Ledger-DispatchAWA reacts to 'inflammatory' state inspection report
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com)  - Raheem Hosseini 
A special meeting of the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors was held to 
inform the members of activities associated with the water system at Lake 
Camanche Village, recently the subject of two articles in the Ledger Dispatch.

AWA Operations Manager Chris McKeage presented his side of the controversy, 
which stems from a critical annual inspection report released in June by the 
California Department of Public Health and the ensuing correspondences between 
the agency and the department's Office of Drinking Water field operations branch 
in Stockton.

The report said that while many aspects of the system's operation were 
"generally satisfactory," there were deficiencies with the system known as 
County Service Area No. 3.

"It was grossly mischaracterized in the newspaper," McKeage said of the issues, 
which included accusations that the Lake Camanche Village system suffered from 
years of neglect and that McKeage misled the state department when he sent a 
written list of repairs in response to the report that hadn't actually been 
completed.

McKeage called the report from the California Department of Health Services 
"inflammatory" and expressed his personal wish that "DHS was more of a partner 
with us on this."

"I think it's a tempest in a teapot," said AWA Director Terry Moore. "Regulatory 
agencies will never say, 'Oh, everything's just fine.'"

It wasn't just the state regulatory agency that noted deficiencies, however. In 
a June 27 letter to the Stockton field office, former county environmental 
health specialist Tim Hall said he was asked by "several concerned citizens" to 
look into the condition of a redwood water tank located off of Grapevine Gulch 
Road. At the time, the tank, which has now been repaired, showed signs of damage 
due to possible weather events or mechanical activity. Because the county's 
environmental health department has no jurisdiction over the water system, Hall 
documented his findings with nine photos that showed a roof "partially open to 
surface contamination" and a generator building in poor condition, and sent them 
to the Stockton office of district engineer Joseph Spano.

"Many are concerned as to the operation of the water system here and whether it 
is capable of providing a safe and adequate water supply," Hall wrote.

Because Hall hadn't documented how many complaints he had received, 
environmental health director Michael Israel was only able to say it meant two 
or more residents had made inquiries. "It could be two, it could be 20," he 
said. Spano didn't return calls for comment.

In response to several requests for interview, state department spokeswoman Lea 
Brooks released this statement: "The California Department of Public Health has 
a good professional relationship with the Amador Water Agency. It is possible 
that miscommunication occurred among the agency's employees. The intent of 
CDPH's enforcement letter was to make sure that the needed repairs were made in 
a timely manner. The water provided by County Service Area No. 3 meets all water 
quality standards."




      Jerry Budrick