News Archive (6192)
Amador County – The Plymouth City Council last week heard that water was flowing Thursday down the Arroyo Ditch, and the company wants to get together and negotiate a contract. The Shenandoah Water Company has spent $60,000 dollars over the last month to clear the Arroyo Ditch of debris and get water flowing, and City Manager Dixon Flynn said he wants to organize a closed session meeting of the city council to discuss negotiations on operation of the ditch. Mayor Jon Colburn said last Thursday that he had met earlier that day with Shenandoah Water Company representatives, who want to negotiate a contract. Colburn said he “recommended to them that they go ahead and negotiate with city staff.” He said he did not want it to appear that he was negotiating with the company, due to problems that occurred in negotiations on water contracting in the past with the Amador Water Agency. Flynn said: “That is what we want to talk about in closed session.” Councilwoman Pat Fordyce said she wants a city council member to be in on the discussions with Shenandoah Water Company. Colburn said the city may get an assist in the drying times from the AWA, who has offered the use of Segment 6, from Drytown to Plymouth, in the Plymouth Water Pipeline. They made the offer because one well in Plymouth has gone dry. Colburn and Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin spoke with Hunt Well Drilling Company about doing an “air test” on the well last Friday, but after that, AWA notified the city that it could activate Segment 6 in case of an emergency. Colburn said the city had two wells operating, Well “A” and the Hawksview Well. He said the “big scare is, if something happens to Well “A,” be could be in trouble.” Flynn said “the AWA has agreed to tap us into their line at Drytown, plus we have water in the (Arroyo) Ditch today, which allows the fairgrounds to tap into the ditch for irrigation.” He said that also eases up the demand on the flow in the city water system. The council adjourned without setting a date for the closed session discussion on the Arroyo Ditch. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 14 August 2009 00:54
Proposition 84 Billions could Fast-Track $2.1 Million to Amador Water Agency
Written bySutter Creek – California Proposition 84 has a staggering $5.38 billion earmarked for regional water projects, and the Amador Water Agency heard from its regional board that $2.1 million of that money could be fast-tracked for an Amador and Calaveras county water program. They heard the news Thursday form Rob Alcott, executive officer of the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority, of which the AWA is a member. Alcott said Prop 84 funds include $1.5 billion for water quality and regional water management, for which Amador County’s “leak detection and repair program” would qualify for an “expedited grant,” meaning it would not come as slowly from the state. But the expediting would be best possible by changing it to an Amador and Calaveras program, serving both counties. Alcott said he spoke with AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie about expanding the leak detection program between Amador and Calaveras, and he noted that as a maintenance and replacement work, it would not need an Environmental Impact Report done. Alcott said Amador and Calaveras’ share would be $2.1 million. The AWA board approved its membership of the UMRWA Thursday, and that joint work plan, contingent on Amador County paying half the membership fee, and other member entities agreeing to Alcott’s hours being cut. Members of the UMRWA are Alpine, Amador and Calaveras counties; the East Bay Municipal Utility District; AWA, and Calaveras and Alpine water agencies; the Calaveras PUD; and the Jackson Valley Irrigation District. Alcott said part of membership is the “built-in organizational efficiencies.” He said UMRWA must still be recognized by the state as the official representative of the region, to qualify for funding from the “Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act,” as revised, effective March of this year. AWA District 3 Director Don Cooper said he hears about resource planning and thinks they should channel more of their energy toward conservation, and fulfilling the state mandated adoption of the governor’s best management practices, under AB 1420, for conservation. Cooper asked if Alcott and UMRWA could be the regional body to pursue those practices and their initiation, under AB 1420. Alcott said he saw “that as a maybe.” He said with “cost sharing and time to coordinate a set of foundational conservation requirements, UMRWA could serve that purpose.” He said “it would take time and effort, but yes it could.” Coopers said they could show the power they have as a group, by organizing to pay less and benefit from the work as a whole. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Sutter Creek – The Amador Water Agency board on Tuesday discussed the water needs of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort, and learned that Sutter Creek is still negotiating its “conditions of approval” on the project. District 1 Director Bill Condrashoff said raw water for the golf course should be in a new analysis of the Water Supply Assessment done by the AWA staff. And he wondered if the plan was “to use up all the water in the first 10 years.” Chairman Terence Moore said it was not the plan, but the board was trying to ease his concerns. AWA attorney Steve Kronick said the state gives water agencies “guidelines on how to document future demands,” but these are “not necessarily what the cities” plan or do. Condrashoff said the WSA should look at other cities’ future needs, but Abercrombie said they “must include planned projects, but not unplanned or speculative ones.” Sutter Creek’s Bart Weatherly asked who would pay for a new raw water line to serve Gold Rush. Abercrombie said there were “a lot of developers here today,” and he will work with them and “have them pay as much as they