Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is poised to take the next steps to help secure local control of our community’s electrical distribution system and make the priority an uninterrupted supply of safe, clean power for our region.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, NID Directors will decide to file a request with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to get authorization for an application to provide retail electric service. As part of the consideration, Directors will conduct a public hearing to welcome questions and comments from community members.

NID began looking into potential acquisition of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) assets after hearing the community voice concerns about the reliability of service when PG&E activated prolonged Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in the fall to protect against weather-caused heightened fire risks. Those shutoffs had widespread, costly effects on the community, including on schools, medical facilities, businesses and on daily life in general.

Read entire news, click here

Read the agenda item here.

Creating partnerships was the theme of a Nov. 8 symposium put on by Mountain Counties Water Resources Association at the Ridge Golf Course and Events Center in Auburn

Dave Eggerton, Association of California Water Agencies

Titled, A Look Into the Future for California’s Watersheds, Dave Eggerton, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, began by providing an overview of what the symposium would cover.  Emphasizing that “partnerships are there for the taking,” Eggerton cited the upcoming panel discussion of the French Meadows Restoration Project as a successful example where different agencies have come together to restore a watershed.

Helge Eng, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Helge Eng, a deputy director of resource management for Cal Fire, then kicked off the panel discussion noting that the forests in the state and elsewhere in the country are overstocked due to fires being suppressed for the last 100 years. The climate is also changing, Eng added, noting that it’s becoming warmer, windier and drier. And while the excess timber needs to be removed, Eng stressed that it needs to be sold at a profit in order to incentivize private industry to want to remove and process it.

Saying that partnerships are essential in protecting the watersheds, Eng described a long list of tools that can be used to reduce the wildfire risk and restore the watershed including land-use planning, retrofitting existing homes, enacting building codes for new homes, evacuation planning, power line clearance, utility wildfire mitigation plans, education and enforcement, vegetation management and the prescribed burning and thinning of forests.

Left to Right: Brett Storey, Principal Management Analyst, County of Placer,  Ed Smith, Regional Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy, Andy Fecko, Director of Strategic Affairs, Placer County Water Agency, Michael Woodbridge, District Ranger, USDA Forest Service, and Barnie Gyant, Deputy Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service

Transitioning to the panel assembled to discuss the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project, Gyant called it a case study in partnering.  Involving some 28,000 acres, the project is designed to restore the health of the forest and reduce the risk of high-severity wildfires.

Agencies involved include the U.S. Forest Service, which manages most of the land within the project area; the Placer County Water Agency, which manages two reservoirs downstream of the project for municipal water and hydropower; The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest conservation organizations; the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency and funder; Placer County, a business partner in the hydropower project; the American River Conservancy, an adjacent private landowner; and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California at Merced.

California State Senator Brian Dahle

 

Keynote Speaker California State Sen. Brian Dahle discussed his efforts to educate the public about the value of protecting the watershed. One piece of legislation he said he is working on would establish a certificate for insurance companies testifying that a person has hardened their home against fire.

Arthur Hinojosa, California Department of Water Resources

Arthur Hinojosa, Chief, Division of Regional Assistance, California Department of Water Resources discussed his role and responsibilities include the management of the many local and regional assistance programs the California Department of Water Resources provides to promote and support regional sustainability.  These efforts include providing technical and planning assistance to local groups and agencies; drought response; administering financial assistance grant programs; environmental restoration; water master services; and surface water, groundwater, and land use data collection, studies, and evaluations.  The Division is comprised of analysts, engineers, scientists, and technicians located at four regional offices across the state and in Sacramento.

WATER CONSERVATION LEGISLATION FRAMEWORK-UPDATE

Peter Brostrom, California Department of Water Resources and Charlotte Ely, State Water Resources Control Board

Peter Brostrom, Manager, Water Use Efficiency, California Department of Water Resources and Charlotte Ely, Supervisor, Conservation Regulations and Reporting, State Water Resources Control Board provided the audience with the latest update on the water conservation implementation framework and fielded questions.

Link to the full Mountain Democrat article

Pictures from the Gallery

Water Symposium made possible by MCWRA Associate Members

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE FOR CALIFORNIA’S WATERSHEDS 

AND

WATER CONSERVATION LEGISLATION FRAMEWORK-UPDATE

 Late Registration closes on October 30th at 5:00 PM – Last chance to RSVP, Click here 

Date:  Friday, November 8, 2019

Program: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

8:00 a.m. Doors Open/Networking

Location:  The Ridge Golf Course & Event Center, 2020 Golf Course Rd, Auburn, CA 95602

Keynote: SENATOR BRIAN DAHLE

Confirmed Speakers:

• Peter Brostrom, Manager, Water Use Efficiency, California Department of Water Resources
• Dave Eggerton, Executive Director, Association of California Water Agencies
• Charlotte Ely, Supervisor, Conservation Regulations and Reporting, State Water Resources Control Board
• Helge Eng, Deputy Director for Resource Management,  California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
• Andy Fecko, Director of Strategic Affairs, Placer County Water Agency
• Barnie Gyant, Deputy Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service
• Arthur Hinojosa, Chief, Division of Integrated Regional Water Management, California Department of Water Resources
• Ed Smith, Regional Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy
• Brett Storey, Principal Management Analyst, County of Placer
• Michael Woodbridge, District Ranger, USDA Forest Service

