Amador Water Agency directors began a multiple session overview of the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority (ARSA) Thursday in preparation for responding to requests from the public that AWA become a voting member of ARSA.

ARSA is a joint powers authority between the cities of Sutter Creek, Amador City and Amador County Service Area #4 ( Martell). ARSA operates and maintains the system used to store and dispose of wastewater from the City of Sutter Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Facilities also include Henderson Reservoir, Preston Forebay and Preston Reservoir, which are owned by the state.

Treated wastewater is piped to the City of Ione's secondary treatment ponds and to a tertiary treatment plant to be used for irrigation at Castle Oaks Golf Course. Some of the treated wastewater is used for agricultural irrigation by the privately-owned Bowers and Hoskins ranches.

Sutter Creek resident Ed Arata gave a short presentation stressing the need for regional wastewater planning "that works for all of us and isn't too expensive." AWA counsel Stephen Kronick walked directors through the joint powers agreement that currently governs the ARSA system and possible changes to the JPA that would be need if the Agency were to join ARSA.

The next scheduled AWA board meeting on December 10, 2009 will continue a discussion of these relationships along with debts, liabilities and needed improvements in the ARSA system.

On a related topic, AWA Financial Services Manager announced that the Agency may soon receive a $270,000 Sierra Nevada Conservancy grant to develop a wastewater recycling plan for Amador County.The money will be used to create a regional model for re-using treated wastewater for agricultural and industrial uses, with outreach to cities, county government and members of the public to identify users and forecast demand for recycled water. It will also look at best ways to finance and build the infrastructure needed to deliver recycled wastewater.

"Developing a regional plan is giant step toward the Agency goal of '20% by 2020' - recycling 20% of the county's wastewater by the year 2020. We need to be getting double use out of our water resources to reduce the demand for new supplies and cut down on wastewater discharges into our local streams," said AWA Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo.

In other news:

Also at the November 12, 2009 Board meeting, the Agency received word that the state will soon fund a $247,547 grant for a study of the Lake Camanche Village water system to gauge how much water is there and how long it will last. The Lake Camanche Village system is supplied by wells and the state has placed a moratorium on building new homes at Lake Camanche Village because of questions about the quantity and longevity of the underground water supply. The Local Groundwater Assistance Grant from California Department of Water Resources will pay for a sustainable safe yield analysis and a groundwater management plan.

Roseanne Chamberlain, executive director of Amador LAFCO, presented a statewide Government Leadership Award to the Amador Water Agency. The award was given for the cooperative, joint funding of a county-wide Municipal Services Review (MSR). The cooperative funding effort equitably distributed the $125,000 cost of the MSR among those government agencies who will benefit from its completion, and allowed an essential report to be completed. The California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO) award is shared with the cities of Amador City, Ione, Jackson, Plymouth, and Sutter Creek; Amador County, Amador County Transportation Commission, and Pine Grove Community Services District.