Ledger-Dispatch

By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

This empty tank awaits delivery of 2 = million=20 gallons of treated water. The Amador Water Agency said it is worth = $2.3=20 million, paid for up front by Ryland Homes, developer of the = subdivision=20 called Wildflower, and JTS Communities.

Photo by: Jerry=20 Budrick
Last Thursday morning, directors of = the=20 Amador Water Agency became tourists for a day, as General Manager Jim=20 Abercrombie and Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo ferried them around to = various=20 sites, both tentative and active.

First stop on the tour was just = west of=20 and below the agency's raw water storage reservoir, on a 45-acre parcel = between=20 agency headquarters in Martell and the Amador County Airport. This = property was=20 acquired by the agency two years ago and is anticipated to become home = to a=20 modern water treatment plant, two massive 4 million gallon water storage = tanks=20 and an upgraded administrative facility.

Agency employee Don = Hutchison=20 demonstrated the method by which technologically advanced pipe material = is=20 heat-welded into virtually seamless, sinuous lengths to send water to = customers=20 along the 23-mile ditch that was recently replaced by the Amador = Transmission=20 Pipeline. High density polyethylene is thick-walled, flexible and as = close to=20 eternal as pipe has gotten. HDPE doesn't rust or corrode and imparts no = flavor=20 to the water.

The tour moved from 1,700-foot elevation onto = Sierra=20 Pacific Industry property at about 1,450 feet, to a possible site for = the=20 agency's regional wastewater treatment plant. Off Ridge Road, just west = of the=20 Ampine particle board plant, this part of the Martell triangle was = formerly used=20 by the lumber mill. There are five presently unused ponds in this = industrial=20 wasteland.

The tour headed west on Highway 88, stopping at the = entrance=20 to what may someday be a subdivision called Golden Vale. At an elevation = of=20 approximately 1,150 feet, this is being considered as a possible = alternative=20 location for the regional wastewater treatment plant.

In the = hills east=20 of Ione, the Ione Reservoir is filled with raw water destined for = treatment at=20 the Ione Water Treatment Plant. Mancebo told the directors that water = from the=20 agency's Ridge Road headquarters falls more than 1,000 feet to this = reservoir.=20 This great a fall can provide water pressure of 500 pounds per square = inch,=20 offering the possible creation of hydroelectric power.

Slightly = downhill=20 of the reservoir, at about 450-foot elevation, is the new 2 million = gallon water=20 storage tank at Wildflower. Paid for by developers Ryland Homes and JTS=20 Communities, this huge tank is intended to supply water to Ryland's = 276-home=20 Wildflower Subdivision and be a backup to the entire Ione water=20 system.

The last stop on Thursday's tour was the Ione Wastewater=20 Treatment Plant, which provides tertiary treatment to wastewater that = has=20 already been taken to secondary treatment level at the Sutter Creek = Wastewater=20 Treatment Plant. Although not an Amador Water Agency facility, the Ione = plant=20 provided directors with insight into operation of a tertiary wastewater=20 treatment plant somewhat similar to what is to be expected at the = agency's=20 future regional wastewater treatment plant.

Having been treated = to the=20 sights, sounds and aromas of water over a broad spectrum of purity, the = weary=20 tourists were safely delivered back to agency headquarters on Ridge = Road.

Jerry = Budrick