The Ukiah Valley Water Authority held a regular meeting of the water executive committee on August 6 at 5 PM at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, chaired by Adam Gaska. Currently the UVWA is comprised of the City of Ukiah, and the Redwood Valley and Millview County Water Districts. RV and Millview are managed by the Willow County Water District, but they will transition to Ukiah City management in January 2025. Other local water districts may, in the future, opt to sign on to the Joint Powers Authority document that formed the UVWA.
The application for the SAFER planning grant has been submitted. SAFER is a program of the California Department of Water Resources that provides funding for communities to ensure a safe source of water. UVWA plans to eventually upgrade infrastructure using SAFER grant money. The planning grant is the first step in this process. Staff members Sean White and Jared Walker are working with water engineering consulting firm Carollo to obtain the grant funds and prepare the planning documents. Carollo representatives will review the existing water systems and infrastructure of Ukiah, Millview, and Redwood Valley beginning later this month. White said, “The grant application has room for others to join, but the train is moving.”
UVWA is scheduled to take over service of Ukiah, Redwood Valley and Millview customers beginning January 1, 2025. White reported that the consolidation efforts have been going well, with a consultant working with staff of all the parties to ensure a smooth transition of the customer records and billing system. The City of Ukiah Human Resources staff have been working with Walker and his office manager to make sure that payroll and benefits match up for the RV and Millview employees who transition to Ukiah. White said “I think we are where we should be at this point in time.” Walker and White are working to make sure the employees do not lose benefits or salary in the consolidation. Walker said the goal is that “Nobody that wants a job loses a job, and that nobody’s finances are negatively affected.”
Attorney Phil Williams reported on the signed Master Tax Sharing Agreement between Mendocino County and the Cities of Fort Bragg, Point Arena, Ukiah and Willits. (For an explanation of tax sharing agreements, please see the MendoFever article on the UVWA July Meeting.) Williams said completing the tax sharing agreement has been a work in progress for many years. The JPA contemplates that there may be future annexations of county property. The premise behind the tax sharing agreement is to wean the county off tax revenue over a 10 or 15 year period, so there will not be a rapid, drastic loss of revenue to the County when land is annexed by a city.
Attorney and UVWA Executive Committee Member Doug Crane commented that the tax sharing agreement is favorable to the county. Crane wanted to know about the withdrawal provisions. How would a party to the Master Tax Sharing Agreement go about withdrawing from the agreement? Williams explained that if a party wishes to withdraw, it must provide a one-year notice with a five-year period to take effect. This ensures that there won’t be any sudden changes in the allocation of tax revenue if a party wants to terminate. Williams said the agreement contains “robust and helpful dispute resolution language. . . . we worked really hard to draft something that will endure.”
The Committee discussed the impact to a property owner in an unincorporated area of the county that is annexed by Ukiah. In this event, Ukiah tax structure will be overlaid on the property. It should not result in significant changes to a property owner’s taxes, but what will change is which tax collector gets the money.
The meeting wrapped up in about 30 minutes. The next meeting will be Thursday, September 12, 4:00 pm, at the Ukiah Conference Center.
This sounds well thought out – but what about Boonville and, especially, the rest of Anderson Valley? ” White said, “The grant application has room for others to join, but the train is moving.” Boonville has a water/sewer plan in the works which is apparently stalled – but that is only Boonville. As I asked, what about Anderson Valley as a whole? We would not want the train to leave without us.
Anderson Valley is not being looked at to join the UVWA. So far Redwood Valley County and Millview water districts have joined the JPA. Willow and Calpella are still on the fence but may join.
OH – Well, Anderson Valley needs water too. I was just thinking we could dig a little tunnel under
the hill and then Anderson Valley could have Eel River water just like Sonoma County. Why not, as long as the Eel watershed does not need the water that would naturally flow there? We have grapes here too, and people, and businesses. With grapes alone we should qualify….
I don’t see Rogina Water mentioned in any of these articles. Does that mean they have no intention of joining the UVWA or the JPA?
Roguna is a privately owned mutual watwr company. The consolidation is just public water districts
Too bad for the customers. Thank you for the info.
If water is under consideration, why not include all of Mendocino County in the discussion? Or do the folks controlling the discussion only want to consider the Ukiah Valley? Do the “powers that be” only want to bring tourists to Anderson Valley and to the Mendocino Coast without any consideration of where those tourists will get water to drink and to flush all the waste away?
