An emergency water line break has prompted El Dorado Irrigation District to schedule water work Wednesday that could affect about 1,700 customers in the Placerville area, who may experience low pressure or lose service while crews work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The affected area includes homes and businesses west of downtown Placerville, including the Sacramento Hill, Placerville Drive and Cold Springs Road areas, generally covering properties north and south of Highway 50 between Missouri Flat Road and Highway 49.
According to The Sacramento Bee, the district notified affected customers by phone, email or text using the contact information on file, and urged them to conserve water, use it only for essential purposes, or store enough ahead of the work. El Dorado Irrigation District also warned residents not to drink or use cloudy or dirty water for food preparation or personal hygiene while repairs are underway. The utility says the October 21 scheduled work is needed to fix an emergency water line break affecting a large sector of Placerville along that same Highway 50 stretch, per El Dorado Irrigation District.
What To Do Before and After Scheduled Water Work
District guidelines call on commercial and residential customers to deactivate water-dependent appliances before the scheduled work, including hot water recirculating pumps, pressure boosters, and automatic pool fill valves, since a sudden pressure drop can damage pumps and heating elements. Once service is restored, customers may notice discolored water or air trapped in their pipes, the Bee reports. EID recommends running an outside faucet for five to ten minutes until the water clears, which flushes out trapped air and sediment dislodged during the repair work.
Customers can check a map of the affected area on the district's service notifications page or call 530-642-4000 for more information, per the Bee's report.
A System Built for Steep Terrain
Wednesday's repair is a small slice of a much larger maintenance burden. El Dorado Irrigation District operates and maintains more than 1,140 miles of pipeline, 37 storage reservoirs and five treatment facilities serving roughly 44,000 active service accounts across its territory. Because the district's 220-square-mile service area ranges from 500 to over 4,000 feet in elevation, EID manages 180 distinct pressure zones and more than 200 pressure-regulating stations to keep water flowing safely through such steep, varied terrain.
Water Supply
Nearly half of EID's primary drinking water supply originates from Jenkinson Lake at the Sly Park Recreation Area in Pollock Pines, supplemented by draws from Forebay Reservoir and Folsom Lake, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