can.” Developers in attendance included Cirro Toma, Rob Aragon, Bill Bunce, Greg Bardini, Stefan Horstsradter and Bob Reeder. Sutter Creek Assistant City Administrator Sean Rabe said the “conditions of approval” agreement with Gold Rush was still a working document, but so far says the developer shall build a new tertiary-level water treatment plant for the city and the developer’s needs, within 3 years. It also says the project will accept wastewater from Sutter Creek. He said “within 36 months, the project has to construct the tertiary plant.” That could be extended to 5 years, at the developer’s request. Rabe said “they will need raw water for the golf course,” and “it’s your job to tell us how long it will be.” He said “before the first certificate of occupancy is issued, the tertiary plant has to be built.” That is for the first phase, and subsequent phases require other treatment plant upgrades. Rabe said the “whole point of the golf course is to dispose of water,” and the “golf course won’t be able to take all of the water that the city can produce.” It will also be sent to Ione, or to the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority’s storage. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors held a water conservation workshop July 23rd and learned that the agency must follow state “Best Management Practices” or it would not qualify for any state grants. Consultant Leslie Dumas of RMC Water and Environment, talked about the governor’s draft 20 By 2020 state Water Conservation Plan, and an effort to “reduce (state) per capita use 20 percent, from the current 192 gallons per capita daily to 154 gallons per capita daily,” which Schwarzenegger’s office said equated to “an annual savings of about 1.74 million acre-feet.” AWA Vice Chair Bill Condrashoff said Dumas gave the AWA board a list of the 14 Best Management Practices (BMPs) that the governor and state will require jurisdictions to follow. He said the AWA “must meet them all to get state grants.” One practice is to have a “conservation coordinator,” designated to oversee implementation of the 14 Best Management Practices. Condrashoff said they did not talk about the qualifications of that post but more about the candidate’s “ability to manage a program.” He said the AWA staff and board will come up with a plan, then get a person to make sure it is implemented.” The plans include water usage limitations, such as designated days to wash cars, or prohibiting an obvious waste of water, such as overwatering until it flows into the street. State incentives include low-water landscaping, high-efficiency washing machines and an “ultra-low-flow toilet rebate program,” given for toilets that flush with less than 1.2 gallons of water. Condrashoff said state BMPs included surveying water use, and “having a good handle on the amount of water being used.” Another was retrofitting plumbing to low-flow toilets and showers. System water audits are another practice, he said, so the agency can see that water going through the treatment facility adds up to meter readings. If it doesn’t match, losses or leaks can be located. Another BMP is metering with all commodity rates, and retail conservation practices include a 2- or 3- tiered pricing schedule, where if you used more, you pay more. Public information was a BMP too, Condrashoff said, noting that “if you can educate the public on where the water comes from and why it’s such a valuable resource, it is the best way to get conservation information out.” Other areas included school education; commercial, industrial and institutional customers; and wholesale agency assistance programs, such as helping Jackson with its BMPs. He said “AWA will help the city of Jackson” in communicating about conservation. Condrashoff said conservation “can save a huge amount of money,” and at least defer infrastructure spending. He said the BMPs are to be met to qualify for any state grant. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board last week had a director asking again about meeting minutes since she took office. AWA staff is now looking through its meeting minutes from 6 months previous, at the request of District 4 Director Debbie Dunn, who said at a meeting earlier this month that she was not sure why some people’s comments to the board are listed in explicit detail, while others get minimal mentions – or no mention at all – of the things they say. Board Chairman Terence Moore said “if it had a bearing on a decision, what people say is more detailed” in the written minutes. Board Clerk Cris Thompson said it also might depend on who types out the minutes, as one clerk there often wrote more details than she did. Thompson said she just followed instructions previously given to her by the board, about what to include or not include in the minutes. Dunn said she was concerned about what the Foothill Conservancy’s Katherine Evatt said at a previous meeting, specific to a company, RMC. Moore said they could work with staff on guidelines and formats expected in the reporting of meeting minutes. AWA Attorney Steve Kronick suggested they make the revisions to minutes in a “redline format,” which shows “strike-throughs” of omissions, and underlines in red in those items that are added. Dunn volunteered to talk with General Manager Jim Abercrombie about the issue. Moore said: “I’ll do it too,” and he suggested the agency “see what other agencies do,” such as El Dorado County. He said “Maybe we’re trying to do too much.” Moore said “we pulled all the minutes and we’ll go thru them.” Dunn said: “I’m new. I’m not a bull in a china closet. I’m not here to change things. I just want to know how they work.” Moore said in past meetings, he and a director had argued for hours straight on a subject, only to have it listed in the minutes that he and “director Moore discussed” the issue at hand. He said it just depends on what is said and whether it is part of a decision made. Dunn, who took office in December, noted that the agency already destroys recordings of meetings, after a certain time. She said she learned of that public utility practice at a workshop and supports the practice. