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AWA Consolidates Rates to Undermine Protest

The consolidation is AWA’s response to several successful protests that stopped unfair rate increases within AWA’s individual water systems. Under Proposition 218, customers have the right to protest the consolidation. If a majority protests, the consolidation will not go forward. More info...

Camanche Well #14 is Again Out of Service

On 6/14/12, Field Services Manager Chris McKeage told the AWA board that Well #14 at Camanche was shut down due to an electrical issue with the pump. More

Camanche Groundwater Study Shows Abundance of Water

A groundwater study showed that the basin that Camanche wells draw from can supply water to 10 times as many homes as there are in Camanche. More

AWA Misleads Public About Camanche Well #14

In 2011, AWA reported to the Supervisors that the well was “offline” when it was in fact operating normally. Details...

About Prop 218

Proposition 218 allows ratepayers to protest water rate increases. If a majority of ratepayers protest an increase, the rates cannot be raised. Ratepayers do have the ultimate say in whether their rates will go up or not.
More Info...

Success Stories

Read about how Camanche and other local ratepayers have successfully protested rate increases.
Details...

Camanche Water System

Amador County serviced the Camanche water system until 2003. Since then, Amador Water Agency (AWA) has provided water to Lake Camanche Village. Camanche is one of four separate water systems that AWA services. Four groundwater wells supply water for the Camanche system. The water is treated and then stored in several tanks before it is delivered to homes via the distribution piping system.

Camanche Service Area Map

Annual Operating Costs for Camanche

Year-End DateOperations CostOperator
7/1/2003 $372,563 County
7/1/2004 $467,775 AWA
7/1/2005 $492,345 AWA
7/1/2006 $493,870 AWA
7/1/2007 $585,513 AWA
7/1/2008 $565,464 AWA
7/1/2009 $595,875 AWA
7/1/2010 $515,499 AWA
7/1/2011 $591,267 AWA
 

How Ratepayers are Affected

If the Camanche system is not operated efficiently, costs to ratepayers will be excessive. When AWA took over the operations of the Camanche system, it only took 4 years for the cost to operate the system to increase by 60%. In just the first year, operational costs increased by 26%.

Since AWA started operating the system in 2003, salaries and benefits for employees have increased by 71%. It is no wonder that costs have increased so drastically.

In 2002-2003, before AWA took over operations from Amador County, operating expenses for Camanche were $372,563. In 2008-2009 (just 6 years later) AWA ballooned the costs of those same operations to $595,875.

The increase in operational costs indicates how inefficiently AWA has operated the system. However, maintaining the system has also been an issue. In April 2003, the County turned over the system to AWA with $868k in reserve accounts. By 2009, AWA had spent all of the reserves and more, leaving Camanche $800k in debt. Much of the money was spent on projects to expand capacity in Camanche. Without these projects, developers would not have had the water they needed for new homes. Few homes were built and now the liability is on the ratepayers to cover the costs of those projects. Worse yet, when a 2 year-old well failed in 2010, there were no funds to even diagnose why it failed.

All of this money was spent without ratepayer consent. Now Camanche ratepayers are obligated to repay the funds that were overspent during the last 8 years.


Camanche Rates vs. Consumer Price Index