Amador County – The Amador County General Plan update panel worked on language in water goals and policies last Wednesday, including cleaning up wording for a “gray water” system. They moved toward promoting reuse of water without mandating it. They changed a water policy to say: “Where available, new development should participate in the extension of reclaimed water facilities (either off-site or on-site) for beneficial use.” Planning Commissioner Ray Ryan said as a grape grower, he saw some problems with requiring the gray water participation. He said grape farmers already conserve water and use “best management practices.” He proposed promoting the gray water system, and not mandating it. Commissioner Andy Byrne said he is doing a remodel at his house and “would love to use gray water,” but he does not know how to do so. He said he would like to seek Amador County as a resource for that information. Supervisor Richard Forster said the gray water systems should be encouraged but not mandated, because “one size does not fit all.” Amador County Planner Susan Grijalva agreed, saying they would not take such a system over miles. She said the county and planning department “can deal with specifics in implementation.” Byrne said it would not matter until such a recycling and reuse system was in place. Supervisor Brian Oneto opposed the best management practices, saying the term was too broad. Oneto said he didn’t “want to be responsible for going and telling someone that they are not farming the right way.” Forster said if they were “going to adopt best management practices, it should be adopted by the Board of Supervisors and the Amador Water Agency.” Supervisor John Plasse noted that Amador Environmental Health asked who would be responsible for development and implementation of those practices. They changed the policy to say: “In consultation with the county’s water suppliers, develop reasonable best management practices for water conservation in the county.” They also removed a phrase that would “incorporate the California State Water Plan,” after consultant Jeff Goldman of EDAW said he did “not know that incorporating the entire (state) plan by reference would be adequate.” They also made a blanket move to take out references to the Amador Water Agency, instead choosing to generally refer to water suppliers in water goals and policies. Byrne said that developers of wells worked in association with the public health department, and they added a reference to agencies as well. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Air Pollution Control District issued an air pollution permit last Wednesday to allow TSS Consultants to operate the former coal-fired electrical power plant at Buena Vista using much cleaner wood wastes. Set to begin operations in July, the newly converted plant is expected to provide energy for about 16,000 homes across the Mother Lode though the burning of roughly 200,000 tons of biomass a year. Supporters and environmentalists say using the biomass wood waste is a major step towards solving environmental problems in our region. “This move will cut emissions by at least half of what they used to be,” said Jim Harris, Amador County’s air pollution control officer. The plant will provide a market for wood waste gathered through forest thinning and from various local properties. Harris said there’s a lot of biomass fuel in the forest, but he hopes vegetation from defensible space clearing that would otherwise go in landfills can also be used. It is also expected that the plant will generate jobs in Amador and Calaveras counties. The plant previously operated on lignite, a primitive form of coal used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation. TSS Consultants, a renewable energy and natural resource consulting firm specializing in industrial energy products, brokered a deal with plant owners the Oneto Group earlier this year to operate the plant. Amador District 3 Congressman Dan Lungren last August visited what was formerly known as the Cogen power plant, with a company from Tempe, Arizona, that was interested in reopening the plant to generate electricity. That deal fell through, but the company estimated the converted plant would bring as many as 20 jobs and about $1 Million in annual salary to Amador County. Lungren said at the time that the biomass plant was the next logical step in the power industry. “We’ve been trying to do that – wind, solar – all these alternative sources. It just makes sense now,” Lungren said. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Joint Water Committee last week discussed the availability of service capacity in the county, looking at “will-serve letters,” “conditional will serves,” and “letters of water availability.” Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo said a recent extension of current will-serve letters from 2 to 3 years, due to the recession, will add life to those projects. But he said the number of developments that have will-serve letters is constantly changing. Will-serves are promises to give water or wastewater services to properties, the commitments are measured in Equivalent Daily Units. Supervisor John Swift said wastewater rates being unknown is not helpful to getting businesses to locate in Amador County. Katherine Evatt of the Foothill Conservancy suggested that the agency put water and wastewater capacity information into an online data base. County Planner Susan Grijalva said the AWA could check with the county and see if service requests are “even a logical request,” due to costs to connect in some areas. Evatt said the agency “could put requests that comply with the county water element higher on an approval list.” AWA Director Debbie Dunn said the agency could fine-tune the system on “our end.” Grijalva has told people about problems getting water in the Camanche area. People respond to her by saying they should not have a problem, because they have a “notice of availability.” The notice, however, does not commit water service to the letter holder, but rather explains the process in getting a “will-serve” letter. Mancebo said the agency might put a standard comment in the notice that “notice of water availability” letter holders should check back in periodically to see what available capacity actually remains. Grijalva said: “You might want to say it is a race and you may not necessarily be winning.” A report from the county planning department showed Camanche District 11 in March had 3 EDUs committed with will-serve letters, zero conditional will-serves and 291 letters of availability. Camanche District 7 in March had 434 Equivalent Dwelling Units committed with will-serve letters, 53 units as conditional will-serves, and 888 letters of availability. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Joint Water Committee last week saw water service commitment numbers in Amador County, and discussed current and conditional “will-serve letters,” and non-binding “notice of availability.” Amador Water System’s Tanner treatment plant has a capacity is 6,902 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs). Its maximum daily use is 4.7 million gallons a day, while its capacity peak flow is just over 6 million gallons a day. Tanner’s commitments in March, according to the Amador County Planning Department, included will-serve letters for 361 EDUs, committing hook-ups, for a total peak flow of just over 5 million gallons daily. Tanner also had “conditional will-serves” for another 1,261 EDUs, committing a total peak flow of 6.2 million gallons a day. The letters of availability for Tanner totaled another 4,807 EDUs, for a total peak flow of 10.5 million gallons a day. The Equivalent Dwelling Units committed by will-serves in the Tanner system included 48 units in operational meters with zero use, and 102 units at Jackson View, 45 at Sierra West Business Park, 40 at Amador Central Phase 1, 21 at Golden Hills, 20 at Amador Ridge Business Park, 19 at Ridge, and 13 at Mesa De Oro. Of the conditional will-serves at Tanner, the city of Plymouth holds the bulk, at 744 EDUs, for 670,000 gallons of water a day at peak flow. The Valley View Vista has 60 conditional will-serve EDUs, and Sutter Creek Crossroads has 41. Tanner plant “letters water of availability” include 1,785 EDUs at Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort. Wicklow Way in Jackson, holds notices for a total of 1,044 EDUs, including 844 for its final phases, 3 & 4. Seven projects have notices of availability in Plymouth, for a total of 1,180 EDUs. Golden Vale, proposed off Highway 88, west of Martell, has a notice of availability letter for 472 EDUs. Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant’s Central Amador Water Project as of March had committed to 502 will-serve units and 166 conditional will-serves, and had 333 EDUs mentioned in letters of water availability. The will-serves included 405 “standby accounts,” and 92 operational meters with zero use. The conditional will-serves for Buckhorn included 60 infill projects and 90 EDUs and Cedar Ridge View trailer park. Martell District 12 had 240 EDUs committed by will-serve letters, with 256 conditional will-serves, and 1,724 letters of availability. Pine Grove District 1 had 65 will serves and 126 letters of availability. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - County officials announced last week that effective July 6 and due to budget cutbacks, Amador County will be adjusting the hours that it will be open to the public for fiscal year 2009-10. The new hours will be Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed on Friday. This change will impact all public service counters and public phone numbers, but not public safety. Emergency Services will still be available. The schedule modification is the result of a cooperative effort between the board of supervisors and several employee bargaining units to absorb the budget reductions caused by a faltering economy while maintaining a full range of services to the community. Staff will be working a 9/36 plan, nine