County supervisors Tuesday passed resolutions lending their support to the Amador Water Agency's efforts to obtain $1 million worth of grants.

The AWA has applied to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and its Proposition 84 Grants Program for $500,000 to continue the agency's work on a regional approach for water reuse. "We're in the initial stages of a recycled water project," said AWA Engineering & Planning Manager Gene Mancebo.

It is the agency's expectation that the annual water supply for Amador County could be increased by as many as 3,000 acre feet through reclamation and recycling. To reach this goal, partnerships will need to be made with neighboring agencies and municipalities. Grant funds are to be used in creation of a strategic facility model and master plan, a planning tool for reaching out to agricultural, recreational, industrial, commercial and landscaping interests in pursuit of common ground among them.

The second AWA grant application supported by the supervisors is also for $500,000 from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.

This money would be used to continue work on agency plans to install a gravity supply line to convey water to the Buckhorn Treatment Plant from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s Tiger Creek regulator. This gravity line will replace the pump system that has brought water up from Tiger Creek Reservoir. Energy costs for the pumps average more than $300,000 per year.

This Green Energy Water Conversion Project is expected to contribute to a statewide goal of a 10 to 20 percent reduction in power consumption by 2015. Current use is presently more than 2.2 million kilowatt hours annually.