LOCAL WEATHER

CCWD

CALAVERAS COUNTY

Planning Commission Agenda

Board of Supervisors

Click here to get a list of Board Agendas, Press Releases and other updates to CCWD

-- GENERAL MANAGER --
David Andres

Ed Rich

Director District 4

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

5/7/08

Since the last report, work has been completed on the sludge removal and connecting McCarty’s store to the new 12 inch water line. Additionally, a new fire hydrant was installed across from the store. The water district conditionally removed the non-potable water notice to Copper Town Center as flushing brought the chlorine levels up to state standards. The problem is the project is at the end of the 12 inch line so chlorine levels dissipate without constant flow. Classic “catch 22” situation is that provision in the law doesn’t allow CCWD to certify water as potable without meeting minimum chlorine levels, yet the non-potable notice prevents people from using water, which is what is needed to increase circulation to keep chlorine levels up? As more tenants occupy the project that problem should be eliminated.

CCWD has offered Copper fire district land at the Little John plant for use as emergency helipad. Although CCWD board policy requires $350/per year minimum for land uses, I believe the board would waive all but a nominal legal fee if the fire department wants to proceed. Copper Fire representative met my operations department head and me to work out details of them taking over inspection of district fire hydrants. CCWD will pay $20 per hydrant for the inspections and it seems there was agreement l of us agreement, the best hydrant inspectors are those that rely on them. All hydrants will be market with blue reflectors for ease of detection and entered into the County GPS system. Hopefully all details will be worked out in the near future and be a major help in monitoring and upgrading the towns fire safety system.

A preliminary USDA grant proposal has been submitted to CCWD for a possible assessment district to bring a water line to Diamond XX. Many thanks to Diamond XX resident Colleen Haerr who got her engineering firm to donate the preliminary work. I intend to bring it before the CCWD board for submission approval which will be the first step prior to determining if any economically feasible system is possible. If the grant proposal is accepted by USDA, a preliminary plan will be developed to identify possible pipeline routes and costs. This would be done through public meeting and require a vote of the residents before anything becomes a reality. With bond interest rates at record lows the timing is ideal as is the new 12 inch main which makes it feasible from an engineering standpoint.

County wide I am still beating the drum for cooperation between districts to promote efficiencies and possible lower costs. At the last LAFCO water forum CCWD presented a study of the Valley Springs thru Wallace/Burson area and the non-potable water study I orchestrated. Some districts are supportive and a few are not but time will tell. Both studies show there is overwhelming demand for non- potable water thus finding economical ways to distributing it will be the next hurdle. Expanding our non-residential customer base helps toward the goal of potentially lowering all systems costs and protecting vulnerable water rights. At the next water forum a similar study of water and wastewater in the Highway 4 corridor from Forrest Meadows to Angels Camp will be presented. My hopes are this study will help identify a solution to the sewer moratorium in Vallecito that has existed for years.

Ed Rich, Director

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

4/6/08

Six support letters for SB 1131 (adding two seats to Calaveras LAFCO) have come in to Senator Cox’s office since my last update offsetting opposition from two small water districts who don’t want things to change. These letters are from citizens groups and fire districts (other than water districts nursing self interests or grudges) who share my view that Calaveras LAFCO would be more effective if CCWD was required to work with other districts on regional planning and shared solutions which might benefit more residents in the long run. Hopefully more support with get the legislation moving again. Other legislative action that will affect us is Assembly Bill 1481 recently signed by the governor directs the State Water Resources Council Board to adopt general permits applicable to landscape irrigation use of recycled water on parks, playgrounds, school yards, residential landscaping and golf courses. This will not only make it easier to use recycled water now but points out more mandated use of recycled water seems likely in the future. This is why I have been pushing planning “purple pipe” and dual water systems in our basin’s future planning. The day seems to be coming when use of non-potable water for outside home that may become a requirement.

In Copper the old water tank behind CDF should come down by next report. Work on connecting McCarty’s store to the new 12 inch water line is in progress which will also include adding a new hydrant in front of the mini storages to replace the old stand pipe. When the school is connected this summer all hydrants on Main Street will then meet state fire flow requirements, which hasn’t been the case for years. Work is also beginning on removing the sludge from the settling pond at the sewer treatment plant. The water has been removed from the pond allowing the sludge to partially dry to a consistency where it can scooped out into another drying area. Once there it will be covered with straw to help control odors then dried to the “cake” levels required prior to trucking to the land fill for disposal. This work hasn’t been done for a number of years, so there is a lot of sludge. Thus, even with our best efforts, when the wind blows toward some homes odors, may result. Just thought you shouldn’t be caught by surprise on this one and sorry if I gave you more details than you really wanted to know.

