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VOLUME 171 • ISSUE 56 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022
Repairs complete — EID flumes flowing again News release Water is once again flowing through the El Dorado Irrigation District’s El Dorado Canal. On Thursday, May 5, water began to flow through this important water delivery system damaged by the 220,000-plus-acre Caldor Fire last summer. These sections of EID’s canal and flume system are located 24 miles east of Placerville, perched on steep, hard-to-access terrain along the south side of Highway 50. The 22-mile-long
system has a mixture of above-ground flumes and in-ground concrete canals and transports one-third of EID’s water supply. The El Dorado Canal system is the primary means of water supply for a significant portion of EID’s service area, from Pollock Pines all the way to Cameron Park and El Dorado Hills. The El Dorado Canal also supplies water to the district’s 21 megawatt El Dorado Powerhouse, contributing renewable energy to the state’s energy grid and a source of non-rate revenue for the district.
Safety first at Tahoe waterfalls Miranda Jacobson Tahoe Daily Tribune
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Photo courtesy of EID
Judge candidates make their case Thomas Frey Staff writer
OUTH LAKE TAHOE — It’s time to go chasing waterfalls in the Lake Tahoe Basin. With the snowpack quickly melting the waterfalls in the area are flowing. U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Public Affairs Specialist Lisa Herron advises the time to go out is now, given what a dry winter the region had. “More falls directly correlates to how much precipitation we received,” said Herron. “This season, the optimal time to see these waterfalls is going
Miranda Jacobson/Tahoe Daily Tribune
See WATERFALLS, page A8
The upper stretches of Eagles Falls offers many places to explore with flowing snowmelt. Officials recommend staying off possibly slick rocks next to raging waters.
n
Water is captured by El Dorado Irrigation District’s reconstructed Flume 4, one of four sections of previously wooden flume destroyed in the Caldor Fire in August 2021.
Two candidates in a race to be an El Dorado County Superior Court judge told voters at an April 28 forum why they should be elected to the Office 7 seat. Vying for that seat are Gary Slossberg and Lesley Gomes Barlow. Barlow has been practicing law for more than 20 years and has worked as a deputy county attorney for El Dorado County and currently serves as such in Amador. She lives in Placerville. Slossberg has been in the law field 17 years, 7 of those in El Dorado County, including serving as a family law facilitator and superior court commissioner. He is a resident of Folsom. The county’s next judge will be decided at the polls June 7. “I know we both share a long-term commitment to El Dorado County and desire to do all we can for the residents,” Slossberg said. The pair gave opening and closing statements and in between answered several questions thrown their way by Eileen Burke-Trent, chapter president of the n
See JUDGE CANDIDATES, page A7
Pollock Pines schools cut costs with solar energy Eric Jaramishian Staff writer After a years-long effort to modernize its energy consumption, Pollock Pines PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
Elementary School District has officially turned to solar energy with its new solar photovoltaic systems. The energy-saving systems have been applied to the entire district, which consists of Pinewood Elementary School, Sierra Ridge Middle School and the district’s administration office. With its new solar systems, the district is expected to save $4 million in energy costs over a 30-year time period, according to Climatech Business Development Manager Rob Reading. Climatech is the company responsible for the implementation of the solar panels. “With PG&E (rates)
going up, they effectively do not have to worry about because they’re generating their own power here. They are not going to have to pay PG&E to get it,” Reading said. Reading added that PG&E rates are going up by 13-15% next year, but the district will offset roughly 86% of its overall PG&E bills. The new solar systems is “as effective” as 50 homes in Pollock Pines being off the grid or taking 60 cars off the road, Reading said. The public joined school board members and district employees at Pinewood Elementary Friday, May 6, to flip the switch on the solar system. n
See SOLAR, page A8
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Mountain Democrat photo by Eric Jaramishian
Climatic Business Development Manager Rob Reading, left, and Pollock Pines Elementary School District Superintendent Pat Atkins get ready to flip the switch on a new solar system at Pinewood Elementary in Pollock Pines.
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