If you think that my idea for a water tunnel from Ukiah to Anderson Valley is bizarre consider this: There is actually a proposal under consideration to build a tunnel or tunnels under the Delta which would divert Sacramento River water to be dumped into the desert to the south. Even more water than is being currently sent there. It seems that the State thinks that we need more tract homes, more grapes and more almonds and for that they want more water from the Northern part of our State. My proposal is nothing in comparison to this and before we build any tunnels under the delta I think we should make sure that ALL of Mendocino County has water.
There is money available to upgrade existing infrastructure and consolidate already existing water districts which is a large driver behind this project. Anderson Valley doesn’t have a water district with a board of directors to even inquire about then vote to consolidate with another district.
While piping water to Anderson Valley is possible, it’s not feasible. Marin County is looking at piping water from the Sacramento River via a pipeline on the Richmond bridge. The pumping cost alone is estimated to be $2500-3000 an AF just to get the water to Marin. This doesn’t include the cost of the pipeline. Redwood Valley water district water already costs $50-60 a month for a household of 4 using 55 gallons per person per day. The cost of pumping water to Anderson Valley would be expensive. There is no infrastructure to deliver water once it gets there. There won’t be much extra water to pump out of the Ukiah Valley once we lose the Potter Valley Project. These are just a few of the more obvious obstacles.
Besides the state money available, the other big driver behind consolidation of Ukiah water delivery is it will help keep the cost down by spreading overhead over a larger customer base. The handful of small water districts outside of Ukiah all use Willow water district as a contract service provider to manage our district operations because we cannot afford to have our own GM and maintenance crews. This is basically just the next jump up by coming underneath the operations umbrella of the City of Ukiah.
Well, as far as cost is concerned – Mr. Gaska, you much per acre foot are we now spending to pump water from the Delta south? How much will it cost when the proposed tunnel is built – if it is built? There might be someone somewhere to say “that is not feasible.” My point is that if water is to be moved we should make sure that Northern California has what it needs before we allow it to be sent away to the desert. I have mentioned Anderson Valley and Mendocino town, but I suspect there are other areas which might be interested…
As far as Anderson Valley is concerned, why do we not have a water district? We do have a Community Services District working on infrastructure for water and sewer. Why should we not be included under the City of Ukiah umbrella as other outlying areas are?
Anyway – all of this stuff is free. The State pays, or Grants pay. Am I correct here? That mens it costs nothing, right?
I have no idea why Anderson Valley doesn’t have a water district. Likely because people in your area did not organize to form one then levy a tax to financially support it. With lack of organization, there was no entity to file for a water right that would be used to supply the water. Everyone did their own thing-i.e. drilled wells and put in septic systems.
What water costs depends on the water district. I have no idea what it costs other water districts. I am getting a better idea of what it costs our water district to deliver water which is over $2000 an AF to domestic customers. Ag customers it is much less since it doesn’t get treated.
Nothing is free. It comes from tax money.
So – you have no answer, and you have no reply to my questions beyond, “I don’t know?” I am really happy to see that you do know that nothing is free. So – you say that “for ag customers it (water) is much less, since it is not treated.”
What do you mean by that statement? With “not treated” what are we getting in our food, and the water that is used to grow it – since that water is “not treated?” I would submit that “ag water” should be treated to remove pathogens and chemicals, and that the charge to do that should be enough to cover the apparently minimal cost to treat the rest of the water.
I don’t live in Anderson Valley, never lived there and haven’t dug into the history of a water district that doesn’t exist. I have somewhat followed the CSD’s recent efforts to start a sanitation district. The main obstacle is going to be getting property owners in the proposed new service district to levy a tax to support it. Then a board will need to be formed to manage the agency.
RVCWD has two separate pipe systems-domestic and ag. The domestic system water goes through a treatment and meets all state guidelines for drinking water. The ag system is raw water pumped from lake mendocino and delivered to farms with zero treatment. If ag customers are concerned about pathogens or chemicals, they are free to treat the water on their accord.
Well, now I understand; You do not know anything about Anderson Valley. FYI we have a Community Services District and we are working to have community water and sewer and when we do we will have a water district.
In the meantime you ignore my question about the untreated water being supplied at low cost (your words) to agriculture. I will ask again: What is in this untreated water that is being used to provide us with food? What is going to “nourish” the grapes that our region is famous for? Presumably we are not supposed to drink this water unless it is treated – but untreated is OK for our vegetables, our wine, and our livestock? All those are in our food chain. Why is Agriculture being given a break here? It seems to me that agriculture affects the vast majority of people and that agriculture is getting a free pass, as well as our water for very nearly free.