[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 8/28/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

August 28, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People

 

WATER SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE:

City officials hope to upgrade aging water system; Interim city manager warns city council about dangers of inadequate infrastructure - Los Banos Enterprise

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

American River to be split at dam site - Auburn Journal

 

 

WATER SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE:

City officials hope to upgrade aging water system; Interim city manager warns city council about dangers of inadequate infrastructure

Los Banos Enterprise – 8/28/07

By Andrew Green, staff writer

 

GUSTINE- City officials have begun taking steps to update what they called an over-strained water system that is ill-suited for the city's size.

 

The city council directed staff Thursday to commence plans for a 500,000 gallon storage tank and begin a cost-budget analysis for local usage fees. Mayor Rich Ford said the orders are the first stages for a complete overhaul of the city's water system.

 

He said long-term plans for the overhaul will include the ground-level storage tank with booster pump, a new well and prospects for nitrate treatment. A site for the tank has not been found yet, nor has the total cost been calculated, Ford said.

 

"We basically directed staff to proceed with plans for the tank, begin a cost-budget analysis and look into well head treatment, although that's not in the near future. We'll have to do a cost-estimate fee structure before we can do the nitrate treatment," Ford said.

 

Interim city manager Robert VanNort said increased storage capacity and a new well are top infrastructure priorities. The city's current well is 65 years old, he said. The average life span of a well being about 50 years.

 

VanNort said the tank and booster pump will also be needed as the city grows, since the city currently has what he called a minimal storage capacity.

 

"The tank creates a greater capability to fight a fire, but if you have a well with no storage it doesn't provide backup," he said.

 

"When you have a high-peak demand period in the evening when everybody takes a shower and washes their dishes, you have storage where people can use it and it wont put that much of a strain on the wells."

 

Although he stressed the need to also monitor the city's slowly increasing nitrate levels, VanNort said the local water is still safe to drink and such a problem isn't an immediate priority.

 

Ford admitted that such improvements will likely affect local fees, including usage rates for residences, businesses and industry.

 

City staff has begun calculating the costs of the updates and will report how much will be needed for the projects, he said.

 

VanNort said any resulting fee increases will likely be shared between residents, developers and future city annexations.

 

"We need to address it because nobody has ever addressed it. The rates just take care of daily operation and maintenance right now, but as we improve the infrastructure we need to study and develop a plan that's going to include everybody. That takes time," he said. #

http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/local/story/13933964p-14497441c.html

 

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

American River to be split at dam site

Auburn Journal – 8/27/07

By Gus Thomson, staff writer

 

The American River is poised to be split into two forks at the Auburn dam site early next month.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Placer County Water Agency are finalizing plans, with no set date yet, to knock down an earthen cofferdam.

That will send a portion of the American River's flow through a channel that has been created over the past three years as part of the water agency's $50 million pump station and streambed restoration project. Letting the water flow into the restored area will also provide the agency with the opportunity to test its pump station.

Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the bureau's Folsom office, said that water would continue to also flow through the half-mile-long diversion tunnel through the site, creating temporary twin forks.

 

The river will return to a single fork in the late summer or early fall when rock is pushed over the tunnel's inlets and outlets. The tunnel was built in the early 1970s while construction was still taking place on the Auburn dam.

McCracken said that for safety and security reasons, it's important for rafters and boaters to stay away from the stretch of the river going through the construction site. As well, flows will not be high, he said.

"We're encouraging people to stay clear," he said. "There won't be full flows until they close the tunnel."

River boating through the dam site is slated to be allowed through the dam site next year, after being an out-of-bounds area since construction started on the dam in the late 1960s.

Signs are posted prohibiting boating near the site and recreational use of the canyon on a trail through the construction zone is only allowed on Sundays.

"We don't want people to think the river is open to rafting," McCracken said.
http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2007/08/28/news/top_stories/05riversplit28.txt

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