Amador County – The Plymouth City Council last week testified before the Amador County Board of Supervisors in a winning effort to get an agreement in place on the Arroyo Ditch, and talked about this week getting closer to turning on its water pipeline with a rare test. The Amador Water Agency, partners in the potable water pipeline, must conduct a “hot tap” test on the pressurized water line. Engineering Manager Erik Christeson told the AWA board last week that anyone who had not seen the rather rare procedure should come to the “hot tap,” 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Plymouth water plant site. AWA Director Terence Moore of Plymouth said the “they tap into a pressurized line and it requires a little skill to do that.” Moore said Friday that Plymouth is having trouble with the state health department in getting its permit for the pipeline, but the state will allow them to release a little water to flow into the system. He said they were afraid that the water, treated at the Tanner plant in Sutter Creek, “would loose its chlorine residual” and “have to be treated again.” He said tests have showed that the water that travels through the pipeline reaches Plymouth still having enough chlorine to be usable. Plymouth City Manager Dixon Flynn told the council that the AWA needs “some flow in order to keep the water circulating so it won’t turn stale.” He said the city would be getting water into its storage tank. Mayor Jon Colburn said he found it “interesting that Joe Spanos (of the state health department) was holding up the activation of the pipeline.” Colburn said Spanos was also the one who started the city’s building moratorium with a cease & desist order “20 years ago.” City Attorney Steven Rudolph gave an update on what he called council members’ and citizens’ “excellent testimony” before supervisors last Tuesday on the subject of the Arroyo Ditch. Supervisors eventually voted to lift a freeze on an agreement with Plymouth that clears the way for an agreement between Plymouth and the Shenandoah Water Company on sales of water from the Arroyo Ditch, diverted from the Cosumnes River. Rudolph said it “finally clears the way for the county to finally execute” an amendment to a 1980s agreement with Plymouth. Mayor Jon Colburn said the amendment makes it so that ownership of the Arroyo Ditch “no longer reverts back to the county,” and it also “allows us to sell water outside the county if needed.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.