Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors last week voted 5-0 to support and encourage the Gravity Supply Line project in the Central Amador Water Project service area, after discussing the need.

Volunteer Rich Farrington presented the GSL during the Board’s meeting last Tuesday, saying savings from PG&E alone would pay for the project. And he said only Upcountry Amador Water Agency customers will pay for the GSL, not those from Jackson or Ione.

Supervisor Richard Forster said it will be like putting solar power on a house. Savings will not be seen quickly, “but eventually we are going to be saving a lot of money.” Supervisor Louis Boitano said they will see immediate savings on fire suppression insurance ratings.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said part of the existing Central Amador Water Project system was built with used pipes when it was installed in the 1970s, and the “pipe has couplings that were never designed to be put in the ground.” Failure will eventually happen, and the GSL is a “$30 million savings versus replacing the existing system.”

Boitano said “it’s all used pipe now because it’s been there over 40 years.” He said it was built in an emergency, when drought dried Upcountry wells. Boitano, who once worked for AWA, but not on CAWP, said “it just makes sense to have a gravity project.”

Supervisor Ted Novelli said 30 California “Mountain Counties” are “little by little getting off pumped water and going to gravity.” Mountain Counties think “it’s the best way to do it,” Mancebo said.

Novelli also asked about electricity usage tapering off, between 2006 and last year in Central Amador. Mancebo said electricity for pumps cost $300,000 in 2006-2007 when 1,130 acre-feet of water was sold. Last year, pumping cost $250,000, because sales dropped to 950 acre-feet.

Novelli said revenue dropped not because rates went down but “because customers have not used that water.” Boitano said a recent study found 2,000 uninhabited houses in Amador County, which could contribute to less usage.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said he thought power costs would go up, along with costs of mandated “green power,” to be implemented by 2020. Forster said: “This is about as green as you can get.”

Oneto said he had previously discussed “redundancy” with Mancebo in having the Central Amador Water Project connect with the Amador Water System. Mancebo said: “I think it’s a good idea.” AWS backs up the Central Amador system, and vice versa. He said it would be a 2-mile gap of pipelines, and trailer-mounted pumps.

Mancebo said the existing Central Amador pipeline and pumps “will stay as a backup, but at some point it will deteriorate, and there will come a point when you cannot use the pump system.”

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