Tuolumne County, CA — Following the recent water outage due to damage to the Tuolumne Main Canal, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors is requesting state help for the Tuolumne Utilities District to build an 8-million-gallon water reservoir.
TUD reports that the planned Sierra Pines Raw Water Reservoir, near Twain Harte, is shovel-ready, but they have been unsuccessful to this point in acquiring grant money to construct it.
District Three Supervisor Anaiah Kirk and Board Chair Steve Griefer recently took part in a conference call with the offices of Assemblyman David Tangipa, Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil, and Congressman Tom McClintock. The county was recommended to make an emergency request to Governor Gavin Newsom for the $6.3 million needed for the reservoir.
Supervisor Kirk stated, “The request is very simple. If we have this reservoir downstream, then it will position Tuolumne County to be able to deal with a potential future flume outage. It won’t get us out of the weeds completely, but it will give TUD enough time to respond appropriately.”
The vote was 4-0 to make the request, with Supervisor Ryan Campbell absent.
Kirk noted that they hope to hear back within the next couple of weeks about whether the funding request is approved.
TUD General Manager Don Perkins noted that the reservoir would take about 12 months to build.
