Amador County - The Amador Joint Water Committee met Monday afternoon for its final meeting of 2008, talking about various regional water and wastewater issues. Among those was the issue of the Wild & Scenic Designation, which Supervisor Richard Forster asked Foothill Conservancy Vice President Pete Bell to set a meeting to discuss the issue with his board. They talked about another meeting between the county and the Conservancy to iron out differences but set no date. The Joint Water Committee is made up of members of the Amador Water Agency board of directors and the Amador County Board of Supervisors. Bell said the designation was in limbo until the new Congress gets into place, but he was pleased with Amador Supervisors leaving the option open in its late serial meeting on the county’s new General Plan, rather than rejecting it. AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said “we would be willing to support it if there was a comprehensive solution to both additional storage and conservation.” He said the AWA was preparing a presentation for the Foothill Conservancy on their objective, to raise the level of the Lower Bear Reservoir dam to create 20,000 acre feet of additional storage, to which Amador has rights. Abercrombie said they would like to meet after the first of the year and after some water modeling was completed. He said there is “some language in there that is gray,” but Bell disagreed. Abercrombie described it, saying that raising the height of the dam and water level and ensuing changes in hydrology may be seen as having a detrimental impact on a Wild & Scenic designated area. Forster asked that Bell try to meet after the Foothill Conservancy’s next meeting but before the next Joint Water Committee meeting in January. Forster said ”we would like to get the gray areas ironed out so we don’t end up in a lawsuit.” Abercrombie said no one on the old AWA board or the new board “wants to see a brand new dam built, but what about raising the one at Lower Bear,” or Pardee or building a new dam at Duck Creek, in San Joaquin County. The first, raising Lower Bear’s dam by 32 feet, would be needed to have storage for the amount of water to which Amador County has diversion rights. The Joint Water Committee next meets January 19th at the AWA office. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Tuesday, 18 November 2008 00:09
Joint Water Talks Get "Wild & Scenic"
Amador County - The Amador Joint Water Committee met Monday afternoon for its final meeting of 2008, talking about various regional water and wastewater issues. Among those was the issue of the Wild & Scenic Designation, which Supervisor Richard Forster asked Foothill Conservancy Vice President Pete Bell to set a meeting to discuss the issue with his board. They talked about another meeting between the county and the Conservancy to iron out differences but set no date. The Joint Water Committee is made up of members of the Amador Water Agency board of directors and the Amador County Board of Supervisors. Bell said the designation was in limbo until the new Congress gets into place, but he was pleased with Amador Supervisors leaving the option open in its late serial meeting on the county’s new General Plan, rather than rejecting it. AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said “we would be willing to support it if there was a comprehensive solution to both additional storage and conservation.” He said the AWA was preparing a presentation for the Foothill Conservancy on their objective, to raise the level of the Lower Bear Reservoir dam to create 20,000 acre feet of additional storage, to which Amador has rights. Abercrombie said they would like to meet after the first of the year and after some water modeling was completed. He said there is “some language in there that is gray,” but Bell disagreed. Abercrombie described it, saying that raising the height of the dam and water level and ensuing changes in hydrology may be seen as having a detrimental impact on a Wild & Scenic designated area. Forster asked that Bell try to meet after the Foothill Conservancy’s next meeting but before the next Joint Water Committee meeting in January. Forster said ”we would like to get the gray areas ironed out so we don’t end up in a lawsuit.” Abercrombie said no one on the old AWA board or the new board “wants to see a brand new dam built, but what about raising the one at Lower Bear,” or Pardee or building a new dam at Duck Creek, in San Joaquin County. The first, raising Lower Bear’s dam by 32 feet, would be needed to have storage for the amount of water to which Amador County has diversion rights. The Joint Water Committee next meets January 19th at the AWA office. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
