CITY OF NAPA
PROCLAMATION
Recognizing the Anniversary of the City of Napa’s Water System November 15, 2022
WHEREAS, as celebrated recently, the town of Napa, later to become the City of Napa was incorporated in 1872; and WHEREAS, between 1848 and 1883 Napa had no organized water supply system, individual homes had wells and the town had many windmills and tank houses; and WHEREAS, in 1883, the privately owned Napa City Water Company was founded and water was drawn direct from the Napa River at a 10-foot tall dam approximately a half mile north of Trancas Street, filtered through a locomotive boiler filled with sand, gravity fed through an 18 inch wooden pipeline to cisterns and a pumping plant at Hagen Road and Silverado Trail known as the Waterworks where it was pumped up to a 3-million gallon reservoir on the hillside created by a dam constructed of large square blocks of stone, which was an early example of the work of J.B Newman who later built or furnished the stone for several important stone buildings in Napa, and from there a 14-inch cast iron pipeline delivered water to the City of 3,500 people; and WHEREAS, in 1906, improvements were made to the system, but the quantity and quality of the water that became increasingly brackish and unpleasant in taste, was not sufficient for the City residents and businesses; and WHEREAS, in October 1922, serving a population of 6,000, the Napa City Council purchased the Napa City Water Company that consisted of the Waterworks plant and reservoirs on Hagen Road, wells on Elm street, a water tower on Pine Street and pipelines in the City at a cost of $240,000 in bonds at 4.5% interest; and WHEREAS, the City immediately took action to secure a new source of fresh water and in 1924, at a cost of $657,000, the Milliken Dam, tank, and pipeline was constructed; and WHEREAS, the concrete radial arch Milliken Dam, is 112 feet tall and Napans were pleased with the new 1,900 acre-feet of water supply that was clear and comparable in taste to the best water in the Sierras; and WHEREAS, in 1941 when the United States entered World War II, Mare Island was booming, Napa was declared a necessary living area for defense workers, and housing construction such as the Westwood subdivision quickly exceeded the City’s water supply; and WHEREAS, from 1942 through 1948 the City designed and constructed Conn Dam, a 110 ft tall earthen dam that impounds 31,500 acre-feet of water in Lake Hennessey, 21 miles of 36-inch transmission pipeline, and the Eastside Reservoir for a total cost of $1.5 million; and WHEREAS, in 1960, due to growth in the Redwood Road area and Browns Valley two storage tanks, A Tank in what is now Alston Park and B Tank in Browns Valley, and three pump stations were constructed; and WHEREAS, in 1965, then Council member Ed Barwick and others recognized the need for additional water supplies and an application was made to the State of California Department of Water Resources for an allocation of 12,500 acre-feet of water through the State Water Project; and WHEREAS, in 1966, bonds in the amount of $5.75 million were sold to construct the Jameson Canyon Water Treatment Plant, construct C Tank off of Foster Road and install 10 miles of 42-inch and 36-inch transmission pipeline to convey treated water north to the City of Napa; and WHEREAS, in 1981, at a cost of $14 million the City constructed a treatment plant at Lake Hennessey to treat the highly turbid, organic-laden water that has taste and odor challenges; and WHEREAS, from 1999 through 2006, three water storage tanks with a combined capacity of 14 million gallons were constructed at Lakeview Drive, Imola Avenue and Alston Park to replace outdated facilities and ensure reliability and availability of fireflow; and WHEREAS, in 2010, at a cost of $41 million, upgrades to the renamed Edward I. Barwick Jamieson Canyon Water Treatment Plant were completed to take beneficial use of the maximum State Water Project entitlements of 21,900 acre-feet; and WHEREAS, for 100 years the City of Napa public servants and elected officials have demonstrated a forward-thinking approach to water supplies and infrastructure; and WHEREAS, the City of Napa water system today employs 65 dedicated professional staff that provide clean, safe, reliable, low cost water 24/7 to a population of 84,000 by effectively managing the operations of 3 treatment plants, 12 storage tanks, 9 pump stations, 350 miles of pipelines, 2 dams and 5,000 acres of city-owned watershed property; and WHEREAS, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of our city-owned water system reminds us of the importance of continuous, consistent investment in water supplies, water infrastructure and water conservation, to ensure a vibrant residential and business community for the next 100 years and beyond.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Scott Sedgley, Mayor of the City of Napa, along with the City Council, do hereby recognize the 100th anniversary of the City of Napa municipal water system and call upon the people of Napa to observe our centennial with pride and recognition.
Dated: November 15, 2022
SCOTT SEDGLEY, MAYOR
CITY OF NAPA