LOWER LAKE – Twenty-eight families are waiting to hear whether or not they'll continue to have access to a potable water source to augment the low water table in Morgan Valley.
Residents there say they received a letter from Lower Lake County Water Works General Manager Al Tubbs giving them two weeks' notice that a standpipe that has been available to area residents since the district formed in 1949 would be cut off as of July 1.
The standpipe allows Morgan Valley residents to draw water from the district's water system, which Tubbs says relies on wells.
The Lower Lake County Water Works Board of Directors is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting today at 6 p.m. to decide the issue, after giving Tubbs permission to announce the cutoff earlier this month.
Jo Cunningham, an area resident and member of the Lower Lake Water Advocacy Coalition, a citizen action group that's fighting the decision, said the standpipe supplies extra water to families outside of the district who need sources of potable water to augment their wells.
Those wells, she explained, have low water tables because of recent dry weather and heavy water draws from local vineyards. Some families haul water daily to supply their homes, she said.
The standpipe, located at Bonham and Morgan Valley roads, is accessed through a key system, with users required to log their usage, explained Torrie Quintero, who has lived in Morgan Valley for two and a half years and also is a member of the citizen action group.
Water availability is also a concern with fire season's arrival, said Quintero. “We've had several wildfires out here every year,” she said, adding that the fires could easily get out of control if a backup water source wasn't readily available.
Lower Lake resident Bill Winter said he and his family have been drawing from the standpipe for the last 47 years. “I haul water to run my house on,” he said.
Winter hauls water in a 300-gallon tank in his truck every other day, he said. He said he pays $30 a month for the water.
By going after the standpipe users, Winter said the district is “going after the littlest problem first.”
Cunningham and Quintero met with Tubbs on June 19, at which time he told them that only the board could rescind the shutoff decision.
District suffering low water levels
Tubbs said the district serves about 900 hookups from Cache Creek to Twin Lakes to Spruce Grove Road. The 28 families that use the standpipe are outside the district's boundaries.
“We're running out of water,” said Tubbs. “So the first thing I have to do is protect my district.”
He said he felt the shutoff was necessary because the district operates off of wells, which are lower than normal due to little rain.
The standpipe puts out 800,000 gallons of water a month, about two days' worth of the district's total water production. While it's a small portion of the district's overall use, it's still enough to matter, said Tubbs.
District pumps are running 16 hours a day right now, twice the amount of time they were pumping at this time last year to service the district.
That's because the water table has gone down, he said.
Tubbs said he expects to put a conservation notice in the upcoming billing statement to district water users because of the shortage issue.
“We need rain, because we're on all wells,” said Tubbs. And this year didn't see much rain.
When he joined the district staff in 1989, Tubbs said one of the best wells had water at 17 feet, but now they have to pump down to 89 feet to get water from the same well.
Tubbs said he took the matter to the June 12 board meeting. “We don't need to be serving out-of-district customers when we have a shortage of water.”
The board gave them the go-ahead to turn off the standpipe, he said.
The Lower Lake County Water Works doesn't answer to the county's Special District department, said Special Districts Director Mark Dellinger.
“They are the purest form of special district as defined by California law,” said Dellinger, with their own board and an independent system for water treatment, storage, distribution. The district is subject to the Grand Jury's oversight and can use county counsel for legal services.
Robey said the Board of Supervisors appoints the district's board, which includes Chair Frank Haas, Vice Chair Robert Silvestre, David Johnson, Ellen Pearson and Frances Ransley.
Board will reconsider decision
On June 12, the Lower Lake County Water Works Board of Directors held a regular meeting, at which time they discussed under new business “standpipe usage and accounts,” according to the meeting agenda and minutes.
Cunningham said standpipe users received no notice of a potential water cutoff.
As late as Friday, Winter said the water district's signs were still on the standpipe, announcing that it would be shut off on July 1. However, Cunningham said there were indications that the board might change their minds as the Monday meeting.
Last week Supervisor Ed Robey intervened in the situation. Besides the critical issue of the need for the water, Robey said there's another reason the district needs to reconsider its June 12 decision.
Because the district answers to the Board of Supervisors, Robey explained that the district also is governed by the Brown Act. With the water district board not clearly indicating on its June 12 agenda that it was planning to shut off the standpipe, that amounts to a Brown Act violation, Robey explained.
“You you have to let people know what you're planning on doing,” he said.
However, he said a Brown Act violation can easily be fixed by the board rescinding its action. “That's the solution.”
With the board reconsidering the situation today, Robey said, “The question is how to make the system work.”
He added, “I think it could have been handled better,” such as by sending out a letter to standpipe users telling them of concerns about excessive use and the need to closely monitor usage.
Robey said he's spoken with Tubbs and met with Haas, and will offer a few solutions at this evening's meeting.
For one, he said the Lower Lake district can follow the example of the Callayomi water district, which has a similar standpipe. Callayomi board member Roger Rosenthal invented a system to monitor usage on that standpipe, and Robey suggests placing a similar device on Morgan Valley's standpipe.
A second solution, said Robey, is not allowing the standpipe's potable water to be used by construction trucks.
Those trucks, which could just as easily pump water from a creek, said Robey, use the drinking-quality water for spraying down roads to control dust.
Winter said he was at the standpipe last week when a construction truck came up to take water. He estimated the truck spilled hundreds of gallons of the precious fluid on the ground in doing so.
Cunningham and Quintero point out that it's likely that the construction trucks haul far more than the residential water users, and that the trucks also don't monitor their own usage.
Robey said the priority should be that drinking water is used for people.
A long-term goal, said Robey, is to annex the 28 standpipe users into the district. Quintero agreed that's a goal for residents, with about a mile of pipe needing to be installed to reach them.
“A basic human need is water,” said Quintero, who said she felt the district was creating an emergency situation by proposing the shutoff.
“Having no water is a public health concern, no ifs, ands or buts,” she added.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Lower Lake County Water Works office, 16254 Main St., Lower Lake. Area residents who depend on the standpipe are urged to attend.
“I fully expect that the board will rescind their action and find a better solution” on Monday, said Robey.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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