In an attempt to secure a commitment for more federal grant or loan money, Amador Water Agency Directors approved four USDA Rural Development funding applications at their meeting Thursday.

AWA wants federal stimulus funds for the Gravity Supply Line Project and the Lake Camanche Water Quality Compliance Project. Funds for the other two projects, Buckhorn Disinfection Byproducts Compliance Project and the Untreated Raw Ditch Conveyance to Treated Water Conversion Project, would possibly come from future non-stimulus funding cycles.

AWA Board President Terry Moore shared with the Board and the audience that applying for grant funding was not a green light to proceed on any of the projects. Determining the availability and amount of grant and/or low-interest loan money will be a key factor in future Board decisions on whether to move forward on detailed project design and budgeting for any of the projects.

There have been numerous meetings on aspects of all four projects over the years. Thursday's formal Board vote satisfied a USDA application requirement for public meetings on the projects. The Board needed to proceed with taking actions to apply for the funds since California's USDA office must obligate its entire stimulus funding pool by August 7, otherwise it could be allocated to other states.

Ranch owners in the audience were particularly interested in the Untreated Raw Ditch Conveyance to Treated Water Conversion Project, voicing concern that they would lose access to untreated water for agriculture use and be forced to pay more for treated water. Board President Moore said that no such plan existed and that the Agency has a track record of sensitivity to the needs of agricultural water users.

Moore said the Board will be holding a detailed workshop on options for the piping the remaining raw water and/or treated water in the ditch at its regular meeting on July 9.

Also on Thursday, the Board directed staff to do more work on a draft agreement with three other agencies to study the IRCUP (Inter-Regional Conjunctive Use Project) as a potential long term water supply alternative.

Calaveras County Water District (CCWD), East Bay Municipal Utility District, San Joaquin County and AWA have explored a conceptual project where excess wet year Mokelumne River water would be stored in the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Basin for use in future dry years by AWA, CCWD and EBMUD. Additional surface water storage - provided by a new reservoir in San Joaquin County and by expanding Lower Bear River Reservoir and/or Pardee Reservoir - would likely be needed for the IRCUP concept to work.

Benefits of the project could include increased water supply or income from water sales for Amador and Calaveras County, groundwater replenishment for San Joaquin County, and drought protection for EBMUD. A coordinated project could also result in fewer impacts on the environment than if each agency pursued their own water supply alternatives independently.

In discussion, Board members expressed concern that the agreement language was too specific in scope and appeared to be headed toward raising Pardee Dam, an action that the AWA Board has formally opposed. At the same time, Board member Don Cooper said he didn't want the Agency to "miss the train" on a cooperative project that could benefit all four water agencies in the future. Instead of voting on the draft agreement presented, the Board asked Agency staff to meet with the three other entities and bring back an agreement that emphasized the investigative nature of the IRCUP process and more actively engaged other Mokelumne River stakeholders in the process.

In other matters: AWA Directors agreed in concept to request the Amador Community Foundation (ACF) for a grant to pay for water which the Evitt family says is needed to water alder trees on their property near New York Ranch Reservoir.

David Evitt told the Board that 22 alder trees on the property have died due to drought conditions, the siltation of a nearby pond and the installation of the Amador Transmission Pipeline. Board members expressed concern for the alder trees, identified as a sensitive area in Pipeline environmental documents, but noted that the Agency had already paid $29,739 in a legal settlement for studies and a well if needed to water the trees. The settlement agreement also specified that the Evitts would pay the metered rate for any water delivered to water the trees.

Evitt told the Board that all the settlement money was spent on a not-yet-completed study and that nothing was left for a well or a new water connection. ACF is administering a Sierra Nevada Conservancy grant fund for improvements to the Jackson Creek watershed which possibly could assist Evitt, but has been waiting for a completed study before making grants to property owners.

The AWA Board asked Evitt to meet with the environmental consultant who worked on the tree study to determine how much water would be needed to keep the alders alive through this summer and directed staff to bring the issue of a joint request to ACF back to the Board at a future meeting.