LUCERNE, Calif. – California Water Service Co. is planning a series of repair projects on its water delivery system in the town of Lucerne.
Over the past week there have been some leak repairs, including one on Foothill Drive, according to Gay Guidotti, manager for the Redwood Valley District, which includes Lucerne.
Guidotti said Cal Water's contractor also did some prep work last week in order to begin a water main project on Country Club Drive this week.
She said that project was supposed to have been done in 2015. “We got delayed due to weather,” she said, noting the year's late rains.
That project – which Guidotti estimated will take three to four weeks to complete – will include running a new 6-inch main down the easement between 12th and 14th avenues and tying it in at Country Club Drive. It's a total of 660 feet of 8-inch PVC pipe and 475 feet of 6-inch PVC.
She noted that the county previously upgraded a portion of its 6-inch main in that easement several years ago in anticipation of commercial development along 13th Avenue. She estimated that upgrade included about 400 feet of pipe from the south end of the easement running north.
“Our project will come from the north end of that easement and run south to meet that section,” she said.
The whole easement will then be served by a 6-inch main and be connected at both ends – to Country Club’s main at the north end, and the main in the frontage easement at the south end, Guidotti explained.
She said there have not been new commercial developments along 13th Avenue to require more upgrades to the main. However, this new work will benefit flow, circulation and water quality in that area, and so any planned commercial development that occurs.
Another project slated to take place this year – and the largest on the drawing board for 2016 – is a 1,400-foot main replacement using 8-inch PVC that Guidotti said will run on Country Club beginning from the far west end of Foothill, where there will be a new tie-in, to Fifth Avenue.
Guidotti said it will offer better circulation in the system better and will bring repair progress closer to Fifth Avenue.
Other projects also are planned in 2016, including a 200-foot main extension at the end of Roland Drive, where a new house is being constructed, Guidotti said.
There also will be work to recoat and make structural improvements to a water tank on Panoramic Drive, according to Guidotti.
Guidotti said the California Public Utilities Commission prefers the company to carry out a certain amount of footage in line repairs annually.
In Lucerne, she said it tends to be about 1,300 to 1,400 feet each year, although sometimes that work is deferred due to rates.
A substantial amount of the system, which serves 1,277 active accounts, still needs to be repaired, Guidotti said.
As for how priorities are set, “We're hitting the main arteries and where we're having repeated leaks. That's the criteria that we use,” Guidotti said.
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Repair projects under way on Cal Water's Lucerne water system
- Elizabeth Larson
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