Although PCWA makes every effort to prevent them, water outages occur from time to time. Emergency outages or those planned for needed maintenance can affect customers who receive canal water or those who receive treated, piped water.
Emergencies
On the treated water system, pipeline breaks and other occurrences
can affect customer service. PCWA crews are on-call around the
clock to repair any problems that may occur. If repairs cannot
immediately be made, the water agency works to alert affected
customers to the problem. The open canal system is more exposed
to emergencies, falling trees, plugged culverts, erosion, rock
slides, even rodent damage to canal berms can lead to leaks, water
loss and service outages. When outages occur and cannot be immediately
repaired, PCWA works to notify customers who may be affected.
For 24-hour Emergency Services call (530) 823-4850.
PG&E Planned Outages
PCWA's main source of water is delivered through Pacific Gas
& Electric Co. canals which must be kept in good working order.
In the fall of most years, usually in October and November, after
the irrigation season, PG&E shuts down various canals for
routine maintenance work. During this work, PCWA reroutes water
supplies and most customers will not notice any difference in
service. Occasionally, however, some outages are inevitable for
some canal water customers. The Agency sends notices to customers
in advance when outages are planned.
PCWA Planned Outages
PCWA operates and maintains 165 miles of canals and, like PG&E,
must shut down canals from time to time for maintenance work.
A part of this ongoing work is the gunnite lining of canals to
prevent seepage and water loss. The ongoing canal cleaning program
also requires periodic outages; these are usually planned during
the non-irrigation season months from January into April.
Outage Information
When outages are scheduled specific outage dates and times will
be sent to customers whose service will be interrupted. In the
case of emergency outages, call our Customer Services Office at
530/823-4850 for up to date information.
Valuable Information for Canal Water Customers
Out of Water?
During the warm, high water use months, demand on the canal system is greatly increased. Canal water levels fluctuate during high usage periods such as early evenings, weekends, and holidays. Below are some precautions you should take to ensure water delivery, and what to do if you are out of water.
Precautions
-
Know your system.
-
Where your connection is to the canal system.
-
Do you share the line with others? How many?
-
Is each neighbor taking just what he buys?
-
Do you have a storage tank? Is its capacity sufficient for your requirements?
-
If you are pumping, does you pump have a low water cut-off switch?
-
How much water are you buying? One miner's inch equals approximately 11 gallons per minute.
What To Do When There Is No Water
-
Check and clean your screen.
-
Is there water flowing into your deliver box?
-
If you are on an open ditch, is the ditch lower than usual or dry? (This condition should always be reported.)
-
If you share your line, check your neighbors to determine if they are also out of water.
-
Call our office at (530) 823-4850 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. We will ask questions like those above to determine what corrective action is necessary. After regular business hours, our answering service will receive your call. If you call after 9:00 PM, your call will often be referred to the office the next morning. We are not able to send canal operators to unplug individual service lines during evenings and
non-working hours. We recommend that anyone relying upon ditch systems for water source keep a supply in storage (tank) for emergencies.
