CCWD Photo by Joel Metzger
San Andreas, CA — Wildfire-vulnerable and antiquated, several water storage tanks belonging to a Mother Lode water district are getting replaced with $2.1 million in federal funding assistance.
Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) officials say they received official notice last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved its grant application, which will cover 75 percent of the total $2.8 million it will cost to replace five of its redwood water storage vessels located along the upper Highway 4 corridor with ignition-resistant steel tanks.
Under the project scope, the tanks, which are located in Forest Meadows, Arnold and Dorrington, will also have expanded defensible space cleared them that will further protect them against wildfires.
“I am absolutely thrilled with this successful grant application,” states Bertha Underhill, CCWD Board president and Division 3 director. “So much hard work has been done by the CCWD staff to secure these valuable dollars at this critical time, and reduce the burden on ratepayers.”
She adds, “Wildfire is always at the top of our minds in the upper Highway 4 communities, and this project will make sure our water supply tanks have a much better chance of surviving a forest fire.”
Per the current timeline, project planning and design is expected to be complete by the end of this year with construction beginning in 2021.