Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week gave a debriefing of recent Gravity Supply Line committee meetings in the Upcountry.

President Don Cooper said he appreciated attendees, which included members of a group that spearheaded a Proposition 218 protest of a rate increase last year in the Central Amador Water Project service area. He said people “were telling us the same things,” that they don’t want to pay more. But they also were concerned with improving safety and system reliability.

Preliminary surveys showed 35 people supported the GSL, and 19 did not, Cooper said. “Customers don’t want a rate increase,” but the agency continually needs to educate them that costs continue to rise, and the state is not backing up on its requirements. He said “we need a rate increase to reflect inflationary costs,” and “if we don’t it’s going to get very ugly for this agency.”

Director Robert Manassero said there was a lot of negativity at the beginning, but it eased up as meetings progressed. “The average guy does not care about where water comes from,” he said. “Average people don’t want to pay more for anything, whether it’s insurance or gasoline or water.”

Manassero said CAWP, with old 1960s and 1970s infrastructure and small pipes, could benefit from a couple of fast connectors along the pipeline, where fire fighter water tenders can be filled. He said: “I think all of us need to pay toward the future of the county, and maybe for that system, the future will be next week.” He thanked GSL opponents for attending, and said “your opinion is like any other in America. It’s different from mine, but I’ll listen to it.”

Director Gary Thomas said the GSL is needed and they need to pay for it. Director Paul Molinelli agreed, saying “it is still a good project.”

In public comment, Sherry Curtis said she liked to hear all sides to an issue, but the group that spearheaded the Proposition 218 protest attended and seemed to ask questions that confused the issue, especially at the Mace Meadow meeting. She said they seemed to be trying to “influence the people up there.”

Ken Berry said he thought he was helping by speaking up during the Mace Meadow meeting. He said: “I didn’t exactly speak in favor of the Gravity Supply Line,” but “I thought I filled in information.”

Berry said “everybody in the world believes the GSL is a good idea,” but paying for it is the problem. Bill Condrashoff disagreed, saying not everybody agrees with the gravity feed being a good idea and just needing funding. He said “it’s about making it cost-effective.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.