Supervisor Thomas and I are pushing CCWD to clear some land at the plant for an emergency helipad as soon as possible. Some considerations is being given to perhaps using the cul-de-sac at the end of Little John as a temporary and a future site on Tuscan Hill’s however both Supervisor Thomas and I feel dedicating an emergency pad as soon as possible is in the public’s best safety interests. Thus I will still push for constructing one at the CCWD plant in the near future.

I am also trying to find some bureaucratic wiggle room to get a small irrigation line to the old median area at the front of Copper Cove Drive where some small trees are planned and to a possible mini park site near Drifters’ Cove. Problem is no CCWD policy allows for “donation of public funds” for free water or meters even when the cost of installing, monitoring meters for watering small public areas is well beyond the scope of reasonableness and the use is a public benefit. I have agenized this subject for board discussion at the next board meeting. Not sure how to navigate this one. Lastly the long overdue facilities agreement for Copper Town Center will come before the board at the next meeting for approval.

Ed Rich, Director District 4

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

3/6/08

The Senate Hearing on Senate Bill 1131 (adding two new seats on Calaveras LAFCO, one for CCWD and one more for the public, possibly a fire district) was postponed until April. There has been on opposition letter from CALAFCO, an urban dominated state group with little interest in rural counties and small districts, and two from small Calaveras districts who think “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. In my opinion, the only way we are going to improve water and sewer services and possibly lower costs for all residents in Calaveras is for all districts to work together. Unless I am missing something, THAT ISNT HAPPENING thus I think it is BROKE. In trying to find a solution to the years old sewer moratorium in Vallecito, where 3 districts have separate sewer facilities in a six mile corridor, is my belief that sharing one common facility and splitting the costs, makes most sense. Because past CCWD boards have tended to ignore working with smaller districts I believe this is a necessary bureaucratic step to force that to happen. Without the largest district with the most resources being required to participate in LAFCO with other districts, future CCWD boards could again become shortsighted which I think in the long term hurts the public. Support letters would be helpful. Contact me if you want more information on the background or can help.

In Copper we have a number of repair items in progress or nearing completion. At Calypso Bay, CCWD revoked the developers’ performance bond to repair broken sewer pipes in the street. Unfortunately the repairs were more extensive than expected with cost exceeding the bond amount by about $85,000. CCWD’s responsibility stops at the property line and some Calypso homeowners may also face necessary repairs. CCWD will be looking into legal remedies to recover the excess cost for this work along with reimbursement for a state fine from a contractor initiated sewer spill at the Copper Hills development. Construction plans are nearing completion for the pipe line expansion to connect the elementary school to the new 12 inch line and work will begin after school is out in June. (Gee we can paint the hydrants yellow again). Additionally, all systems are operational on the new 500,000 gallon water tank behind CDF and CCWD has authorized Castle & Cooke,(who is obligated to pay for removal of the old tank) to start demolition as soon as possible. I am working with Copper Fire Board and Supervisor Thomas to put an additional emergency helicopter pad on our treatment plant site near Little John by the lake and am just waiting for a formal request from the fire district.

Recently a district resident challenged me about the responsiveness of CCWD and said “well you’re the director, they have to do what you tell them.”? That comment stuck in my mind because as a director I set policy but have no operational authority and while I get listened too, what I ask for doesn’t always get done. CCWD is a public entity, which like most bureaucracies are more proficient in keeping things going in circles rather than completing them. The reason I am so supportive of the operational staff is that they all feel a direct sense of responsibility to the public and if something needs to be done, they jump. I haven’t found the same attitude in all departments and perhaps it’s because they don’t have the same direct contact with the public. I am frustrated at times at the lack or slow pace of progress at CCWD, but I press on. Remember my promise to plant a tree border at the Copper plant? Everyone agreed it was a good idea but still no tree. Hopefully a year later I will find a way to get trees planted and honor my commitment to you.

