|
Joint Water Committee Meeting: Wicklow Way, Water Rights, & Plymouth Pipeline All Topics of Discussi |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
Representatives 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.
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.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 May 2007 )
|