C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
Volume 170 • Issue 2 | 75¢
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Monday, January 4, 2021
Sierra snowpack halfway to average Dawn Hodson Staff writer The Department of Water Resources conducted its first Phillips Station snow survey of the season Dec. 30. The manual survey recorded 30.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 10.5 inches, which is 93 percent of the Jan. 1 average for that location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. While conditions were positive at Phillips Station, statewide the snowpack is just 52% of the average. “The snow survey results reflect California’s dry start to the water year,” said
We still have several months left to bring us up to average, but we should prepare now for extended dry conditions. — DWR Director Karla Nemeth DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “We still have several months left to bring us up to average, but we should prepare now for extended dry conditions. The department, along with other state agencies and local water districts, is prepared to support communities should conditions remain dry.” On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30 n
See Survey, page 9
Photo by Kelly M. Grow / California Department of Water Resources
Sean de Guzman, right, chief of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section, and Jeremy Hill, DWR water resources engineer, conduct the first media snow survey of the 2021 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada.
Year Review in
The Mountain Democrat staff continues its look back on some of the top news stories of 2020.
Top 10 of 2020 NO. 6 Permits for Placerville’s first pot shops almost go up in smoke Thomas Frey Staff writer After starting 2020 sky-high Placerville’s adult-use marijuana dispensary hopefuls got a buzz-kill when the coronavirus pandemic hit and the appeals came in. The city for years weighed whether to allow marijuana sales but in January the Placerville City Council named three dispensaries that would be granted permits out of a pool of seven applicants: Chuck’s Wellness Center, Reserve House and Sacred Roots. The choices announced by Placerville’s city manager were appealed, a process that in nonCOVID times would have been seen to over the course of one or two City Council meetings.
But after months of delay the four other applicants for a city permit to sell recreational marijuana finally had their day to make their case. When City Council returned to the subject in July councilmembers were poised to start from scratch with appellants challenging the method in which the city manager reached his decision but instead decided they were right the first time: The recommendations made by City Manager Cleve Morris were the best choice for the town after all. One of the permit winners, Sacred Roots owner Kelly Chiusano, who also runs the Pure Life Collective in Diamond Springs, later hit a snag of his own. n
See permits, page 10
NO. 7 To pipe or not to pipe the El Dorado Canal Dawn Hodson Staff writer One of the big local battles in 2020 was over whether to pipe the Upper Main Ditch, also known as the El Dorado Canal. Meandering its way through Pollock Pines, the 3-mile El Dorado Irrigation District ditch transports water from Forebay Reservoir to the Reservoir 1 Water Treatment Plant, providing water to customers from Pollock Pines to El Dorado Hills. Local residents have long prized the canal as a community recreational and ecological resource and as a fire break. It also played a part in the area’s Gold Rush history. EID officials on the other hand view the open ditch as a source of contaminants that increases the cost of water treatment. Items found in the ditch
Photo courtesy of EID
After a court victory the El Dorado Irrigation District will move forward with its plan to pipe the El Dorado Canal. have included human and animal remains, batteries, bikes and other litter. EID staff also maintain piping the ditch would save an average of 1,800 acre-feet of water per year lost to seepage and evapotranspiration. Initially EID planned on installing a pipe within the existing ditch but after input from the public, the board voted for an alternative in which 1,500 feet of the pipe would be within the existing ditch, 2,600 feet would traverse
cross-country terrain and 8,200 feet would be located within the Blair Road public right-of-way. That did not stop a local group called Save the El Dorado Canal from filing a lawsuit against EID, challenging the environmental impact report for the project. Those changes to the project also failed to change the minds of many of those writing, emailing and calling into EID meetings on the subject. Some urged the board to wait for
the court to rule. Others suggested a delay until after the November election as three EID board members were up for re-election. Nonetheless, the Blair Road option was adopted at the Aug. 24 EID meeting when the board voted 3-2 to proceed with the $15.4 million project. Meanwhile an El Dorado County Superior Court judge found that EID had complied with CEQA. The judge’s ruling was then appealed to the n
See canal, page 10
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