hours a day Monday through Thursday, which is a four hour reduction in pay, or 10 percent, each week. Future cuts will be determined by the direction taken in the upcoming state budget. It is anticipated that the state's budget solutions may cause layoffs that are tied to specific funding sources and program cuts within affected departments. Departments that have evening and weekend hours such as the library, animal control, and public works/road crew and law enforcement will be making other schedule modifications. Appointments may be made with individual departments outside of the new hours to accommodate urgent situations. Details for specific departments or buildings are available on the county's Web site at www.co.amador.ca.us. Staff Release This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – A fire broke out Friday afternoon on the steep slope adjacent to Highway 88 East of Previtali. A combination of fire teams from Amador Fire Protection District Battalion 10, CALFIRE and the City of Jackson were on scene. Additional units from Sutter Creek were spotted heading to the fire but turned around after reports that the fire had been contained. According to CALFIRE’s captain on-scene, the blaze burned about ¼ acre of dry grass along the slope and into trees before being effectively contained. Earlier reports over the radio indicated that at full blaze the fire “let off quite a bit of smoke and heat.” Reports also stated that the fire damaged all or part of a PG & E utility pole. The geography of the canyon presented a unique challenge to fire crews. Traffic was delayed up to 15 minutes in either direction as fire crews in full gear carefully scaled the slope with shovels and fire hoses. Sheriff’s officers poked prodded still smoldering piles of ash in hopes of finding the source of the blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. One officer on scene suspected a cigarette butt or spark from a passing vehicle as the cause, but that is unconfirmed. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Ione City Manager Kim Kerr told the Amador Regional Planning Committee last week that Ione is waiting for a state decision on its wastewater master plan’s Final Environmental Impact Report. The problem is, the person in charge of its review for compliance was promoted and the position unfilled. The Regional Water Quality Control Board said it could be as long as 120 days before the FEIR is reviewed. Kerr said Ione has 2 water treatment plants. One is a tertiary level treatment plant that treats secondary-level treated wastewater piped in from Sutter Creek, in the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority system. The other plant in Ione is a secondary-level treatment facility, which handles Ione’s city wastewater, which is then stored in the city’s 7 storage reservoirs. The tertiary plant in Ione cannot treat the effluent from the secondary plant. Kerr said Ione wants ARSA’s wastewater. But the supply could change, as Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort has a plan to upgrade Sutter Creek treatment plant from secondary to tertiary. Tertiary water is cleaned to a quality that it can be used for irrigation, in this case for Gold Rush Golf Course. Sutter Creek Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe said “there is a tendency at the state level” that instead of expanding the size of a secondary plant, they require its expansion to a tertiary level. Kerr said through ARSA, Amador Water Agency takes about 1/3rd of Ione’s capacity. Sutter Creek Councilman Tim Murphy asked what the impact would be when ARSA activated a tertiary plant. Kerr said Ione “will have to replace that water.” The city already sends 700 acre feet of water to Castle Oaks Golf Course. The city would have to discuss the issue with Castle Oaks. Kerr said storage options might include Preston’s reservoir, and 16 acres on Arroyo Seco Ranch. She said “for farmers and ranchers that want (their) tertiary water, it’s just a matter of finding storage in the winter time.” Kerr said “unfortunately, to do your EIR, you have to plan for” removing ARSA. That includes finding storage and planning for increases in the flow elsewhere. She said the city can treat a maximum of 1.2 million gallons a day at its tertiary plant, “but there are storage problems” at the Henderson storage reservoir on a canal in the ARSA system. The committee next meets August 5th, and will hear a report on ARSA from Sutter Creek City Manager Rob Duke. