EL DORADO WATER & POWER AUTHORITY FILES APPLICATION WITH STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR SUPPLEMENTAL WATER FROM UPPER AMERICAN RIVER
SHINGLE SPRINGS, CA (February 29, 2008) — A consortium of El Dorado
County water agencies and purveyors filed an application with California’s State
Water Resources Control Board for a supplemental water supply to meet future needs in El Dorado County.
“This is not an action we take lightly but it’s one we feel is necessary,” said Jack Sweeney, outgoing chair of the El Dorado Water & Power Authority (EDWPA), which consists of elected officials from the El Dorado County Water Agency, El Dorado Irrigation District, El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, and Georgetown Divide Public Utility District.
“Over the years, as El Dorado County has grown and flourished, its need for a safe, adequate supply of water has only intensified — and will continue to do so, regardless of economic slowdowns,” Sweeney said. “The fact is, El Dorado County is a very desirable place to live, work and raise families — and people and businesses will continue to migrate here, from the Sacramento Valley, from San Francisco and San Jose. We have to look to our future — because it’s just around the corner.”
In late 2005, EDWPA members, recognizing that there were limited opportunities for the construction of new water storage locations within the
county — as well as environmental concerns associated with such construction — secured diversion and storage rights in the Sacramento Municipal Utility
District’s existing Upper American River Project (UARP) facilities. The resultant
SMUD Cooperation Agreement requires SMUD to make deliveries to EDWPA agencies of that stored water in the project, including deliveries to and from
carryover storage, of up to 35,000 acre feet per year through 2025 — and thereafter, 40,000 acre feet per year for the remaining term of the agreement.
The new application, which will involve the City of Sacramento’s and the US Bureau of Reclamation’s participation due to their own claims on UARP
water, is to help ensure that EDWPA’s customers will receive water that originates in El Dorado County.#
Editors: For more information or to set up an interview with Jack Sweeney or Bill Hetland, Executive Director of EDWPA, please contact Hetland at 530.621.5392.
