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Enterprise photo Claudette Langley Calaveras County’s largest water management district received a green light from the Board of Supervisors Tuesday to develop a separate plan for charting the future of water distribution. A two-hour meeting of supervisors and directors of the Calaveras County Water District was held at Calaveras High School. It drew about 50 residents who listened to a series of presentations and discussions about the need to develop a distinct blueprint for water to be included in the county’s general plan. “We are requesting that there be a stand-alone element that can be integrated in the overall general plan document,” CCWD General Manager Dave Andres said. “We need clear direction where things need to go in the future. We need to develop a strategic plan. Andres told the crowd that Calaveras County is blessed with an abundance of water but its rights can be lost if the water is not committed to use. “If we don’t put our water to use in this county there are plenty of agencies in other counties willing to use it,” he said. He said that an effective plan would coordinate the county’s land-use decisions with the availability of water. “We would like to see higher density in areas where there is sufficient infrastructure to support it,” he said. In CCWD’s presentation the need for a comprehensive water plan element was supported by pointing out problems that have occurred without one, including Diamond XX well failures and Burson water shortages, septic system failures and related contamination and limited coordination between land use and water planning. In contrast, a well-developed plan would provide clear policies supporting water rights protection, economic development, reliable services and increased efficiency, the district pointed out. Several areas the plan would tackle were outlined for the board and the crowd. The preliminary themes include: -Achieving long-term water resource reliability for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers through utilization of water rights and infrastructure improvements. -Locating higher density projects in areas that can receive centralized water and wastewater service. -Encouraging responsible use of all available water resources. -Protecting and improving groundwater resources through monitoring and reporting, conjunctive use, groundwater recharge area protection and water use efficiency. -Encouraging integrated regional and inter-regional water and wastewater planning with local, county and regional agencies. “We are very much committed to seeing this plan through,” said Bob Dean, CCWD president. CCWD’s board had pledged $50,000 for the effort before the joint meeting with the supervisors. While the board seemed solidly behind the plan, the public had some caveats about coordinating the final plan with the county’s smaller water companies. “There are 13 other entities,” Gary Caldwell, Valley Springs, said. “If you don’t bring them to the table you aren’t going to be able to do any of this.” CCWD board member Bertha Underhill agreed. “How are we going to address the other special districts in this process?” she asked. “This is a very broad-based process. Can we do anything a little more formal like an MOU (memorandum of understanding)?” In addition to the water plan element, CCWD’s portion of the meeting included a presentation by Ed Pattison, water resource manager for CCWD, on the Mokelumne/Amador/Calaveras Integrated Regional Water Management Plan. “Water is different from any other resource,” Pattison said. “You have it when you have it and you don’t when you don’t.” He explained that the IRWMP provides counties with the maximum use of available resources and promotes stewardship of the environment. IRWMPs developed as a result of a Proposition 50 the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act passed by California voters in 2002. The coordinated plans increase efforts in regions to improve and support water supply reliability as well as the ability to capture project dollars for a host of other programs and actions. Given the short amount of time left for his portion Pattison sped through his Power Point leaving the audience dizzy with details. For a detailed description click IRWMPs Comment (No comments posted.) Comments are posted after review by the Web master. They represent the opinion of the commenting party. While we encourage them as a way to further community discussion of important public topics, we reserve the right to reject or edit them. How do I find my comments later? Articles change daily on our Web site. Please make a note of the title of the article you have commented on. If you wish to read other people comments, once the article is taken down, do an archive search by title to locate the comments that apply to that story. We appreciate your comments and participation on our Web site. Please refrain from attaching links that go to unrelated sites as these will not be posted. 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