Are You Water Ready if Power is Turned Off?

MWC recently received a message from the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board comments are in italics below). We’ve published portions of it here and a copy is being mailed to all members as well because it has some good advice; not just for us, but for you, too. Our responses to their message are noted in bold.

Due to the upcoming extreme heat and fire hazard, the power utilities are implementing Public Safety Power Shutoff warnings across California.  If adverse conditions develop in your area, the power serving your water system may be shut off, which may affect the ability of your water system to provide water to customers.  There are several steps we recommend you take now to prepare for any potential power outage:

Ensure that your tanks are full prior to the planned power outage. 
MWC will monitor our tanks and will ensure they are at full capacity prior to any outage. Keep in mind, however, that there is only enough water to supply our customers for 4 days (depending on demand). We will post a notice on the MWC website (https://markleevillewatercompany.com/) in the event of an outage, but since some members will not be able to check our website due to lack of power, we also will post notices in town if an outage occurs. Note that we only supply water for domestic use (i.e. drinking water) and for the fire dept. to fight structure fires. Members should also be aware that there may be NO WATER coming through our system during a wildland fire event.

Acquire or position emergency generators where needed to maintain water supply and pressure.  Ensure you have adequate fuel for power generators to last at least 4 to 6 days.
MWC has been making good progress on the installation of our generator. It is not yet operational and isn’t expected to be fully operational until January 1, 2020. We will notify our members when it is operational.

Issue notices to customers to conserve water to reduce unnecessary demand and maintain storage supply.
MWC has kept our water restrictions in place, and you’ve been great stewards. Now it’s up to all of us, as members, to keep it up, while at the same time making sure that we each have our own supplies. Again, in the event of a wildland fire event, or a public service power outage, we remind you that available water is only for domestic use INSIDE YOUR HOME. MWC water is available for structure firefighting purposes.

If the power outage occurs and the water system loses water pressure, your water system should take the following actions:

  • Activate your Water Quality Emergency Notification Plan
    The MWC Board will activate the MWC Emergency Disaster Response Plan when it’s necessary.
  • Notify your DDW District Office or County Local Primacy Agency for instructions on issuance of a precautionary Boil Water Notice
    This action is on MWC’s Emergency Disaster Response Plan checklist.
  • Have a Boil Water Notice ready for distribution. 
    Go to the “Important Documents” page of our website to download a sample copy of our notice.
  • Make sufficient copies of the Boil Water Notice now, so that they may be delivered immediately if water pressure is lost.
    If we need to issue a boil water notice MWC will have paper copies ready to post at several locations in our service area. We will also have additional copies of the notice at the library, but we suggest you print a copy of our sample boil water notice now and keep it handy just in case. It may not be possible for the website to be updated in case of a boil water emergency.

Publicly available PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutdown) proposed outage maps can be found at the following links:

Liberty Utilities: https://california.libertyutilities.com/markleeville/residential/emergencies/electrical/outages-map.html

Pacific Gas & Electric:    https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-service-impact-map.page  

Southern California Edison: https://www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps

San Diego General Electric: https://www.sdge.com/wildfire-safety/public-safety-power-shutoffs

DDW District Office contact information can be found at: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/programs/documents/ddwem/DDWdistrictofficesmap.pdf.

Ballots for the Election of Two Markleeville Water Company Directors are on the Way. Please vote ASAP!

As you may know, state law requires that at least 20% of the Company’s Membership Interests (shares) be represented by their owners being present in person at the annual membership meeting before business can be conducted.

Unfortunately only about 10% of the membership were present at this year’s meeting so new Directors couldn’t be elected to the two (2) open seats on the Board. The Board can fill mid-term vacancies and unexpired terms, but only the Members can elect Directors to new full terms.

Members in attendance did nominate two individuals, however, and ballots were mailed to you yesterday. Those individuals are Kris Hartnett and Lloyd Van Doren. You’ll also have the ability to write in another individual’s name if you so choose. We appreciate Kris’ and Lloyd’s willingness to serve and now ask that you vote for at least two (2) people, and return your ballot promptly, so that we can convene the full board at our next meeting.

The ballot, and cover letter being mailed with it, have additional information so please be on the lookout and again, we’d appreciate your fast action in returning your ballot. A self-addressed stamped envelope is included.

Markleeville Water Co’s Annual Meeting and Steve Martin Send-off

Calling All Members! Calling All Members!

Our Annual Meeting is next Saturday, August 3rd, 2019
at 10:00 a.m.
Alpine County Administration Building, Board Room,
99 Water St., Markleeville, CA 96120

Steve Martin, our President, is hanging up his MWC hat! Join us so we can all thank Steve for his 33 years of service.

