(Sutter Creek) The Amador Water Agency received notice this week that Amador County is poised to receive an award of $5,126,560 to pay for a critical water conservation project that has been pending for several years.
AWA applied for the grant from the California Dept. of Water Resources to install a small pipeline in a section of the open ditch Amador Canal that delivers raw, untreated water from Lake Tabeaud to New York Ranch Reservoir. The recommended award will cover 100 percent of the cost to construct the pipeline.
An estimated 1,800 acre-feet of water is lost from the canal every year through leaks and evaporation. For comparison, average homes in Amador County use one-third to one-half an acre-foot per year.
“If the current drought continues, water conserved through this project could mean the difference between meeting drinking water demands for the majority of AWA customers, or not,” said AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo.
The proposed Upper Amador Canal Untreated Pipeline Project will replace 18 miles of the earthen, unlined Amador Canal from New York Ranch Reservoir to Lake Tabeaud with a 6- to l2-inch diameter pipeline, reducing water loss, improving water supply reliability, and protecting water quality for the raw water users.
The pipeline is the second of two phases of the Amador Transmission Project, completed in 2007, that replaced a portion of the open canal Lake Tabeaud to Tanner Reservoir with 8.8 miles of 30-inch pipeline. Completing the piping of the canal has been on hold while the Water Agency sought a grant to cover the significant cost of construction.
Mancebo said the Water Agency will hold informational meetings on the project in the future. About 100 property owners currently receive raw water from the open canal.
According to Mancebo, the Agency is on a tight schedule to complete grant requirements, and Agency staff has proposed to hire outside engineering firms to complete final design, plans, and specifications for construction.
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