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Ione is preparing for effects on its wastewater system, but the good news last week was that Ione is sitting on a good sized reserve. City Manager Kim Kerr gave a report last week to the Amador Regional Planning Committee of the state of wastewater treatment in Ione. Kerr said the city has $5 million dollars in developer fees in the bank, and they have “made it a point not to use that money.” Those funds are from Wildflower and JTS Properties developments fees. Kerr thinks Ione has more options for its wastewater systems, than Jackson (due to its location) or Sutter Creek. Kerr said Ione’s 2 plants have a treatment capacity of 1.6 million gallons a day. But they do not charge the Amador Water Agency the full rate they could. Ione also paid $20,000 dollars in ARSA system work. Ione faces potential changes in wastewater flow in the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority system, from Sutter Creek and the Amador Water Agency. That water is treated and sent to irrigate Castle Oaks Golf Course, and Mule Creek State Prison. She said the agreement between Ione, Mule Creek and ARSA requires a 5-year notification for change in wastewater flows. Ione City Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said “there has to be a plan in place and notice has to be given.” Kerr said Ione will have to build its plant with the inclusion of capacity commitments to ARSA. She said “before (they) take ARSA out, Ione would have to have the plan in place to place the water on the (Castle Oaks) Golf Course.” Kerr said Ione doesn’t want to accept raw water, and Sutter Creek needs a secondary plant. She said a wastewater pipeline would be 9 miles to Ione. Kerr said Ione cannot send secondary water from its city plant to its tertiary plant. But ARSA can and does send secondary water there – about 1/3rd of the plant’s capacity. Councilman Tim Murphy said it made him think about some things Sutter Creek was talking about doing, and AWA’s recycled water system. Murphy said maybe later on they can talk about regional approaches. Kerr said she believes Ione will always treat wastewater, being at the bottom of the hill. They will try to run it more efficiently, and see if they can get approval to put tertiary water in toilets, to free up storage space. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – A house fire in Pioneer Thursday evening was subdued quickly thanks to quick action by firefighters already near the scene. The fire started late Thursday on a home off of Susan Lane in Pioneer. The initial response was by Battalion 10 of the Amador Fire Protection District, followed shortly by assistance from CALFIRE. Firefighter’s utilized skills they’ve acquired through frequent training exercises to battle the blaze. Local residents on scene also assisted in the effort. In the end, a major portion of the home was severely damaged. One bright note is that the family dog, feared lost in the blaze, was found hiding under a bed and reunited with the family.The Red Cross was called in to provide housing and assistance to the family. Firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze. Story by Alex Lane and Bill Lavallie This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Four months into the construction of the Plymouth water pipeline, the project is 65 percent complete. Project Manager John Eudy of Livermore gave a tour Wednesday of the site of the days work, and he said workers from his company, Mountain Cascade could be finished with the main pipeline by October, and wrap up the rest of the work in a few weeks to a month after that. Segments 5 and 6, between Plymouth and Amador City, are completed, and the crew worked on Segment 4 this week. Eudy said it is 1,800 lineal feet in all, running across property owned by Amador City rancher Hope Luxemberg. He gave a quick tour of the work site, with Quality Control Engineer Bob Valdez, of the Amador Water Agency, showing the blue pipe of the main section, and some black pipe that will be used in low altitude, higher pressure areas, below a steep hill that heads toward Water Street in Amador City. They should get to the 48-degree sloping hill in a few days. They worked further up the hill Wednesday, preparing to tie into a connector. Steel plates covered the existing water main pipeline under a construction road, to protect it. Valdez said the late 1960s pipeline was buried too shallow for modern requirements. He said they bury the 12-inch Plymouth pipeline 5 feet deep, on top of a 6-inch layer of sand, then cover it with a foot of sand, and then finish it with 3-and-a-half feet of cover. The crew includes a production foreman, a couple of technical foremen and a geotechnical soil analyst. Eudy said they mobilized in February and started production in early March. 4 months later, they are 65 percent complete, and about a month ahead of schedule. When they finish on the Luxemberg property, the next step is Segment 2, because Segment 3 uses existing pipelines. Segment 6 was 20,000 linear feet, Eudy said, and Segment 5 was 11,000 linear feet. Valdez, a 10-year resident of Sutter Creek, said people like the look of the new footbridge in Sutter Creek, which will be used to run the pipeline across the creek. Workers will then finish the bridge with a seat running the length of the bridge. The pipeline will deliver treated potable water from the Tanner treatment plant on Ridge Road. Plymouth has a “will serve” letter for rights to 670,000 gallons of water a day. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.