SoHum Towns Restrict Water Usage as Eel River Falls to Historic Lows
A historical photo of the Eel River near Redway when drought had not decimated it. [Image from the California Nevada River Forecast Center]
The lowest minimum in 81 years of collecting data was 11.4 cfs (cubic feet per second). Today’s cfs measured at the same gauge was 7.74 cfs.
[Screenshot from the website for the USGS’s South Fork of the Eel River gauge at Sylvandale]
He added, “They were already aware they should store enough water to prepare for this event…”Hopefully, they have enough water stored to get them through this event.”
Information from the GSD*
According to the website of the Garberville Sanitary District, customers asked to voluntarily reduce water consumption when the South Fork of the Eel River reaches 10 cfs.*
Redway’s Community Services District sent out an alert late yesterday stating, “We have already gone from Stage 2 which is a declaration of mandatory water conservation, to Stage 3 which is referred to as a Water Shortage Emergency. This means that the district may not be able to meet all of its customers’ demands.”
They warned, “The problem that the District Continues to face is a certain percentage of our customers not heeding our warnings. Because of this we have had to issue cease and desist letters to these customers…This week we will be moving into further enforcement measures, which will be fines and possible service interruption.”
Even the tiny town of Miranda which operates off wells that are not dropping has urged residents to conserve. “We sent a letter out about a week ago,” Bob Harris, Chairman for the Miranda Community Services District told us. “We are in uncharted territory with this drought.”
As water has grown scarcer and more valuable, one of the concerns is theft of the increasingly precious resource. Emerson said that though there has been no known theft of water for several years, “I bought fire hydrant locks and put them on all of the hydrants that are in areas not readily visible.” He explained that there has been water trails through town that could indicate that trucks were filling up during the early morning hours. “People call me at 3 in the morning [to report possible theft],” he told us. “We patrol at night.”
The Redway CSD’s alert yesterday noted that customers themselves may be stealing from that district. It warns, “PLEASE DO NOT FILL TOTES, WATER TANKS OR ANY OTHER PORTABLE WATER VESSELS AND HAUL OFF THE PROPERTY THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT WATER METER. Each water meter service, at each address in Redway, is for that address alone. It is unlawful for water to be moved off of the water service connection address.”
As water continues to drop in the South Fork of the Eel River, conservation efforts will grow more difficult to follow.
The Garberville Sanitary District rules* state when the South Fork of the Eel River reaches 7cfs that customers should stop all outdoor watering and if the flow is 5cfs or below then water use will be designated by the GSD on specific days. And if it reaches 4cfs, water needs to be used only for “personal health and safety with no allowance for outside watering.”
With possible showers this Friday evening, it is concievable that the cfs in the river could rise slightly. But real rain is not expected for weeks.
“It is a really frightening time,” Emerson said. “There’s a shortage of water and there’s a higher demand for the water.” He paused and added, “I don’t know how any one is issuing any permits for cannabis under these conditions.”
Below is the Redway Community Services District’s alert,
The Redway Community Services District continues to ask our customers to please conserve. As of this morning the U.S.G.S. Miranda Gauge was at 7.74 at 0930 and will drop more in the afternoon.
We have been continuously reaching out by phone to our higher users and asking that they PLEASE REDUCE. We have already gone from Stage 2 which is a declaration of mandatory water conservation, to Stage 3 which is referred to as a Water Shortage Emergency. This means that the district may not be able to meet all of its customers’ demands.
There have been several days each month beginning in June that the district surface water treatment plant has had to operate more that 18 hours, which draws down our infiltration gallery in the South Fork of the Eel River. When our operators have to operate the plant 18+ hours, it is hard on our equipment, as well gallery recharge, especially when we have these extremely low C.F.S. flows in the river.
The problem that the District Continues to face is a certain percentage of our customers not heeding our warnings. Because of this we have had to issue cease and desist letters to these customers.
This week we will be moving into further enforcement measures, which will be fines and possible service interruption.PLEASE DO NOT FILL TOTES, WATER TANKS OR ANY OTHER PORTABLE WATER VESSELS AND HAUL OFF THE PROPERTY THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT WATER METER.
. Each water meter service, at each address in Redway, is for that address alone. It is unlawful for water to be moved off of the water service connection address.
Thank you for everyone’s help in this very important matter
*Please note that an earlier version of this article incorrectly used an earlier version of the drought requirements. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
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The County not issue more permits????
Chances are zero to none.
They don’t care.
It wait I thought the govt cared about us?????
Whatever dude… weak sauce…
What experience have you had that would inspire such a silly idea?
Just curious, what are the water rates for Garberville?
Every drop taken by a grower upstream contributed to this problem situation.
You mean ‘Every drop taken by all water users contributed to this problem.”