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors voted 3-1 Thursday to hold its portion of funding for the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority’s 2010 budget year. The Upper Moke Joint Power Authority was to consider its 2010 budget today, and member agency representatives were to bring their vote to the board. AWA Chairman Terence Moore asked Directors Don Cooper, Debbie Dunn and Bill Condrashoff if that meant the agency was going to drop out of the JPA. They said it did not mean that. Dunn said she wanted the JPA Executive Officer Rob Alcott, “to look at his salary.” She said the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority executive officer “gave himself a $4,000 dollar raise last year.” She also questioned the agency’s ability to get payment from Amador County. Dunn also suggested paying half of the budget, and seeking funds from the county. Moore said he thought she was “being short-sighted.” And he said “you won’t even look at your own salary.” Dunn said she did not make $125 dollars an hour, like Alcott. Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo said Alcott’s shift in salary was caused by adding an extra three months – the end of this year – to the 2010 fiscal year. Moore said “in the JPA, all members can vote how they want, as long as it doesn’t cost the parent agency any money,” and if it does cost, the member must get the OK of the parent agency. Dunn said one issue was that $12,000 dollars in conservation was changed to $25,000 dollars for a grant application, and not the same thing. She asked to get that changed back. Moore said the grant application would go toward conservation, and it had the support of the Foothill Conservancy. Moore, the agency’s representative on UMRWA, said “this has been negotiated with a lot of agencies. We can’t vote to change it.” Member agencies that pay into the JPA are AWA, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Calaveras County Water District, Calaveras Public Utility District and Jackson Valley Irrigation District. Non-paying members are Amador and Calaveras counties, but Moore said Amador does give in-kind attorney services, about $4,000 dollars a year. Moore suggested and the board directed staff to ask Amador County for its $36,000 dollar share of the budget, from the Amador Water Development Fund. Moore will ask Alcott come tell the new board members about UMRWA, and they may seek to move up by a month the next Upper Moke JPA meeting. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors will host a water conservation workshop in a special meeting set for 1 p.m. Thursday in the agency office. AWA Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo in a memo Friday said the purpose is for the “board to discuss the water conservation program for the AWA with the consultant, and staff prior to gaining public input and participation.” Consultant Leslie Dumas of RMC Water and Environment will give a presentation “regarding minimum standards for conservation programs.” She will also “identify current industry compliance with standards,” discuss potential policy statements or goals for the AWA. The meeting will include a discussion of the draft 20 By 2020 state Water Conservation Plan, introduced in February 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The “7-part comprehensive plan for improving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta” was accompanied by governor directing “state agencies to develop a plan to reduce statewide per capita urban water use by 20 percent by the year 2020. The plan said with reductions and enhancements, “California can reduce its per capita use 20 percent, from the current 192 gallons per capita daily to 154 gallons per capita daily … an annual savings of about 1.74 million acre-feet.” Recommendations in the governor’s plan include establishing a foundation for a conservation strategy, including placing targets and goals in law. He also recommends creating a “state agency leadership and coordination network.” Other recommendations include reducing landscape irrigation demand, reducing water waste, reinforcing efficiency codes and related best management practices; giving financial incentives; and doing public outreach, as with the workshop itself. The governor’s draft plan also recommended considering enforcement mechanisms to facilitate water conservation; and investigating “potential flexible implementation measures.” The latter suggested looking at “requiring conservation offsets for water demand generated by new development.” The plan also recommended increasing “the use of recycled water and non-traditional sources of water.” An introduction to the workshop said the “recommendations were developed through a collaborative effort involving several agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the California agencies: Department of Water Resources, Water Resources Control Board, Energy Commission, Public Health, Public Utilities Commission, Bay Delta Authority and Urban Water Conservation Council. The AWA board in its regular meeting 9 a.m. Thursday will discuss the 2010 fiscal year work plan and budget for the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority. The board will then tour the Tanner Water Treatment Plant, including the Amador Transmission Pipeline outlet, property, buildings and the Amador Canal at Tanner Reservoir. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – Former Amador Water Agency director Madonna Wiebold defended the work of agency staff and the past board last week, and said the current board is right in seeking staff verification of a Water Supply Assessment at the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort. Wiebold said the WSA was submitted to the county, lots of questions came about and it was available to every agency in Amador. She said a lot of people were crunching numbers, accuracy was considered and it was unanimously approved. Wiebold said it is not wrong to question it and ask AWA staff to verify. She said she thought the county could support the water needs of Gold Rush, and the city of Sutter Creek “has lots of control” over the project. Ken Berry of Jackson, who lost an appeal of the Wicklow Way Subdivision on a similar challenge to the WSA, said “no power on earth can stop you from considering the future” of the water agency. Berry said: “It will be a very, very cold day in the center of the earth before you can be sued for doing what you were elected to do.” Gold Rush water attorney Eric Robinson said “the question of peak flows has been addressed in voluminous studies,” which were “sent to the city of Sutter Creek, not to the water agency.” Robinson said engineers assessed all comments received on matters of peak flow and water efficiency and “found no merit to the challenges of citizen (Bill) Condrashoff,” who analyzed the Gold Rush study by the AWA before he was elected to the AWA board of directors. Robinson said existing demand on the Amador Water System is 6,300 acre feet of water, and the Gold Rush project ads 1,203 acre feet of demand. He said “there is about 1,300 acre feet of water demand that was assumed, with no basis of fact, in order to be conservative.” Robinson said the key factor for the state water board “is whether there is enough water for existing and proposed projects.” Sutter Creek Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley said “if this is super-conservative, maybe we are splitting hairs?” He said he also mentioned a third-party review of the Gold Rush WSA, but he was told later that it wasn’t the intent of city management. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County - The electricity of pump water from Tiger Creek to the Central Amador Water Project in Upcountry translates to 20 percent of the Amador Water Agency’s total operating costs. That includes debt service – the payment of loans. But the AWA board of directors Thursday heard in a report, as it has before, that major use of electricity does not translate into a high priority to qualify for Department of Health Services grant. Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo said the efficiency of the agency has kept CAWP customers for the most part form running out of water. A study of its operation of the CAWP line between 2004 and 2008 found 162 incidents when the water stopped flowing. Of those, 97 were electrical or mechanical problems. And of those, 52 were caused by power outages, with “18 of the power outages greater than 4 hours.” 4 times, they had water pumping stopped for longer than a day, with 2 resulting from fires and 2 resulting from winter storms. “These pump stations are not in very good condition,” Mancebo said. Much of it is original, including 30-year-old control panels, pumps and motors, which may have been repaired over the years. He said “they would not meet today’s standards for electrical codes.” Kennedy Jinx Engineering estimated that replacing the pumps would cost an estimated $3.3 million dollars. That would be only for construction and not for the total cost. Mancebo said they “pretty much would be rebuilding the whole system,” including motors, cams, pumps and the like. And the existing line would have to operate during construction. He said “the best approach would be to build the new pump station next to the old one.” He said “we’re beyond reliable capacity,” and “if we don’t go forward with the gravity supply line, this should be on the top of the list of our things to do.” The gravity supply line solution, estimated at $13.3 million dollars, was rejected by the California DHS, he said, because the agency did not see it as a priority, because they do not run out of water. Mancebo said the “public has no idea how close we are to not having this operate.” The DHS would need to see higher health risk issues for the project to become a priority. He said the agency could probably use the existing pump and 12-inch, tar-lined pipeline for 20 years, but it already has eroded pinholes in its ¼-inch steel pipes. And in 20 years, at age 50, “you are probably going to need to install new pipe.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – An 80-foot bridge drew dozens of onlookers Thursday morning in Sutter Creek. A crew of workers from the Amador Water Agency and the Mountain Cascade Incorporated used a large crane to lift the steel, one-piece bridge from the bank of Sutter Creek, and slowly swing it into place. The bridge was to be fastened to pilings mounted in concrete at either side of the creek, and the full installation was expected to be finished by the afternoon. The AWA said the bridge will open to foot traffic “later this year.” The bridge arrived by truck from southeast Los Angeles County sometime Wednesday and spent Wednesday night parked on Old Highway 49 on the south end of town, next to the Sutter Creek welcome sign. The 8-foot wide, 80-foot long steel bridge was manufactured in one piece, and its unpainted surfaces showed the orange of oxidation, except for its silver galvanized steel footings. It drew professional and amateur photographers to chronicle the installation from different angles. The bridge was placed between Sutter Creek’s riparian civic lots, on Eureka Street, behind City Hall, and on Eureka Street, across from Gallery 10 and Susan’s Place Wine Bar & Eatery. The walking bridge will later be part of the Plymouth potable water pipeline, which will link the town with the AWA’s Tanner Water Treatment Plant on Ridge Road. The 8-and-a-half mile pipeline will use existing and new piping to connect the town to Amador Water Agency services, and will help lift a 3-decade building moratorium in Plymouth. Mountain Cascade is also contracted to build the $5.6 million dollar pipeline, and reportedly is a month ahead of schedule on the project. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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