Regional Partnership Builds on Wildfire Resilience

This week EID had the opportunity to provide our regional partner, Utica Water and Power Authority (Utica), site visits to several flumes along the El Dorado Canal that are part of EID's water delivery and federally licensed hydroelectric infrastructure, Project 184. Annually, Project 184 is capable of providing up to 32,000 acre-feet (AF) of drinking water to our customers.

Like EID, Utica, has wooden flumes within its water delivery system that traverse the beautiful Sierra-Nevada foothills. These flumes transport water to their treatment plants for drinking and generate clean hydroelectric power which produces non-rate revenue to offset the costs of providing clean mountain drinking water to its customers.

Collaborating with local agencies that have similar infrastructure broadens the awareness of wildfire risks and impacts. This partnership enhances our ability to plan effectively and improve infrastructure designs to help protect both the water supply and infrastructure. Both agencies are committed to safeguarding its systems against the risk of wildfire threats, such as the Caldor Fire that destroyed four of the EID's flumes.

Photo 1: EID's Hydroelectric Operations Manager, Cary Mutschler, is pictured with Utica General Manager Joel Metzger discussing the conversion project for Flumes 38-40. This project upgraded the flumes from elevated wooden structures to an in-ground concrete canal. Thankfully, this upgrade was completed a few years before the 2021 Caldor Fire, which, as shown in the photo, burned right over the canal and block retaining wall. If the upgrade had not been completed, the fire would have likely destroyed the flumes and caused even greater damage to EID's infrastructure. The Caldor Fire resulted in $29.7 million (M) in damages and $4.7 M in operational losses. Fortunately, insurance covered a significant portion of these costs, and EID staff are actively pursuing additional recovery through FEMA.

Photo 2: As Metzger inspects the infrastructure of Flume45, Mutschler expresses one of EID's many challenges of operating the early 20^th century wooden flume structures while meeting the growing 21^st century drinking water needs of our community. Although the design of Flume 45 is currently included in EID's five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), funding limitations has delayed its replacement. Whenever technically and financially feasible, wooden flumes are replaced with in-ground concrete canals. The El Dorado Canal water delivery system includes 29 flumes, 16 of which are still the 1920s wooden design structures

2024-2028 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)

If you are interested in learning more about the District, visit our "Document Library " or "Learn more about District finances" webpages.