EID personnel are on 24-hour call seven days a week, every week, all year
to ensure that whenever and whereever a line break might occur, District
customers are inconvenienced for
as short a time as possible.
EID
crew repairs the Pleasant Oak Main in October 2005. This major water delivery
artery, a portion of which was built in the 1970s using material that later
proved to be defective, has failed several times in recent years. In late
2004, the EID Board of Directors declared an emergency, allowing for accelerated
reconstruction plans. The schedule calls for completion of the project
in early 2007.
The reliable delivery of high-quality water is a complex task that
requires constant vigilance, millions of dollars invested in
state-of-the-art treatment plants and equipment to meet regulatory requirements,
and highly trained, professional employees. This isEID’s highest
priority.
In recent years the District has completed
a number of important
tasks and launched new initiatives related to our drinking water
system, as described below.
Completed first phase of reservoir line and
cover program
by bringing the newly covered Reservoir 12 in Cameron Park on
line in 2005. We coordinated closely with the state’s Department
of Health Services (DHS) throughout all stages of this six-year $40
million investment. The goal was to line and cover 16 reservoirs,
which hold approximately 45 million gallons of treated water for
delivery to our customers. Upon completion, the DHS Chief of Field
Operations for the Northern California Region told the EID Board
of Directors that his agency appreciated the District’s “willingness
to take this project on and its perseverance in completing it. The
District’s customers now have a safer, more secure water supply.”
Finished
restoration of Hazel Creek tunnel, on time and on
budget. The District built the tunnel in 1987 as a connection between Pacific
Gas and Electric’s Project 184 hydroelectric power generating system
and Jenkinson Lake. But in 1997, landslides during heavy rains and rapidly
melting snow buried the tunnel’s outlet portal. Restoration included
excavation, interior cleaning, the construction of a new portal, and
taking preventive measures to control erosion and reduce the risk of
a similar incident. More than 60 percent of the project’s $1.8
million cost was reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Received
a $3.2 million federal Water Resources Development
Act grant to upgrade Sly Park Recreation Area waterlines, a project that
is slated for completion in late spring of 2007.
Entered the design phase for planned expansion of
capacity at the El Dorado Hills water treatment plant.
Water facts |
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EID’s water delivery system area ranges from 500 feet in elevation at the Sacramento County line to more than 4,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada range. |
The system requires 181 pressure-regulating zones to operate reliably and more than 1,200 miles of pipe, 40 miles of ditches, six treatment plants, 33 storage reservoirs, and 21 pumping stations. |
The cost for a 12-ounce bottle of water at a local convenience store can run from about 99 cents to more than a dollar. For 99 cents, you can drink 825 gallons of healthy tap water from EID. |
El Dorado Irrigation District