AUBURN -- Major improvements will be made to the spillway on the dam at French Meadows Reservoir, under action taken Thursday (July 3) by the Placer County Water Agency Board of Directors.

 Designed and built in the early 1960s, the spillway does not meet current standards for probable maximum flood protection, said Jon Mattson, a PCWA hydroelectric engineer.

 The project involves widening the existing spillway on L.L. Anderson Dam by 32 feet, replacing and raising the dam crest parapet wall and adding a new control gate structure.

 Mattson said the work includes significant excavation and is estimated at $23 million.  Construction is planned in 2010 and 2011.
 PCWA’s French Meadows Reservoir is located at the 5100-foot elevation near the headwaters of the Middle Fork American River. 

 In other business, directors:
 • heard a report from Director of Administrative Services Valerie Lord on two recent incidents in the region in which residential burglars passed themselves off as water company workers.  Lord said PCWA employees may be identified by their uniforms and ID cards.  Furthermore, she said, “We never arrive unannounced and we don’t invite ourselves into people’s homes.”
 • approved a $10,000 financial assistance grant contract with the Sierra Lakes County Water District for a water supply analysis in the Donner Summit area.
  • approved a $10,000 financial assistance grant contract with the North Tahoe Public Utility District for a water treatment alternatives study in the Dollar Cove area.
 • heard an update from General Manager David A. Breninger on the forest fires which continue to burn on Placer County watershed lands on the North Fork American River in the Blue Canyon area.

 The next regular meeting of the PCWA Board of Directors will be held at 2 p.m. on July 17 at the PCWA Business Center, 144 Ferguson Road, in Auburn.  PCWA board meetings are open to the public.

 Information on PCWA board meetings is available through the Clerk to the Board at (530) 823-4850.