A new water treatment system is on its way to the Jackson Valley, and the short-term loan approved by the county board of supervisors Tuesday will help jumpstart the project.

Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a $150,000 loan from the Water Development Fund for the Jackson Valley Irrigation District's development of a new water system. According to a June 11 letter to the board from Thomas Hoover, the district's general manager, the new system will bring water from the Mokelumne River at Lake Pardee to a treatment plant at Lake Amador and deliver it throughout the Jackson Valley.

"We submitted an application a few years ago for a grant to build and we were awarded $2 million" for the project, Hoover told the board Tuesday, adding that the JVID will be responsible for coming up with "any unrelated funds."

The bridge loan will help with upfront costs related to engineering, design, surveying, right of ways and environmental review, Hoover's letter states. When the project is completed and the agreement is signed, the Proposition 50 Program - a statewide safe water initiative passed by voters in 2002 - will reimburse the costs.

"It's a great deal for the valley to get a domestic system built," Hoover said. The short-term loan, he added, "will help us get through the first part," until the grant money comes though. "We don't receive any (grant) funds until signing off. We're in the middle of that now. We hope to be done in three months."

In the past, the Jackson Valley was developed on wells and small home treatment systems using water from Lake Amador, which is owned by JVID, according to Hoover's letter. "By the late 1990s the home unit systems and the existing wells proved to be an unreliable source for good clean domestic water for home use." Until an alternative source of clean water is available, households are required to purchase bottled water for indoor use.

In 2001, a state health compliance order required JVID to solve the issue. It was then that the district applied for the state's Prop. 50 program to construct the new system. In May, the state sent the JVID a letter of commitment, which reserved the $2 million in funding for the project. The district must upfront the costs for the project and will be reimbursed when the funding agreement is signed.

In Hoover's letter to the board, he expressed concern over what might happen if the JVID were to use reserve funds for the project and find "itself short of cash on-hand to deal with any emergency, repair project or need for cash flow during this period." The early activities will most likely cost around $150,000 and will be repaid in four to six months.

Before voting on the issue, supervisors asked if the project was designed to accommodate future development in the area.

"This project is not designed for growth," Hoover said, following District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli's inquiry. As for the possibilities of future subdivisions moving into the area, Hoover answered Novelli by saying that the issue could be dealt with early in the subdivision process.

"We're not trying to create growth," Hoover said. "We're trying to solve existing problems."

District 1 Supervisor Richard Escamilla said that when small areas don't take advantage of these types of grants, they may be hard to come by in the future.

"If you turn this down, regular agencies might not look (at funding the project) and customers may have to pay for it," board chair Richard Forster added.

"We projected a lot of cost," Hoover said. "If we get to the point that funding is dried up, we're going to have to come back to you and we're going to have to deal with the situation. "I'm comfortable that the project will get built. If bids come in high, we'll find other ways (to work it out). The nice thing is that the state has been very helpful.

"One way or the other, we'll get water to the people."

Proposition 50 authorized the state to sell $3.44 billion in bonds for water quality, water supply reliability and safe drinking water projects, and for coastal land acquisition and protection. The bonds are to be repaid from the state's general fund.