We’ll also cover some Water Co. business, too, of course, including:

1. Approval of Minutes (Quorum required)
2. Approval of Balance Sheets (Quorum required)
3. President’s Report for 2018-2019 Year (Steve’s last report)
4. Elections of Two (2) Directors (Quorum required)

A quorum of 40 members is essential in many instances as you can see, so it’s very important that members attend.

We’ll post the complete agenda, and other appropriate documents, on our website prior to the meeting. You’ll be able to view them on our Important Documents page. We’ll have hard-copies available as well.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT SATURDAY!

–Your Markleeville Water Company Board of Directors

Markleeville Water Company Publishes RFP for Engineering Services

Markleeville Water Company (MWC) has published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Engineering Services for Water System Planning and Improvements.   The engineering services will be funded by a $435,000 planning grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF).

MWC now has a signed Funding Agreement with the State for this grant.  The planning grant project will include a comprehensive evaluation of the MWC distribution system to address failures and issues with disinfection byproducts. Note: this is partially due to the worn, interior surfaces of the existing steel pipes. Replacing them with modern piping will help decrease these issues.

The Project includes preparation of construction documents to the 75% complete level, preparation of environmental review documents, preparation of documents required to apply for the SRF construction grant, and grant administration.

Proposals are due no later than 4:00 p.m. Thursday, August 22nd, 2019. Click here to view and download the RFP.

The Leak on Hot Springs Road is no Longer!

As some of you may already know, the leak has been stopped! It’s actually been about 10 days since the work was done and and as you’ll see if you’re in town we still have a couple markers out on the road. By the way, this was the 7th repair we’ve made in the last year or so. Ouch!

Kudos to our intrepid crew for keeping things flowing.

This “sleeve” was installed in order to seal the leak. We then left the hole open for short period of time to ensure there was no more water coming from the pipe. It was then filled with “fill.” Go figure!

We’ll give it awhile for the traffic, and nature, to tamp things down a bit and then later this summer the pavement will be repaired.

On a related note, we’ve signed the planning grant agreement and are cautiously optimistic that we’ll soon be able to move forward with the planning phase of our “replacement project.” See some of our previous posts for more info. on that if you’re so inclined.

So, given time, repairs of this type will no longer be needed as our aging infrastructure will also be NO LONGER.

In the meantime, a note of thanks to all of you for doing your part and being water responsible!

Leak on our Main Line on Hot Springs Road

Unfortunately, another leak has sprung up, this time on Hot Springs Road, near the Dean/Hittenmiller place. We’ve scheduled it for repair so please be on the lookout for our crew in the coming days.

Water leaking out onto Hot Springs Road, from our main line underneath.

We’ll post another update once the work has been completed.

An Update Regarding Turbidity and Water Treatment

First of all we’d like to thank you for being water-wise and conserving where you can. Because of your efforts, our water consumption was down during the month of May!

Just before the Memorial Day holiday we were able to switch from well water back to creek water as treatment was again possible.

However, we want to caution you that due to variable and extended snow melt, turbidity may limit water production yet again, thereby forcing us back to well water. If that happens, we’ll let you know.

In the meantime please continue your conservation efforts and be sure to familiarize yourself with our Water Use Rules & Guidelines, which can be downloaded directly from our “Important Documents” page.

You’ll find it under “Notices and Forms” towards the bottom of the page.

Thank you!

Please Reduce Your Water Use During these Turbid Times

We are experiencing higher than normal turbidity in the water from the heavier than normal spring thaw and run off. Because of that, we cannot treat the water as usual in order to comply with the state turbidity standard, or Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) requirements.

We are therefore using our wells to their capacity to keep up with the demand. While we understand there is a lot of water running in the creek, until the “dust” settles, that water is not treatable.

We would greatly appreciate everyone reducing their water consumption during this high turbidity period by limiting irrigation, not washing vehicles and just being extra conscientious as to water-use as a whole.

As soon as we are able to regularly treat the creek water to state standards we will notify you.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your patience and cooperation!

Markleeville Water Company’s April 20th Board Meeting has been Canceled

We’re canceling this Saturday’s board meeting so we can spend time with our families, travel, etc.

Our next scheduled meeting is May 18th. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP via email to markleevillewatercompany@gmail.com.

Happy Easter from your MWC Board!

white petaled flower bouquet on white surface
Photo by Alena Koval on Pexels.com

February 16th Board Meeting was Canceled Due to Power and Weather Issues

We know most of you were there. We wanted to post something, though, in case anyone was wondering and to make it official.

Due to the power outage the day prior, the shear amount of snow everywhere and the treacherous travel, we did cancel the meeting.

Our next meeting is Saturday, March 16th. Members are welcome!

If you’d like to attend, ust shoot us an RSVP email at markleevillewatercompany@gmail.com.

Chalet Schwartz’s Icicle Garden on Hot Springs Road

We hope you all got through that crazy weekend safely and wish you ongoing success in your snow removal efforts!