The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors agreed Thursday to submit its plan to install a gravity supply line for the Central Amador Water Project for environmental review.

Total cost of the work will be $171,095, although the California red-legged frog may add an additional $47,000 to the total.

The agency's CAWP area of service is upcountry, providing Mokelumne River water drawn from the Tiger Creek Afterbay and treated at the Buckhorn Treatment Plant. Since its creation in 1978, the pumping station at the afterbay has grown increasingly more costly to operate, with annual power consumption presently at $300,000. Moving the point of rediversion of the source water to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s Tiger Creek Regulator Reservoir, which is slightly higher in elevation than the treatment plant, would eliminate the need to pump uphill some 1,200 feet. Initial estimates place a break even point on installation of a gravity flow pipeline to eliminate the power cost at approximately eight years in the future.

The environmental consulting firm of Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan Inc. will be performing the review. PSB&J has a national presence, with 80 offices scattered around the U.S., including one in Sacramento.

In addition to the elimination of the pumping costs, the gravity supply line project could result in a small increase in water rights, from 1,150 acre feet to 2,200 acre feet annually.

This project has been considered for some years and has been widely publicized, but AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said he didn't anticipate any challenges to the project.

AWA Director Paul Scott spoke of attending a meeting of the wastewater committee formed between AWA and the city of Sutter Creek to discuss shared areas of concern. Focus of the meeting had been expected to be wastewater and the entities' complex agreements for the present and future.

Following Scott's description of the lengthy discussion of water issues other than wastewater, fellow agency director Terry Moore suggested, "We shouldn't call it the wastewater committee. Let's call it the Sutter Creek ad hoc committee."

Moore's suggestion prompted AWA Attorney Steve Kronick to explain that ad hoc committees are not subject to the Brown Act, but are also somewhat limited in scope.

Kronick later presented his own report, briefly describing the numerous pieces of legislation making their way through the legislative process. While describing the possible effects of a dozen assembly and senate bills, Kronick quipped, "Water conservation bills are big this year."

Among the bills are at least three with varying degrees of mandatory conservation measures, aimed at dealing with the state's developing drought situation. Of particular interest is Assembly Bill 2356, which may provide assistance to small communities with low income.

Kronick seemed to breathe a sigh of relief that Proposition 98 had not passed in the recent election. "A provision of 98," said Kronick, "could have impacted pipelines and water diversion projects."