Thursday, 26 April 2007 01:07

Joint Water Committee Meeting: Wicklow Way, Water Rights, & Plymouth Pipeline All Topics of Discussi

slide23Representatives from the Amador Water Agency, the Board of Supervisors, local city councils and ARSA were all in attendance at the joint water committee meeting held this week. A topic of discussion was the Wicklow Way subdivision project and that projects impact on the Jackson Creek. Concerns included the fact that as much as 3 million cubic yards of dirt will be bulldozed and moved. This, in turn, is causing some concern that the downstream areas will be damaged.

The Amador County Public Works Department is aware of the situation and is in charge of the grading plan. In water matters a discussion regarding improving the remainder of Amador County’s water rights currently being utilized by the Jackson valley Irrigation District, JVID. The Amador Water agency is hoping to move 2 sets of those rights from JVID up to the Central Amador Water Project in the upcountry areas. This draft agreement would free about 1051 cubic feet of water. Also there is potential that another 2800 cubic feet would also be freed up, but the question is what would JVID do with it? They will be reviewing the agreement shortly.

slide24 The discussion of Amador County’s Water Rights continued regarding the transfer of the Water Development Fund monies to Amador Water Agency for administration. The fund currently has 210,000 dollars in it from the individual water supply agencies that combined to form the CAWP. A request from Pine Grove Community Services district for some of funds precipitated the discussion.The discussion then turned to the 1958 agreement between Amador County and EBMUD for water rights to the Mokelumne River. The Amador Water Agency wants to be named a party to this agreement because it currently has no standing as to requests, decisions, or agreements surrounding the water rights.Supervisor Richard Forster suggested scheduling a meeting to discuss just how the county should allocate its water rights that could identify the water agency as an entity, especially in light of its role in the management of the Central Amador Water Project, (CAWP).  That request had been previously denied and now a discussion on how the monies will be administrated was held. There was no final determination, other than to set a meeting in the future to discuss the issue.

A discussion of new development inquiries was held. These projects include a few new projects in Plymouth, the Wicklow WayJackson and several projects in Ione. The Board will be keeping their eye on the recently sold 23,000 acre Howard Estate parcel. The parcel was sold to a developer consortium including the developers of The Gold Rush in Sutter Creek. Also discussed was the sale of the Littlefield Ranch in Plymouth which was purchased by a developer. The water supply pipeline to the City of Plymouth was then center stage with that announcement of a signed letter of obligation for the Rural Utility Services loan and grant. The project will be going to bid later this month. Construction should begin in June issues that remain unresolved. The pipeline diameter expansion was then discussed. The big question is can this modification be accomplished with out the agency and the city having to redo any portions of the Environmental Impact Report required for a project of this magnitude.