ED RICH,

DIRECTOR DISTRICT 4

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

2/6/08

Let’s see, what’s happening at the Water District? From a County wide perspective, I am up and working with new board President Bob Dean in looking for more regional solutions to protecting water rights and expanding water/sewer services to more residents than just new subdivisions. I have been working thru LAFCO’s water forum in trying to get other districts cooperating in finding better ways to use and protect our resources plus improve efficiencies by standardizing and perhaps sharing systems where possible. The data from the non-potable water study should be finalized and loaded into the Counties computers by months end. Next step will be to incorporate that data with the updated General Plan, land planning and then get some consensus on directions to take. Presentations on the two regional studies for West County (Valley Springs thru Burson) and Highway 4 (Angels Camp to Forest Meadows) have been tentatively scheduled for March 17th and April 21st, respectively, at LAFCO’s next water forums. I will confirm details as we get closer.

In working toward more district cooperation I was able to get Senator Cox, the LAFCO board, County Supervisors, and Angels Camp City Council to support sponsoring legislation adding two new seats to LAFCO. One seat would be designed for the Counties largest water/sewer provider, the second for an additional public seat, possibly a fire district. Hopefully the bill will pass the legislature since it is clear only the largest district has the financial ability to explore regional solutions.

Within District 4, I attended a recent PTA meeting and assured all present CCWD will connect the schools hydrants to the new system. Bids are out and funding approval should soon come before the board. As new Chairman of the engineering committee I want to broaden how projects are viewed by CCWD so in the future situations similar to connecting the elementary schools hydrants to the new water line are incorporated into the original scope of work when it is the least costly. There was also a preliminary meeting on a possible water extension/assessment district to Diamond XX. Many thanks for the hard work of resident Colleen Haerr in getting 30 property owners signatures along with the donated time by her employer Nolte Engineering, who got USDA to agree to accept a grant application for Diamond XX. Next step is for CCWD’s board to submit the grant application followed, after USDA acceptance, with potential pipeline routing and costs estimates. That will be the time when public meetings would be held to confirm if there enough support to proceed. Along the same vein, at my urging, CCWD submitted a formal request to the state department of water resources to require Meridian Mine to cooperate with us in exploring using Lake Tulloch water to help dilute the salt from their holding ponds prior to discharging into Little John Creek. Since Castle & Cooke already is committed to paying for a 6.5 mile sewer trench from Copper Town Center to our pump station, getting Meridian to pay for enlarging the ditch and adding a “purple” pipe might be a low cost way to help them solve their problems and also benefit Diamond residents with a source of raw water for irrigation, fire protection or ground water recharge. Hopefully something that makes sense out of one or both of the endeavors that may benefit you.

I do appreciate your support and those that have helped. I will continue to do my best in making CCWD more responsive to the overall community and operationally as cost effective as possible.

Ed Rich, CCWD DIRECTOR District 4

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

1/8/08

The holidays are over and I am refreshed. I don’t know about you but I savor everything from Thanksgiving thru New Years. I even get along with relatives I don’t like because the sounds, smells and feeling just get me out of my rut. Hopefully as 2008 proceeds we can all make more positive changes at the water district that will benefit you and get us all heading in a more positive direction.

In that regard I thought it might be helpful to set out what I see as my tasks for the agency in the coming year. I have been elected as Vice President of the board and will chair the Land/water committee, among others, which will allow me to focus direction on longer term solutions and regional planning. I ultimately believe this is the only path to any efficiency or cost savings. I expect to have public forums in Vallectio giving updates on the Highway 4 water/sewer study and reopen the master plan for Copper. My non-potable water study data is being put into the County computers and will be evaluated to identify areas where raw and/or reclaimed water might be used. This is critical both to help protect water reservations but also to expand our distribution systems and ultimately expand our customer base. I continue to look at extending raw water lines to the Diamond XX area and Salt Springs areas while vintners in Murphy’s have made it clear they can use more raw or reclaimed water.

I will attend the special PTA meeting on the 15th about future schools in Copper and water/sewer capacity and expect to have the board approve the funds to connect the schools hydrants to the new lines. I am also working to improve our communications with the Copper fire district and soliciting them to take advantage of the CCWD program that pays districts to inspect hydrants. This will hopefully avoid the confusion we had over the Reeds turnpike and school hydrants issues.