Most of theses towns rake in the dough with mandatory minimum pricing based on household size, offer no discount to elderly, disabled, or low income residents, and only recently started accepting credit card transactions. Their staff are well paid for the area and educational level… yet no one has considered STORING MORE WATER? What, pray tell, are they spending their billing income on? You and I both know that when they belatedly decide to add more storage capacity WE , the rate payers , will eat the cost by way of raised rates. What the actual $&@@!?
Our rates are pretty reasonable here in Myers Flat and we do have a conservation rate.
Both redway and garberville have increased storage in recent years. Because of regulations, regular rate payers cannot subsidize other ratepayers such as seniors, disabled, and low income. If you know of grants that could subsidize those rates I suggest you contact your CSD and let them know. All CSD finances are public record, so there are no mysteries as to where the money is spent.
“All CSD finances are public record, so there are no mysteries as to where the money is spent.”
Jay, that might be true for RCSD, but not GSD. For example, GSD gave the Community Park Board a 3 year no interest loan, to subsidize the Park Boards request to have a water connection at the Park. On top of paying for the first $5000 of consultant fees for this project, on top of no connection fee, on top of paying for GSD’s attorney to write the contracts and agreement between the Park Board and GSD. We are talking over $10,500 of ratepayer funding GSD has used pay for this private park, out of pocket, on top of not knowing about what the Park has paid toward its loan or what the grand total will be or how much GSD is paying for anything else that the public or ratepayers have no clue about! This loan is most likely carrying a balance of over $5000, only the public would not know this information, because GSD does not disclose it during GSD Board meeting! What they should do and what they really do are two different things. And its not like this happened years a go, its ongoing as of today. You can thank the GSD Board and Ralph Emerson for all this…
With all the weed growers diverting, stealing and over using the water I guess we no longer have the argument that the greedy people in the valley growing food are taking all of our water. Maybe the next step is they will start bitching about us stealing the water for greedy weed farmers.
💃🏽🌧🕺 time to rain dance like mad!
rain prediction right now is 93% chance of .72 inches on Saturday!! And I agree!!!
Thank you Kym for posting this. Please see pic below, look near the bottom center, its the South Fork Eel, just up stream of the Sprowel Creek Road Bridge (replaced the old Moody Bridge), and that little section of river is the only thing keeping the SFER flowing, unless it stopped flowing some were else downstream, pic taken on 9/9…
Ed, May I use that photo for this and future stories?
Of course, yes, please do. And please remind people that little shallow section of river is just up stream from the GSD water intake for Garberville. Thanks…
Kym, my “current” position is South Fork Eel @ confluence with The Mainstem Eel River. This is the Historical Story I was telling you about that needs to be documented. The South Fork Eel is @ 1.4 cubic ft per second here at the moment by my calculations.
Exactly 72 inches across, 7.5 inches deep, traveling 72″ in 8.04 seconds.
I’d love to send you a picture, but I don’t know how to size it down enough.
I’ll take a few, and maybe we can work out how to get a photo to you, If you wish.
Thank you.
There’s “one” govmint official that really cares…..for HERSELF.
michelle bushnell has a 50,000 square ft weed grow down in Kimtu in Gville that has NO water or PG & E , yet she as Supervisor is pressuring the Garberville sanitary district to give her water to her grow property there so she can water her mega grow. When will this blatant conflict of interest by bushnell get reported on?
Don’t point out the hypocrisy and self serving interest of the ruling class. That is hate speech and will get you banned.
Lol!
Some animals are more equal than others. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Mega BS, just a fun little fact. Unless Bushnell’s grow is in the Kimtu subdivision, no one is allowed to use that GSD waterline, other than the 20 home owners at the Kimtu subdivision. GSD knows this, it was written into the approval process for that GSD waterline extension to Kimtu by Humboldt LAFCo. They called it a tight line, for public health and safety reasons only! But I would not put it past anyone to try, given Bushnell is also on the Humboldt LAFCo Commission!
Kim, you might want to re-thing the numbers you listed in the article above. The USGS graph you posted, shows the bar at the bottom is 5 cfs, the one above that is 6 cfs and so on up to the 10 cfs. So on 9/10, 9/12, 9/13, the cfs in the SFER was below 7 cfs. just thought I would point that out.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/uv?site_no=11476500
My understanding, which can be faulty, is that the day is read as an average?
No, it doesn’t work that way, the graph is showing where the river cfs is every couple hours per day, there is no average over the course of that day, just the high and low for that hour in time. If you click the USGS link every 4 hours, it will give you a different cfs number, either hi or low, 24/7. The reason it goes up and down every day, the highest water usage occurs during the daytime hours, then with not so much usage at night/early morning, the river recharges and comes up a couple cfs. I hope GSD is not averaging each day, that would be wrong!
I didn’t get that information from Ralph Emerson. That is just what I had thought. Let me see if I can find someone to speak to that. I think there is a hydrologist at the National Weather Service.
Kym, I remeasured and the proper depth measurement should be only 6″ deep 72″ wide, current ,72″ in 8.04 seconds
So that would be about 1.12 cubic feet per second.
