Pine Cove Water District directors held a brief meeting Nov. 13 with most of the discussion about this year’s water usage and a possible expansion.
The board agreed with General Manager Jerry Holldber’s recommendation to invite Stonewood residents to the January meeting. “We’ll work through what it will take to incorporate [Stonewood] into our system,” said President Mike Esnard.
They will present and discuss the costs for Stonewood residents to buy into the PCWD system and the cost of the new pipelines in the service area, and any administrative costs the Local Area Formation Commission might assess.
Holldber also plans to write other neighbors further north, such as Alhatti Resort, the state parks, the U.S. Forest Service and Camp Alandale, about the “possibility of extending pipelines even if only for emergencies, such as fire …”
“Production dropped way off from last year, a lot less,” reported Holldber. October production was nearly 2.6 million gallons, which is about 600,000 gallons (18.3 percent) less than a year ago.
While the ground water level of the district’s wells continues to fall, the monitoring well (no. 10) only dropped a foot in October. “Considering we’ve just had two light [little rain or snow] winters, well 10 is holding up,” Holldber noted.
He also reported that the water meter for well no. 13 had faltered after 10 years of use and 12 million gallons measured. It has been replaced. As a result, he re-estimated the August and September production figures, which resulted in another 330,000 gallons produced.
For the year, PCWD has produced about 500,000 gallons more than the first 10 months of 2012. This could be the first year since 2006 that PCWD’s production has increased over the previous year’s volume.
In other business, Holldber told the board that the $25,000 for more fire hydrants has been received from County Service Area 38.
J.P. Crumrine can be reached at [email protected].