Amador County – Amador Water Agency is holding two months of rigorous pump testing at Camanche water Well Number 14 to help predict whether it will be productive through the summer.

AWA’s board of directors last week heard that staff is testing what it considers “a critical well on the Lake Camanche Village water system” to “determine whether it can produce quality water at summertime high demand volumes.” AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said Camanche’s water system “has a long history of unreliable water supply and has three abandoned wells.”

At a recent meeting during public comment, Ken Berry criticized the situation in which the well apparently fixed itself. At the same meeting, Field Services Manager Chris McKeage said all suspected problems within the well are underground, and the agency is not eager to spend money to dig into Well 14. He said samples of the well show it has cleared up. Critics, including former board members, pointed out that a past proposed rate increase at Camanche was based on Well 14 being shut down, and impending dry weather that never came.

Mancebo said “nearby East Bay Municipal Utility District has had two wells go bad.” He said Camanche’s “Well 14 was constructed in 2007 after the California Department of Public Health halted new connections due to concerns about the capacity and quality of the groundwater supply.”

Mancebo said Well 14, “one of the system’s strongest-producing wells at the time, experienced water quality problems” in summer 2010. It “was taken out of service while the Agency worked with consultant hydro-geologists, Dunn Environmental to investigate the cause and possible repairs.”

Water quality improved during 2011, he said, “while operating Well 14 at a low rate. The Agency received approval from the state Department of Public Health to operate the well at this lower rate, as Camanche’s Well 6 was experiencing bacteriological problems and additional water was needed for Camanche customers.”

McKeage said the Agency is currently testing its reliability. “Well 14 is being run aggressively over the next 60 days, to see how it will perform at typical peak volumes and to predict whether we could have trouble with it this summer. If it continues to run well during this testing period, the Agency will have greater confidence in the well and could be spared the expense of repairing the well.”

McKeage said “2011 had a lot of rain replenishing the aquifer and a relatively cool summer,” but it was “unclear what factors contributed to the well’s improvement.”

Dunn Environmental has been testing and studying the yield and sustainability of Camanche area groundwater. McKeage said a report is expected in late February and “may provide insight into why Well 14 experienced problems and how best to operate the well system.”

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