RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Water topics once again dominated the agenda at the Rancho Murieta Community Services District (CSD) Improvements Committee on March 11.

District contract engineer Joe Domenichelli elaborated on his recommendation to build a new water tank and to implement an interim solution to enhance the efficiency of the two existing tanks.

Director John Merchant proposed two actions for the March 19 board meeting: approving and establishing an emergency water policy and forming a working group to review data from the Integrated Water Master Plan.

In other water-related business at the meeting, two engineers from Water System Consulting outlined preliminary proposals to prepare an Urban Water Supply Plan and a Water Vision Plan intended to supplement the draft Integrated Water Master Plan. 

Longtime community activist Janis Eckard also apologized to the consultants who prepared the draft Integrated Water Master Plan. (See the two separate stories on these topics in this issue.)

The Improvements Committee consists of two board members—directors Randy Jenco and John Merchant, Operations Manager Eric Houston, General Manager Mimi Morris, who was on leave, and other staff. The committee thoroughly examines infrastructure issues and makes recommendations to the entire board.

The discussion on Domenichelli’s water tank recommendations continued from the committee’s February meeting.

Although the engineer didn’t attend the earlier meeting, Director of Operations Eric Houston reviewed his draft report. Afterward, Merchant instructed Houston to invite Domenichelli to the March Improvements meeting to answer questions. Although Domenichelli attended the March meeting as requested, Houston was absent due to jury duty.

Nevertheless, Domeni-chelli delivered a PowerPoint presentation illustrating the sharp drop in water levels at the Rio Oso tank during last July’s heat wave.

The pressurized Rio Oso Tank, which holds 1.2 million gallons, serves houses north of the second Guadalupe Drive. It also has been designated as the water tank for the already approved 198-lot Residences subdivision near Stonehouse Park and for the 116-lot Village H in the proposed Rancho North subdivision. The 3-million-gallon Van Vleck Tank uses a gravity system to serve the remainder of the community.

Domenichelli emphasized the need for a new tank in the upper zone to support current and future water demands as new homes come online.

Until a new tank can be built, Domenichelli proposed a throttling alternative as an interim solution to balance water levels between the two existing tanks. This would involve installing valves that automatically adjust water flows during peak demand periods, especially in the early morning when upper-zone irrigation is highest.

Merchant and Jenco asked Domenichelli if the throttling system could be operational by next summer. He responded that it would be a challenge. While designing the system and overseeing the work would be straightforward, integrating the necessary electronics for automatic operation posed a greater difficulty. 

“You are going to need specialty people in there with the SCADA and integrating the controls,” he said. “It’s different from guys putting in the pipe.”

After discussing which reserves could fund the interim solution, Merchant and Jenco agreed to make it an action item for the March 19 board meeting.

Another agenda item was a letter from Merchant addressed to the district’s existing and entitled ratepayers. Citing limited water sources from the Cosumnes River, he stated that the board must approve and establish an emergency water policy for existing ratepayers and those in county-approved subdivisions (The Residences, Riverview and The Retreats).

“I would like to establish a requirement that going forward, to maintain no less than a one-year supply of water as gross storage for an emergency supply,” Merchant explained at the meeting.

Merchant stated that the first step would be to bring Clementia Reservoir online as a drinking water source, which will require state permitting. 

He indicated this would be just the beginning of the process.

Although not included in his letter, Merchant told the committee that he planned to recommend a working group review data from the Integrated Water Master Plan at the March 19 meeting. 

“We have about 150 questions that we could get answered right off the bat,” he said.

Merchant said that community activist Janis Eckard and resident Jim Farrell, known for his insightful comments at district meetings, had agreed to join the working group. 

“We’ll see if we can come up with a consensus as to the data set that we can pass on to finish the analysis,” he said. “There is quite a bit of work to do, which I hope we can do in a hurry.”