Recent Goings-on at the Markleeville Water Company

Since it’s been awhile since our last post, we thought we’d provide an update in several areas. Here you go!

Operational Meetings & Board Meetings

We held several weekly meetings (the first one was April 1), as we mentioned in this post, and thankfully we didn’t have any emergencies to address. The extra communication that took place was necessary early on but now it isn’t. The systems put in place by our Operator, Buck McLelland, and Kris Hartnett, one of our directors, have paid, and continue to pay, dividends. Buck and Kris communicate daily and anything that needs to be handled is done so quickly and efficiently.  So, we have discontinued the weekly meetings BUT are still holding our monthly meetings (virtually still at this point, thanks to Zoom). Remember, members are welcome to attend. Just email us at markleevillewatercompany@gmail.com for the meeting details. We meet on the 3^rd Saturday of the month starting at 8:30 a.m.

Grant Progress

Work is progressing on the planning grant funded by the State of California Division of Financial Assistance (DFA) program; part of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program. Our consultant, West Yost Associates, submitted a draft of the Preliminary Engineering Report on May 15^th. Once finalized, this report with be submitted to the State for approval of the recommended project. Once approved, environmental review and engineering design will begin. The primary objectives of the undertaking are to replace aging, failure-prone distribution piping and to implement distribution system changes intended to increase turnover of stored water as well as reductions in the incidence of disinfection byproduct exceedances. Operational changes over the past few years have already reduced these exceedances considerably, so the top priority of the project will be replacing those pipelines. This is a long-term effort, as you know, so continue to stay tuned for further updates.

Generator Progress

Unfortunately, we have not been able to finish the install of the generator due to other, more pressing priorities. We have poured the pad and secured the generator to it. We’ve also gotten the propane tank installed and the electrical is almost completed. Finishing this project remains high on our list, especially in light of fire season, and we hope to have it operational soon.

Water Usage

Unfortunately, due to the dry winter, and per the California Drought Early Warning System, Alpine Co. is in the midst of a moderate drought. Because of this, we ask that you continue conserving water where you can. We also want to remind you that our Water Use Rules & Guidelines (snippet below) remain in effect and can be viewed in their entirety by clicking here.

• Landscape watering is allowed at even-numbered physical addresses only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, any time between 6 and 10 AM and between 6 and 10 PM.
• Landscape watering is allowed at odd-numbered physical addresses only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, any time between 6 and 10 AM and between 6 and 10 PM.
• Landscape watering is NOT allowed on Sundays in order to give our finished water tanks time to refill/replenish.
• Total landscape watering time is allowed up to two hours per day.

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority has a detailed “Assigned-Day Watering” page which we used as a guide for developing our Rules & Guidelines. Click here to check it out as it has some water saving tips and other relevant articles.

Oh, and by the way, if you are planning on doing any pressure washing at your home, which is allowed per our Water Use Rules & Guidelines, please give us a heads up and keep in mind that your pressure washing unit should be turned off when it’s not in use.

Thank you for being a member! We appreciate you continuing to be a good water steward and wish you, and your families and friends, good health. Continue to stay safe!