Monday, December 9, 2024

Redwood Valley’s Water Future: Board Addresses Consolidation and Challenges

[Stock image by Matt LaFever]

All hands were on deck for the July Board meeting of the Redwood Valley County Water District, led by Board President Adam Gaska, and General Manager Jared Walker. The Board voted on several important agenda items that have long been under discussion. 

The integration of Redwood Valley and the City of Ukiah staff is on track to be completed by January 2025. Willow County Water District manages Redwood Valley, Calpella, Millview, Hopland, and River Estates County Water Districts, while only Redwood Valley and Willow opted to consolidate with Ukiah. Still to be determined is how the consolidation of Willow employees is going to work, in light of the fact that some districts managed by Willow will continue to operate without consolidating with Ukiah. 

Walker reported that the cross-training of the Redwood Valley and Ukiah employees is going well. They are learning the technology and chemicals used in the other agency’s water treatment system. Because both sets of employees are all experienced in municipal water systems, the training is proceeding faster than if new hires were being trained. The water treatment plant performed well during the recent extreme heat wave that lasted 11 days.  

Office Manager Liz Patton is working with the City of Ukiah and its consultant to integrate the Redwood Valley and Willow billing and customer database with Ukiah’s database. Progress is being made in this time-consuming process. Redwood Valley has four different bank accounts, two of which need to be closed prior to consolidation with Ukiah. One of the accounts was opened to hold funds for repayment of the Bureau of Reclamation Loan. Redwood Valley has not paid on this loan for many years. Research will be needed to determine if this account may be closed, or if there is a legal requirement to keep it open. The second account has to do with depreciation of assets, and nothing has been active on that bank account for several years. Patton would like to transfer the funds in these accounts to the general business account. If the District is legally able to close the two accounts, a resolution will be prepared for the Board to vote on at next month’s meeting. 

The Board voted to send a Notice of Termination and Agreement to Terminate Water Service Agreement to Willow County Water District, now that Redwood Valley has joined with Ukiah to form the Ukiah Valley Water Authority.

Some farmers are already reporting sunburned vines from the high heat, and it is expected that demand for ag water, pumped out of Lake Mendocino, will increase. The road to the pump station was badly damaged from the bad winter storms of the past two years. Temporary repairs allow for pickup trucks to use it, but further repairs are needed before the road is suitable for a large crane to get there for necessary equipment replacement. The weather has been too hot to work at the pump station, as the work site is in the direct sun. Repairs are scheduled for September. Lake Mendocino is 5,000 acre-feet lower than it was at this same time last year.

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Redwood Valley has been attempting to drill a municipal well at the former Masonite property, funded by the California Department of Water Resources’ Small Community Drought Relief Grant Project. Supposedly a check is in the mail on its way to pay for the first round of expenses for this effort. There are approximately 50 acres available to look for water. The issue is whether to use a different drilling method on the previously-drilled hole that kept filling in with loose gravel, look for another spot, or drill deeper. A hydrogeologist and a geophysicist have been hired by the District’s engineering consultant, Larry Walker and Associates (LWA), to determine where to drill. Every well driller in California is very busy. 

The Ukiah Valley Water Authority had a short meeting on July 9 (reported in this MendoFever article). UVWA hired water engineering consulting firm Carollo to apply for the funds from SAFER, a program of the California Department of Water Resources designed to provide safe drinking water for Californians. Carollo engineers will be driving around Redwood Valley in the near future to view the existing water infrastructure. Supposedly $50-$60 million is readily available, and possibly even $100 million, as California is committed to providing safe drinking water and funding water recycling projects such as Ukiah’s purple pipe. Possibly up to $60,000 is available in funding for each service connection. The District would like to replace the 50 year old water mains, especially those located under Highway 101.

The Board has been talking for several years about having Redwood Valley annexed into the Mendocino County Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. Board President Adam Gaska has been instrumental in moving this process along. As it currently stands, Redwood Valley has no right to the surface water in Lake Mendocino. Every year, the District purchases surplus Ag Water from RRFC. Redwood Valley is not allowed to contract for this water. If Redwood Valley is annexed into RRFC’s boundary, they will have the ability to contract for water. The Board reviewed and discussed a draft letter to the California DWR, asking permission to re-allocate $40,000 of previously awarded grant funds for a different project, to instead be used for legal work to complete the annexation through LAFCO. The Board voted to send the letter, which will kick off the official process of annexing into RRFC. 

The District is a party to the Eel-Russian Project Authority, a Joint Powers Authority formed to negotiate with PG&E about taking over and re-designing the diversion facilities that send water from the Eel River to the Russian River through the Potter Valley Project. The other Mendocino County parties include the City of Ukiah, the County of Mendocino, the Potter Valley Irrigation District, Russian River Flood Control, and the Mendocino County Inland Power and Water Districts. PVID and MCIWPC are managing this project on behalf of the parties. It will benefit all the parties to sign on to a Joint Prosecution and Common Interest Agreement Regarding PG&E Surrender and Transfer of Potter Valley Project, so that they may share confidential information during the negotiations with PG&E. The Board voted to sign the agreement.

To pay for the legal and consulting work related to the Eel-Russian Project Authority, PVID and MCIWPC sent an invoice to each party. The total amount is budgeted at over $300,000. Redwood Valley is being asked to pay $60,000. After discussion, the Board voted to pay $30,000, half of the requested amount. Last year, Redwood Valley also paid half of the invoiced amount. 

Board Member Tom Schoeneman questioned why the District needs to spend so much money to eventually possibly receive seasonally diverted water, when there is no storage for it. There has been talk of raising Coyote Valley Dam to create more storage, but that isn’t likely to happen soon. Despite this objection, he voted along with the rest of the Board to pay half of the invoice. 

The Board discussed and voted to approve the District’s draft budget for the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year. It is unknown at this time whether certain insurance payments and grant funds will be received in the next fiscal year, or will be pushed to the following fiscal year. The Board and staff agreed that there are many unknowns with expenses and income. The draft is what they will work with for now. 

The next RVCWD meeting is set for Thursday, August 15 at 5:00 pm.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Please clarify this statement: “ Lake Mendocino is 5,000 feet lower than it was at this same time last year.” Is its meant to say “acre feet?” Clearly it is not 5,000 feet lower in elevation!

  2. Please clarify: “ Lake Mendocino is 5,000 feet lower than it was at this same time last year.” clearly it is not 5,00 feet lower in elevation.

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Monica Huettl
Monica Huettl
Mendocino County Resident, Annoying Horse Girl.

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