Amador County – Amador Water Agency Board of Directors heard an independent engineer’s report Thursday that said the Central Amador Water Project pump system is past its prime and could realistically suffer a catastrophic failure within five years.

Kennedy/Jenks Consulting principal engineer Alex R. Peterson gave a presentation on his findings after a Dec. 2, 2011 visit to the pump stations at Tiger Creek and Silver Lake, interviews with AWA operators, and review of data from the pumps’ history and operations.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said Peterson confirms that the system needs to be replaced, or customers could face extended outages. Mancebo said “to do nothing is not an option,” and simply rebuilding the pumps and motors is not going to provide the reliability that is needed. He said with agency budget cuts and staff reduction, the agency should continue to look at replacing the CAWP system.

Mancebo said about 40 times a year there are problems at the CAWP pump and pipeline system. One pump repair project took 30 days to fix, because custom fabrication had to be done. Peterson said it replaced one of two large pumps at Silver lake, and the patching caused one of the pump’s chambers to be smaller than the other, a detriment to its efficiency, because the pumps were designed to operate in a series.

Mancebo said there would have been severe rationing if that failure had occurred in summer. Peterson said three pumps at each station (Silver Lake and Tiger Creek) each have a smaller pump for off-season operation, and two large pumps that operate together to meet summer peak demands. Peterson said the system therefore lacks backup pumps, which contributes to reliability problems.

Mancebo said the Kennedy/Jenks analysis really makes it clear that the CAWP pump system needs to be replaced. He said the AWA Board has chosen the Gravity Supply Line as the preferred replacement. The GSL is a “green project” and would eliminate hundreds of thousands of dollars in electricity costs.

He said customers need to know that the Gravity Supply Line would help keep the water supply reliable, and customers need to know that the Agency needs their support for the GSL.

Peterson said “it is not unreasonable to expect a catastrophic failure” to take the system out of operation in the next five years. He said the consequences of no action are that you risk paying larger repair costs, due to custom fabrication.

In the report, he said “failure of major facilities such as the encased pump cans, pipelines and electrical equipment will require investment in expensive repairs to worn out equipment at a reduced level of service.”

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