Key in my mind for next year is to work to change the attitudes of the CCWD staff toward more responsiveness to the public and a sense of pride and ownership in the agency in general. I continue to rebuff the “it isn’t my job, man” attitude and “if it isn’t right don’t approve it”. CCWD is terribly understaffed especially in engineering and can’t seem to attract qualified candidates. This is causing delays and a multitude of mistakes that lead to screw-ups. At the same time there isn’t any space in the existing building to house anyone, if we hired them. Finding another building or site that time and cost wise is in scale with our needs without extending the financial burden on you is a high priority. It for this reason I am still willing to explore the old mine site administrative building on Hodsen Road or any other building or site in Angels or Valley Springs that make better economic sense and time wise deliverable in my life time. I have expressed major reservations to the general manager about the viability of building a new, consolidated facility on the 16 acres CCWD owns in San Andreas, it might require a new cal-trans intersection (which could take years and cost millions) plus is estimated to cost $7 million. Sorry, but that an option isn’t in the realm of something I would approve.

Please accept my wishes for the best to your family for the upcoming year.

Ed Rich, CCWD DIRECTOR District 4

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE

12/4/07

It’s the holiday time and I hope many of you, like me, are starting to think of more family fun things than what’s happening at CCWD. But, in the spirit of keeping you updated in our own district, several things are happening this month.

Next Monday construction will start on installing a new fire hydrant mid way on Reeds Turnpike about where the horse corral is located. Also, plans are being finalized to extend the new12 inch water main from the Post Office to the school fire hydrants. The estimate for the 800 yard extension is about $130,000 and I expect to bring that before the board for approval in January. Although I strongly believe that should have been part of the original project, I believe I have the votes to get board approval for the expenditure but public support at the board meeting is always helpful. Another thing, I am working with the fire district to see if we can’t put an emergency helicopter landing pad at CCWD plant at the south end of Little John. Recently a little girl was bitten by a rattle snake near the lake and the extra 20 minutes for the ambulance to get her back for a medivac flight was all to close to life threatening. I will also push this for board approval. Got one call from a home owner who thought they might have a leak in there water lines because her usage was high when the home was unoccupied. I referred her to customer service who will send out a field person to check. All new meter have a leak indicator on them which detects constant flow as opposed to the more normal, intermittent flow.

District wise, I expect the new board to be more regionally focused on water and waste water solutions than the individual project approach in the past. I finished gathering input on potential “non-potable” water demand and got 34,000 acres of prospective users to input into the County data base. Again the reason for this study was to protect additional water rights and get better utilization of all our water resources. In January I plan to have a study session to get some direction as to what we do next. I am pushing expanding raw water distribution and since District 4 extends thru Vallecito where both raw and/or reclaimed water are in high demand may be a logical starting point. Many of you may be aware I am also trying to get raw water to Highway 4 and possible extension to the Diamond XX area. Contrary to a recent call, I am no longer looking at the mine site for possible use for storage pond or reclaimed water spray fields because the golf course system is on line and working better than expected. However, I am interested in exploring with the mine using raw water for salt dilution which would help defray pipeline costs to perhaps make it more economical to extent lines into Diamond XX for both fire protection and possible irrigation and ground water recharge to help stabilize wells for existing residents.

Please enjoy the holidays and accept the best wishes from me, my family and the staff at CCWD. Hopefully next year will be a better year for all of us.

Ed RICH, Director CCWD

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE 11/2/07

Well, what’s happening in the world of CCWD? At the county level we settled issues with the employees union and ratified a new 5 year contract amid threats of strike and walk out. My understanding is approximately 75% of the employees voted to approve the new contract which tended to raise pay for lower level and new employees and start a schedule for employee contributions into their own benefits. It’s my understanding CCWD employees will enjoy one of the best compensation packages in the foothills. The infamous “cafeteria plan” which allowed 16 senior employees to get as supplemental salary unused benefits premiums will be phased out and not be offered to new employees. I was very pleased the majority of employees recognized the days of 100% employer paid life time benefits couldn’t continue.

I am almost finished with a study on non-potable water demand To date I have signed up land owners who want “raw” water for irrigation totaling just under 28,000 acres in parcels ranging from 3 to 4000 acres. Next step is to present the information to the LAFCO water forum and then start planning what CCWD can do.

