November 09th, 2022

THE CITY OF LOYALTON held a water infrastructure town hall meeting on Thursday, November 3rd in the City Hall Auditorium. Mayor Sarah Jackson led the discussion and stated they plan on holding town halls the first Thursday of every month to get updates from a committee they hoped to create from this meeting and keep “momentum going.” Johnathan gave an update and stated as of this meeting there was no major water leak and only one minor leak north of the main leak (Van Daam leak). He explained they hadn’t gotten to it because they were dealing with waste water issues. They would be fixing the minor leak when the weather cleared up. Unfortunately, because of the design of the new water main that was put in on 2nd Street it helped in water flow but caused such an increase in water pressure that they had to throttle it back so much it would not be able to keep up with summer demand. He stated they were going to put the water main back where it originally was to be able to have reasonable water pressure where they won’t have to do a pressure release. He knew where a few trouble spots were, stating the two biggest were at First/Church Streets. The other section is Haggard Way because it’s the same sort of pipe and also has sewer and underground telecom. According to what Johnny Cousins told Johnathan this area is very difficult to dig and had also been repaired by dumping concrete on it. Alleghany Street and Willow Way were also mentioned as bad because it’s old pipe. He reported they were now doing a paper trail. As they find stuff, they are taking pictures, taking notes and measurements and reporting it in files. Jackson explained with the pump throttled back they are currently pumping 350 gallons per minute and holding 51-54psi at the well pump. At the well pond its currently 64-66psi. He said he was not going to run well 3 as they have to run it almost entirely manually, and it has an iron bacteria issue and have to use about twice as much chlorine than the other wells. He felt the entire well needed to be pulled, the pump needs to be replaced, adding it was pretty wore out even though it hasn’t been used much in the last 15 years. From the audience, it was asked if a new system could be scabbed in with what they’ve fixed already. Jackson stated they won’t have to replace the sections they’ve fixed. 60-70% is steel that needs replacing. Johnathan said there’s a lot of asbestos pipe which is still fine, adding it was hard to make a determination because some sections he hadn’t heard of anything being replaced. From the audience, Joyce Cameron thanked Johnathan for all his hard work and called him an asset to Loyalton. Jackson stated the City was at ground zero right now for a new project. She introduced Pat McCarthy of Loyalton who is a volunteer grant writer. McCarthy stated she made some calls to USDA who have no grant money only low-cost loans. Department of Water Resources has the "perfect grant", but they are at the end of the cycle so only have a little money left and would have to show this as an emergency. She suggested they put in an application for what they want, and felt they have enough of a problem they could make it an emergency but would need an amount. Jackson had asked Farr West and they gave an off the cuff amount of $15-$20 million, basing it on the cost per foot that included paving. From the audience Joyce Cameron stated both Carolyn Widman and Mike Filippini who are familiar with writing grants would be part of a committee. It was also stated that Sierra County Public Works Director Tim Beals and Bryan Davey were willing to help with the grant writing to put in the specific things organizations are looking for.
It was asked if any phone calls or letters have been made for emergency funding. Jackson stated Assemblywoman Dahle’s office had been contacted. They gave a small grant to fix one of the leaks, adding because they can still drink the water and the pump was still working, they didn’t qualify as an emergency. From the audience, Julie Herod asked what happens when they hook up to our hydrants to fight a house fire. Johnathan stated it depends on where you live. Some areas may not have sufficient water pressure. If this continues, nobody will be able to water anything come summertime, as they are sending less gallons to the tank. Jackson wanted an adhoc committee formed to look at grants and was going to leverage everyone to help like Eastern Plumas Health Care (EPHC) and Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District. They will also be looking at a bond, raising water and sewer rates, and at all sorts of other ideas.
Sierra County Supervisor Sharon Dryden, commended them on getting a committee. She stated Sierra Brooks had a committee that worked on their water system for 10 years, adding government grants could probably come with systems being metered which created a lot of controversy, and comes with a cost. Dryden concluded by stating when people start to realize someone has to pay for this, you will have a lot more people at meetings. Jackson praised County response from OES, stating they had water to schools, skilled nursing and everyone within 12 hours. She said they have exhausted the water savings, and the Council authorized a loan out of the sewer fund and will have to pay it back eventually to make water improvements and develop those plans. EPHC CEO Doug McCoy said they would certainly use all their resources to see what information they can come up with. Next town hall will be December 1st at 6:30 p.m. Jackson hoped the committee could meet before December 1st so they can give an update on December 1st.  

Loyalton's old water pipe.