The Redwood Valley County Water District (RVCWD) transfer of water services to the Ukiah Valley Water Authority (UVWA) was completed on January 2, 2025 with the City of Ukiah assuming oversight. At the December 19, 2024, board meeting, General Manager Jared Walker outlined updates on billing changes, financial reporting, and recent repairs. The board also discussed the future of local water governance, including potential consolidation and the dissolution of the Upper Russian River Water Agency (URRWA), while addressing ongoing vandalism at the Lake Mendocino pumphouse.
The new UVWA billing system will keep Redwood Valley’s practice of sending separate bills for domestic and irrigation water, even if the account holder is the same person. On many properties the domestic and irrigation water are paid by different parties, so the bills will continue to be separate.
Walker reported on the December UVWA meeting. Now that the Willow County Water District has joined, this almost doubles the number of accounts that the City of Ukiah finance staff needs to bill each month.
Office Manager Liz Patton explained that as of January, when the UVWA takes over preparation of monthly financial reporting, the reports will be printed in a different format, as the city has a different financial reporting system.
The Directors discussed and approved the financial statements for October and November. Walker reported on an unexpected expense resulting from a screen that was dislodged from the reservoir that goes to the water treatment plant. Divers with expertise in making repairs in zero visibility water were hired. The repair was successful, but cost $4,500. The divers were able to do the repairs without having to take the tanks offline.
Walker reported that Mendoza Electric submitted an invoice for repairs at the pump station at Lake Mendocino. Two more motors need to be tested. The cost for repairing the pump station went over the $200,000 that was received from PG&E settlement. There was approximately $50,000 remaining in the settlement fund, before this latest repair. The District will need to spend more on top of that to repair the third pump, and connect it to the telemetry system. Redwood Valley uses Telstar, but the City of Ukiah uses a different telemetry vendor. This is one of the many details to be worked out as the consolidation proceeds. Redwood Valley would not have been able to make the repairs if they had not received the PG&E settlement funds.
Pace Supply is the new vendor for Badger Water Meters, used by the District. Approximately $20,000 worth of meters were purchased in October.
The financial audit for 2024 has not yet been finalized. Next year the City of Ukiah will prepare the audit for the UVWA.
Director Bree Klotter wanted to know what Redwood Valley paid for the transition to UVWA. Office Manager Patton said the City of Ukiah paid for almost everything. The next step will be working towards a joint rate study, so that by the end of the next series of five year rate adjustments, all rates for UVWA customers will be uniform.
The Board voted to approve a resolution to change the signatories to the checking account to include certain City of Ukiah employees who will sign checks on behalf of the UWVA.
The water sharing program that was instituted during the severe drought will be revised. The State Water Resources Control Board and Sonoma Water are working on this.
The Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency sent an invoice for annual dues to the Upper Russian River Water Agency, a JPA comprised of Redwood Valley, Willow, Millview, Calpella, and the Ukiah Valley Sanitation District. The invoice from URRWA was allocated among the districts, based on number of service connections of each district.
With the new UVWA JPA, the Board discussed whether URRWA should be dissolved. The UVWA as a method of consolidating small water districts is basically a replacement for URRWA, which was formed for a similar purpose. URRWA has a seat on the board of the Mendocino County Inland Power and Water Commission. If URRWA is dissolved, would the UVWA get that seat? The Directors did not discuss the fact that the Calpella County Water District and the Ukiah Valley Sanitation District, which are part of URRWA, but have not yet joined the UVWA, do not have seats on the board of MCIPWC, as they are currently represented on the MCIPWC board by URRWA.
Director Tom Schoeneman reported on the December 12 MCIWPC special meeting. Schoeneman is the Redwood Valley representative on the Board of the MCIWPC. There have been closed sessions at the beginning of recent MCIWPC meetings, for confidential discussions with attorneys, mainly on the subject of the Potter Valley Project. MCIWPC is waiting for PG&E’s Final Draft Surrender Application for the Potter Valley Project, to be released in January 2025. The Department of Energy announced that PG&E will receive $15 billion for a hydroelectric project in the San Joaquin Valley to produce clean power. (This provoked ironic laughter from those in the room, in light of PG&E’s decision to decommission the Potter Valley hydroelectric project, and the long local struggle to secure water for Potter Valley.) The MCIWPC and the Army Corps of Engineers are working to raise money for the study on raising Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino. In the years since the study was initially proposed, estimates have doubled in cost, from $3 million to $6 million.
Consultant LACO received hydrogeologic reports on the efforts to find a good spot for a new well on the Masonite site. This is funded by the Small Community Drought Relief Grant Project. There are three locations that look promising, all directly south of the existing well #6 owned by Millview County Water District. If a reliable well is found at this location, it would be ideal, as it would be convenient to intertie with existing equipment. Drilling needs to commence as soon as possible, as the project needs to be finished by Fall of 2025.
Regarding annexing Redwood Valley into Russian River Flood Control & Water Conservation Improvement District, Director Bree Klotter reported Redwood Valley will need to pay 60% of costs for that. For the past two months Klotter has been searching for proper documentation showing Redwood Valley County Water District boundaries. She met recently with Tom Herman of Willits engineering firm SHN, who was very helpful in pointing her in the right direction.
Board President Adam Gaska announced there may soon be an opening for a Director, as Cassie Taaning is expected to resign her seat. Anyone who is interested in serving may submit an application to the Redwood Valley County Water District. After the consolidation with UVWA gets underway and is running smoothly, it is likely that the RV board will only need to meet quarterly, not every month.
The next RVCWD meeting is Thursday, January 16, at 5:00 pm.
Postscript to Redwood Valley Water News:
On December 30, a member of the Redwood Valley-Calpella Community Facebook Group posted a picture of vandalism at the Lake Mendocino pumphouse. We asked Jared Walker, GM of the Redwood Valley County Water District, if he was aware of this. He said that the District is aware of the graffiti and vandalism to the fence, “This has been going on for decades at this location and seems to come and go in waves. We make repairs to the fencing only to come back and find it cut open again. There really is not much we can do to avoid this, other than have full time security, which is not economical. There is another old winery past our site that is a well known site for graffiti also, so I’m sure they are getting this on the way in or out of there. The road repair does not impact this, as the Army Corps has locked gates so traffic cannot get in without a gate code. Anyone that would have access to this would be on foot or bike.”
[…] “The Redwood Valley County Water District (RVCWD) transfer of water services to the Ukiah Valley Water Authority (UVWA) was completed on January 2, 2025 with the City of Ukiah assuming oversight. At the December 19, 2024, board meeting, General Manager Jared Walker outlined updates on billing changes, financial reporting, and recent repairs. The board also discussed the future of local water governance, including potential consolidation and the dissolution of the Upper Russian River Water Agency (URRWA), while addressing ongoing vandalism at the Lake Mendocino pumphouse. The new UVWA billing system will keep Redwood Valley’s practice of sending separate bills for domestic and irrigation water, even if the account holder is the same person. On many properties the domestic and irrigation water are paid by different parties, so the bills will continue to be separate. … ” Read more from MendoFever. […]