In Copper, fire hydrants are still an issue with concerns being raised about possibly “dead” hydrants at the school. Not true. As I indicated in my last communication one of the reasons approximately 12% of the cost of the new water lines and tank was apportioned to the community was the benefit of the new system in upgrading fire protection throughout all of Old Town. No one in CCWD is aware of any hydrants without water. However the 3 hydrants at the school (recently painted black) and those old “stand pipes” along Main Street are fed by 4’ lines to the old 100,000 gallon tank behind CDF. Everything connected to the old system have about 200 gallons/minute capacity. When the first of 2 new 500,000 gallon tanks is completed hydrants connected to the new 12 inch line will increase pressure and capacity reaching state standards of 1500 gal/minute when both tanks are in. Because water for fire safety is a high priority with me, I am preparing a request to CCWD’s board for approval of approximately $120,000 to pay for connecting the schools hydrants to the new line at the Post Office. We are working closely with the schools superintendent to schedule the work as soon as possible and in a time period with the least disruption to school operations. The hydrant for Reeds turnpike is in the corporate yard and with the fire district input, construction will begin soon on installing it about mid-point on Reeds. Unfortunately, we will put it in after the resurfacing work is completed this week.

Another issue surfacing is why Copper Town center facilities agreement isn’t finalized and its sewage going to interim holding tanks and then trucked to Saddle Creek’s sewer main for processing? Let me give you some of what I know although I’m not sure that it makes sense. The facilities agreement (which I have abstained from being involved in) continues to be delayed due to “needed” changes? An alternate sewer line route through Oak Canyon Ranch which I gather is technically “preferred” by our District Engineer is being considered. Problem is no easements have been forth coming from that land owner nor has money been put up to pay for a new EIR. Secondly, because there will be approximately a 6 ½ mile pipe line, there will not be enough sewage generated for some time to fill the line? Makes sense, but it seems to me the engineers should have anticipated phasing in the original systems design? Perhaps this is another example of shortsighted planning in Calaveras County.

ED RICH

CCWD DISTRICT 4 UPDATE 10/5/07

Since my last update fire protection has again come up on two issues and I felt I should clarify how CCWD and the fire department coordinate things. A recent newspaper article indicated that the industrial park north of the highway intended to rely on “the hydrant located 100 yards from the site” and at the recent community plan meeting several residents raised questions about hydrants being put on the new line along Reeds Turnpike. The fire department is responsible for determining what the fire protection requirements are on all new projects and are given plans to review and invited to construction meetings. At the present time only those hydrants south of the post office on Main Street connected to the new line will have enough capacity and pressure to fill a tanker in an emergency. No hydrants along Reeds were made a requirement of the pipeline therefore only “blow outs” were installed. I have discussed both of these matters with Supervisor Thomas and our General Manager and believe it is in the best interest of the community to put at least one hydrant on Reeds and to look into possibly extending the 12 inch line to the highway to upgrade capacity of that area for everyone. I will seek board approval at the next meeting for CCWD to pay for the Reeds hydrant and hopefully the industrial park developer will contact CCWD to see if an equitable cost sharing basis for a line extension might be possible.

I really appreciated the computer phone bank notification I received on last weeks community plan meeting because CCWD wasn’t notified and several significant issues impacting water and waste water were discussed. For those of you that couldn’t attend I clarified several comments by the Community Development Director about adequate water to meet all the needs of the plan plus cautioned on continued reliance on wells and septic in the basin. CCWD does have significant water rights in Lake Tulloch, however when applications to use them are made, challenges by other urban areas that want the water are inevitable. I pointed out that my quest for “purple” pipe and irrigation with lake water protects more water rights because it recharges ground water and helps those on wells. I did miss speak in pointing out that county data shows an increase in “fecal” matter in the ground water NOT e-coli. Sorry must have been a brain to mouth malfunction.

Repaving on Reeds should start shortly as the delays were at the request of CCWD in trying to get all water customers connected to the new line before we paved. Several customers have decided they do not want to be hooked to the new line consequently Castle & Cooke has been authorized to finish the work, including repairing the church’s gravel parking lot and repaving the road above the church to the residence which was paved before the work.

District wise negotiations on a new labor agreement with the employees union are underway and I am not sure what the outcome will be. Therefore it’s inappropriate for me to comment on specifics or counter what you may read except that I believe ALL of CCWD needs to change. I have honored the existing employee contract but would never have voted to ratify it. In all organizations there are departments and employees that work harder or are more responsive to the public than others. I think the maintenance crews in Copper are top notch but another long term employee’s view was that “management’s job was to keep employees happy”? I don’t share that view. I see my role as insuring YOUR dollars are spent on a contract that is equitable to everyone. I have told the Union that I will gladly support CCWD workers being the best paid in the state but ONLY when CCWD is also the best water agency in the state. I think we are headed in that direction and my hope is the employees will pitch in and adapt where needed.

Ed Rich, Director

District 4 CCWD UPDATE 09/09/2007