SAN ANDREAS - An obscure water agency is redefining its mission to make it more likely that Calaveras County, Amador County and possibly San Joaquin County someday will be able to tap more water from the Mokelumne River.

The change took a small step forward Tuesday when the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support an amended joint powers agreement for the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority. The amendment adds "water supply projects" to the authority's mission: specifically, planning for a higher dam on Lower Bear River Reservoir and a system that would allow Mokelumne River water to be stored by pumping it into the ground in San Joaquin County during wet years.

Calaveras County is one of nine entities that make up the authority, which was formed to care for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. facilities on the upper Mokelumne when it seemed likely that PG&E would go bankrupt, said Calaveras County Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve Wilensky, whose district is bounded by the river.

PG&E didn't go bankrupt, but the authority has continued to cooperate on protecting the peaks, forests and canyons from which the Mokelumne's waters flow.

Wilensky said the authority has proved an effective way for the various governments and water districts to cooperate, so it makes sense also to work together on creating new water supplies.

That's an unsettling idea for Chris Wright, executive director of the Foothill Conservancy, which has been seeking to protect a portion of the Mokelumne River canyon from further dam development by securing federal designation as a wild and scenic river.

"Any type of new water supply project, particularly something as complex as that, I am very concerned about," Wright said.

Raising the dam at Lower Bear River Reservoir, however, would not conflict with protecting the main Mokelumne River canyon. And Wright said he's open to learning more about how the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority would work toward such a project.

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 754-9534 or dnichols@recordnet.com.

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