You may need to account for flow through the gravel there. Not suggesting people don’t enact extreme conservation, just throwing out a potential reason for the discrepancy.
That is what’s flowing through the gravel, Michael M.
It’s totally sub surface 400 feet upriver. For 60 feet. You should see for yourself. You can see it is dry from the 254 bridge over the South Fork.
Still on scene here at the forks and the South Fork Eel is dry and running below the surface for 25 paces.
Emerson stated in the article above:
“It is a really frightening time,” Emerson said. “There’s a shortage of water and there’s a higher demand for the water.” He paused and added, “I don’t know how any one is issuing any permits for cannabis under these conditions.”
My question to Emerson, how many water “Will Serve” letters has GSD approved during your watch with GSD this year, knowing this drought was coming? And, its just not for cannabis. GSD approved and included the Community Park for a metered waterline connection and in a State Water Board hearing on June 15, 2021, I did not hear GSD trying to stop this new water service! Its hypocritical for Emerson or the GSD BOD to even make this claim or assertion. Water use is water use! Maybe GSD should start thinking more about the health of the SFER and started its water restriction a lot earlier!
It’s the Republicans or wait, it’s the Democrats, no no, it’s the uhm… vaccinated or maybe the unvaccinated, greedy weed growers, could be the homeless tweekers…well it’s somebody’s fault! Oh, maybe the Government stopped seeding the clouds and cows are causing global warming, big ag…maybe aliens are stealing water since they have none in space! Geez…how about good ole Mother Nature herself! She’s probably getting senile in her old age. She drops WAY too much water in some places, not enough in others. That’s who’s fault it is!
I don’t know how the river levels will be affected this year because all of the agriculture that SoHum has. However, historically the river starts larger flows in the fall. Even before the rains come down. The nights get cooler and longer, The days get cooler and shorter, and the main reason for the increase in flow is the trees stop sucking water and drop their leaves. It’s amazing to watch. It’s strange to watch the river come up with no rain.
Ernie the South Fork Eel is dry, running completely under the gravel for 60 feet, 200 yards up from the confluence with the Main Stem Eel. Where it runs again, closer to the confluence it is running at 1.12 cubic feet per second, six feet wide, six inches deep.
So true! In fact, I have property in Trinity that was destroyed by the August Complex Fire last year. There is a seasonal creek that hasn’t gone dry in this drought year. Why? The trees are all dead. They aren’t drinking the water.
Frank Lake is a Karuk man and a Forest Service scientist. Great combo. He claims that the smoke from late season wildfires can cause the trees to go into dormancy earlier than otherwise. When they go into dormancy, their evapo-transpiration rates lower. That frees up more groundwater, which allows the streams to rise. That signals the salmon to enter the river system to spawn.
Nature is a beautiful thing to observe. And try to understand.
Ernie, hope you and yours are well. Just to remind you, most the trees on the banks of the South Fork Eel are Doug Fur and Redwood, they don’t have leaves to lose. Take care Ernie.
In Myers Flat we were cautioned to cut our water use several months ago. I don’t know the level of compliance, but I always use as little water as possible, old habit from past experience.
Something to question Ralph Emerson about, when he was quoted in the article above:
“I bought fire hydrant locks and put them on all of the hydrants that are in areas not readily visible.” He explained that there has been water trails through town that could indicate that trucks were filling up during the early morning hours. “People call me at 3 in the morning [to report possible theft],” he told us. “We patrol at night.”
The below pic shows one of those “not readily visible” fire hydrants, down in front of the new GSD Water Treatment Plant, across from the Community Park on Tooby Ranch Road, where are the locks? If you were to take water from this hydrant, what a great place and out of sight. Please note how green it is only around that hydrant, so it must have a leak or someone is using it allot for fire suppression?
Hold everything this diagram on left shows recycling your septic tank water no friggin way man . Grey water maybe if filtered .never use septic water for anything other than subsurface irrigation (underground) . For roots . Etc ..gray water tank is ok septic tank no way . No poopy shirts or pissy mopping .fix the pic
When I was a kid my mom would save the cold water that comes out of the faucet before it turns hot. Use that to fill the toilet. Put water in a plastic jug and poke pinholes in that jug and set near your heavily mulched plants. Do dishes the old fashioned way with two or three dunk baths. Never turn the water on high. Water the garden at 3:00 am.
Get your catchment systems in place. Rain is coming. Eureka s’posed to get up to 1/4 inch on Saturday night and a 1/5 in the 6hrs both before and after. Haven’t checked SoHum locations, so, I don’t know your numbers. Hey, anything is something. Turn the automatic sprinklers off during those times and collect what you can, while it’s still legal to do so (at one time, 20yrs ago, maybe still, it was illegal to catch rain runoff in parts of Colorado). I know it saves us a buck or so. Can’t imagine what we’ll do if we are forced to reduce use. We already do everything we can, which is more than the water company suggests.