Click here for Nov 8 Agenda

Water Symposium made possible by MCWRA Associate Members

NID – Local Power Solutions Workshop – community called to convene for a public discussion on Oct. 29

CCWD to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Valley Springs Wednesday Nov. 6

Residents of Valley Springs, Rancho Calaveras, La Contenta, Gold Creek, Southworth and Wallace are invited to join the Calaveras County Water District for a town hall meeting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday October 6 and the Rancho Calaveras Property Owner’s Association Clubhouse, 3995 Highway 26, Valley Springs.

District staff will give a short presentation about CCWD’s goals and priorities along with an overview of completed and planned infrastructure improvements.

There will be a Q&A session following the presentation, and staff will be available after the meeting to respond to any additional questions in small groups.

Those with questions may contact Joel Metzger, external affairs manager, at (209) 754-3123 or joelm@ccwd.org.

Calaveras County Water District News Release

In a letter to Joaquin Esquivel, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association (MCWRA) sent a “Comment Letter” to raise concerns regarding the proposed framework, relevant to the development of water loss performance standards.  There are concerns that the information and assumptions included in the economic model, as presented, could lead to inequitable targets that require costly, ineffective actions to avoid enforcement for the members in the mountain counties.

Specifically, MCWRA raised the following concerns regarding the proposed framework:

• Default assumptions in model do not provide appropriate agency-specific standards
• Model needs to be peer-reviewed and tested
• Model does not account for margin of error to ensure water loss standards are economical 
• Model inappropriately uses customer retail unit cost
• Model assumptions regarding increased cost of water are unreasonable
• Model’s use of default leakage profiles is problematic
• Model’s assumption regarding leak surveys is unrealistic
• Model uses inappropriate default values for estimating cost-effective and feasible pressure reduction.
• Pipe replacement should not be regulated as part of the water loss standard
• Inappropriate water loss standards undermine water supplier’s mission of providing reliable and affordable water service

Click link for further description and details in the letter:  Water Loss Regulation

Joel Metzger, External Affairs Manager

Calaveras County Water District

Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) worked with PG&E last night to secure a backup generator for the Copperopolis Water Treatment Plant. It took until 3 a.m. Friday to get the backup generator hooked up and the plant running. Our water tanks were getting low by that point, and we need time to fill those tanks back up. We are urging all CCWD customers in Copperopolis to continue conserving water until PG&E restores power to all of Copperopolis.

See our most recent Web posts here and here.

Once normal power is restored and our tanks are at a safe level, we will post an update letting people know they can use water normally.

We appreciate your help getting the word out. Please call me at 209-768-6270 if you have any questions.

UPDATE 7:45 a.m. Friday – CCWD continues to urge customers to conserve water in Copperopolis. While CCWD’s water treatment plant did come back online at about 3 a.m. Friday thanks to a backup generator provided by PG&E, CCWD needs all customers in Copperopolis to continue conserving water until PG&E restores power to all of Copperopolis.

8:45 p.m. Thursday – Thanks to the tireless work of CCWD staff in coordination with PG&E, a new backup generator has been secured for our water treatment plant in Copperopolis. However, we are still urging all customers in Copperopolis to conserve water at this time, even if power has been restored to your homes. We need time to bring the water treatment plant back online and fill up the water storage tanks serving the Copperopolis community. We will post updates on our website and Facebook Friday morning to provide an update to the community. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this challenging time.

For more information, contact the CCWD Customer Service Department at (209) 754-3543 or customerservice@ccwd.org.

Link to more information

It was a picture perfect day on Oct. 3 as Georgetown Divide Public Utility District’s new water treatment plant in Cool was officially opened with a ribbon cutting event. The plant has been operational since Aug. 1.

There to celebrate the occasion were current as well as past GDPUD board members; El Dorado County Supervisor Lori Parlin; staff from the offices of U.S. Representative Tom McClintock, State Representative Frank Bigelow and State Sen. Brian Dahle; Brent Hastey, president of the Association of California Water Agencies; and John Kingsbury, Executive Director of the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association. Community members were also present.

Dane Wadle, president of GDPUD’s board of directors, thanked everyone in attendance and in particular the current board for keeping the project moving forward and on budget. He also expressed his thanks to previous board members who approved moving forward with the project despite opposition from some in the community.

Dave Eggerton, Executive Director

Association of California Water Agencies

Click here to RSVP

Media Contact: Peter Soeth, 303-445-3615, psoeth@usbr.gov

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Reclamation released a grant funding opportunity for communities to establish a new watershed group, expand an existing group and complete restoration planning efforts. The Cooperative Watershed Management Program encourages diverse stakeholders to form local solutions to address their water management needs.