 Wildfire in Auburn burned the Nevada Irrigation District, knocking out power to water pumps, “and 63 homes and 3 businesses were destroyed.” It said “the current pumping system shuts down an average of 40 times per year because of equipment and power failures.”

The resolution noted that the GSL would “improve fire protection Upcountry, provide a more reliable water supply, be a green energy project, save enough on electrical pumping costs to pay for the GSL and the associated costs during the life of the project, and create jobs in Amador County.”

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