There are drums of war beating all over the state of California and residents of the Sierra Foothill counties will soon be hearing their ominous sound. The battle is over water. As a precaution, the Amador Water Agency is breaking out a new weapon - purple pipe.

Standing before a screen displaying the agency's latest map, AWA engineering and planning manager Gene Mancebo presented the board of directors with the Purple Pipe Plan at its meeting Thursday morning. The plan is to create a water system that will convey recycled water through purple pipes.

"The agency's objective," said AWA general manager Jim Abercrombie, "is to maximize our water supply."

Mancebo added, "We have to build a portfolio of water supply."

Additional water rights may be available if the agency can provide evidence that recycled water is replacing a significant quantity of its treated water. The goal, according to Abercrombie, is production and use of nearly 3 million gallons per day of recycled water, which would free up 3,000 acre feet of untreated water.

In their sights, the agency sees the possibility of firming up rights that Jackson Valley Irrigation District holds for 2,800 acre feet. "2,800 acre feet equates to 2.5 million gallons per day," Abercrombie calculated.

When asked later how the cost to customers would compare to the water they are now using, Abercrombie said, "The price of recycled water has to be competitive with raw water and less than treated, to incentivize people to switch over."

The concept of recycling water has been around for a while. The Water Recycling Act of 1991 states, "The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the use of potable domestic water for the irrigation of residential landscaping or other nonpotable uses, including, but not limited to, cemeteries, golf courses, parks, highway landscaped areas, and industrial and irrigation uses, is a waste or an unreasonable use of water."

As drought conditions worsen, reservoir levels drop, wells begin to go dry and people begin planning to protect their water supplies and find additional sources. Thirsty farms and cities from the Central Valley to the Pacific Coast tend to look uphill, where cautious foothill water officials will be looking back down at them.

Amador County is one of California's counties of origin, where snowpack accumulates during the rainy season, then turns into flowing river water as warmer times arrive. Amador's two rivers, the Cosumnes and Mokelumne, provide hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water for both agricultural and domestic use.

Rights to use of the water flowing down from the mountains are shrouded in legal complexity, with riparian, appropriative and prescriptive rights that date back to Gold Rush times, when earlier water wars were fought. The best kind of rights to have are those known as pre-1914 appropriative rights, established before the California Water Commission Act became effective, establishing stringent rules for the appropriation of water.

The AWA has what are generally held to be rock-solid pre-1914 appropriative rights to 15,000 acre feet of water from the Mokelumne River. This is the supply for the Amador Water System, which serves thousands of customers in Jackson, Sutter Creek, Amador City, Drytown, Ione and points in between. Plymouth is expected to come online by the end of 2009.

These rights belonged to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and were sold to the county in 1985. In addition, the agency has rights to 1,150 acre feet that is used to supply the Central Amador Water Project, through the Buckhorn Treatment Plant.

The city of Plymouth has rights to 25,000 acre feet of water from the Cosumnes River, delivered via the Arroyo Ditch. These are pre-1914 appropriative rights, but they have never been adjudicated and the Cosumnes is not considered to be a truly reliable perennial source.

The state Water Resources Control Board, as its name suggests, holds decision-making power over water rights. High on their list of criteria is beneficial use. Under that umbrella term are domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial supply; power generation; recreation; aesthetic enjoyment; navigation; and preservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and other aquatic resources or preserves. Appropriative rights are acquired by putting surface water to beneficial use. An appropriative water right in California can be maintained only by continuous beneficial use, and can be lost by five or more continuous years of non-use.

California's water right system sets up priorities for which users are allowed to take and use water when supplies are not sufficient to meet the needs of all users. When there is insufficient water, more junior water right holders (generally those whose rights were established more recently) are required to curtail their diversions so that more senior water right holders have sufficient water to meet their needs. Water right permits may also be subject to conditions intended to protect fish and water quality.

Until a rainy season begins, boat launches will continue to drop into shrinking lakes, water agencies will grow increasingly nervous and concerned water users will cast covetous eyes on other sources.