Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors Thursday will consider taking ownership of 3 acres near Gayla Manor in order to build a new leachfield for wastewater treatment. The expansion would add 4,000 gallons a day of capacity to the Gayla Manor Wastewater System and bring it into full compliance with state law. AWA Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo in a report to the board said the improvement would add about “3,000 feet of leachfield disposal trenches on the 3 acre parcel,” located in an “existing Gayla Manor common area adjacent to the old highway alignment.” Mancebo said new trenches would “provide about 24 to 40 percent of the needed disposal capacity,” and would enable the system to meet a 100-year-occurrence “wet season” and satisfy the requirements of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The regional board has approved the project “in concept.” The project could also lift a “Cease and Desist Order” the regional board placed on the system in 2003, followed by a “Requirement Order.” Mancebo said construction of the leachfield was estimated at $275,000 dollars, with a total project cost of $310,000 dollars. The agency has been invited by the Department of Water Resources to “submit a full application with the intent of funding this project” with a “100 percent grant,” Mancebo said, through the latest federal “Stimulus Bill, now operating as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” The Gayla Manor Homeowners Association, which owns the property, is willing to provide the property at no purchase cost, if the AWA makes “some minor improvements, such as placing some road base on an easement and walking trail that goes through the northern portion of the property. He said the estimated cost of construction is included the improvements. Mancebo said the Gayla Manor association “was concerned with an indemnification paragraph which would have required the (association) to defend the agency regarding hazardous wastes on the property, if any exists.” He said there are “no apparent signs of hazardous waste” on the property, and none were observed during design testing at 20 sites on the property, and on a neighboring property. Mancebo said the indemnification was “not included in proposed documents executed by the Gayla Manor Association. He recommended not requiring the “indemnification paragraph as there appears to be little risk of hazardous wastes on the property.” The board will consider authorizing Board President Terence Moore and General Manager Jim Abercrombie to enter into purchase and sale agreements to acquire property for construction of a leachfield. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.