LAKE COUNTY >> With fall rains beginning to assuage the short-term effects of California”s drought, the State Water Resources Control Board is starting to lift curtailment regulations placed on junior water right holders in May.
Reports from various water right holders in Lake County, including county districts, businesses and a community service district, paint a rough picture of how the curtailments have affected the county. Water users have managed to get through the summer on reserves, but another round of regulations through the winter may have water right holders thirsty come summertime.
The state water board had issued the curtailment notices to all post-1914 water right holders of the Sacramento, San Joaquin River and Russian River watersheds, broadly calling on thousands to discontinue diversions through the summer.
Since then, the board has temporarily lifted the curtailments once during a weekend of consistent rain. Most recently, it fully lifted curtailments for water rights within the Russian River Watershed and partially lifted those for pre-1954 rights within the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds.
From the board”s database of water rights, it appears as though the major water right holders in Lake County are the Yolo County water district, the Lake County Watershed Protection District, PG&E and Langtry Farms. All of their rights appear to have been adjudicated after 1914.
“Generally, Lake County has ended up with more junior water rights because its development is newer than those down south,” Community Development Principal Planner Kevin Ingram explained.
Most substantially, the curtailments have affected Hidden Valley Lake”s water district, which has also been sent a compliance order to not make any new service connections to its system and search for alternative water sources in preparation for future droughts.
The district”s general manager, Roland Sanford, plans to argue the district shouldn”t have been subject to curtailment, as he doesn”t believe the district”s water usage is affecting senior water right holders and the district”s three wells fed by Putah Creek are its only source of safe water. Sanford expects to have updates on the district”s plans to meet with the state board within the next week, he said.
Otherwise, the state”s regulations appear to have had little effect on other water right holders in the county, although that may not be the case in 2015.
The Lake County Watershed Protection District (WPD), which falls under the county”s Department of Water Resources, has two post-1954 water rights. The first being the district”s ability to store water at the Highland Springs Reservoir and the second is the use of the Kelsey Creek Detention Structure, or groundwater recharge facility.
In February, the WPD was able to fill up the Highland Springs Reservoir well before the curtailment notices were sent out, according to Tom Smythe, the water resources engineer for the WPD.
“If the diversion regulations are not lifted, we”ll have to address that issue this coming winter,” Smythe said.
One option could be purchasing water from the Yolo County”s water district, which does hold pre-1914 water rights and is therefore unaffected by the curtailment regulations, Smythe said.
The Kelsey Creek Detention Structure allows groundwater to be recharged when control gates are closed to form a 10-foot dam. Although it”s typically closed for two to three weeks a year, the gates were closed for just a few days in March as the creek was so dry.
Under Special Districts, Spring Valley”s water system is the only district that has been affected by the curtailments, according to Special Districts Director Mark Dellinger.
Usually, the district diverts water from Wolf Creek between October and March and purchases water during the hotter six months of the year from Yolo County”s storage at the Indian Valley Reservoir. Since the state applied the curtailment regulations, it”s directed Spring Valley to purchase water from Yolo year round, which will cost the district about $6,500 extra a year, Dellinger said.
“Until the drought subsidizes, we”re going to be buying water from Yolo,” Dellinger said.
As for Wolf Creek, its surface flow is dry but if not for the curtailments, the district could likely tap the subsurface flow, Dellinger said.
Langtry Farms, which maintains vineyards in Middletown, holds a substantial amount of post-1914 water rights totaling more than 13,000 acre-feet per year.
The company”s Amanda Jordan declined to comment except to say the curtailments have had “no effect” on the Langtry business for the year. The water board”s records for 2013 show Langtry Farms filled its reservoirs prior to January 2013 while the drought in the fall prevented further diversions.
Finally, for the smaller business of the Middletown Farm and Cattle Company, the curtailments have not had an impact as the creeks where water would typically be diverted from have run completely dry this year, according to owner Mike Browning.
“The curtailments haven”t affected us but the drought has effected everybody,” Browning added.
As for the remaining curtailment regulations, the “board will be monitoring weather forecasts and stream gages (sic) to determine if curtailments should be re-imposed in the future, or if lifting of remaining curtailments is appropriate,” a letter to water right holders states.
