LAKEPORT, Calif. – Water – or, the lack of it – was among the main topics at the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting, at which time emergency restrictions for the Mt. Hannah water district were approved and an emergency countywide drought declaration was extended once more.
Special Districts staff went to the board to ask for the passage of an urgency ordinance to establish conservation restrictions for the 36-customer Mt. Hannah water district on Cobb, which the board approved unanimously at the end of a brief public hearing.
“It is probably, right now, our hardest-hit water system as far as the drought is concerned,” said Special Districts Compliance Coordinator Jan Coppinger.
Coppinger said the district's static well level has dropped 73 percent as of this week, with the district now reaching a point where it can only pump water for 30 minutes before having to shut down for a few hours.
She described Mt. Hannah's water situation as “very precarious.”
Mt. Hannah's customers have had extraordinary conservation in place already, and the urgency ordinance would not reduce what they could use but would give Special District recourse to deal with large water consumption issues that might result from summer visitors, Coppinger said.
Only two customers would need to make slight reductions in order to stay within the urgency ordinance's usage limits; everyone else already is within the guidelines, she said.
“Their usage is not the problem. The well is the problem,” said Coppinger.
Coppinger said Special Districts has applied to the state for emergency funds to drill a new well, has received bids and collected the necessary information for the process. The agency intends to move as rapidly as it can and wants to get a permanent solution in place.
“We do know there's water there, it's just a matter of going deeper with the well,” she said.
Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger added that the well's depleted nature also is causing turbidity problems.
Supervisor Jim Comstock asked about the well's depth. Dellinger replied that it's 120 feet.
Two Mt. Hannah district residents spoke to the board about concerns regarding potential costs for upgrading the well and the possible impact on water supply due to nearby vineyards.
Regarding the former, Coppinger said Special Districts officials were confident they would be able to drill the new well without passing costs on to ratepayers.
As to the latter issue of vineyards and water supply, some of the board members pointed out that Mt. Hannah and other water districts with shortages have other factors impacting water supply outside of vineyards. Such is the case for Paradise Valley, Supervisor Jeff Smith pointed out.
The board approved the ordinance unanimously.
Also on Tuesday morning, the board voted to extend once more an emergency declaration due to drought that it initially passed on March 4. It must reconsider the emergency every 30 days, and previously had extended it on April 8.
During the discussion, Coppinger noted that last week she attended an Association of California Water Agencies meeting, at which point the association was pushing water agencies to present a united message regarding statewide water issues to the public.
“This is a statewide problem,” she said. “It's an emergency for everyone.”
Coppinger pointed out that the governor has asked all Californians to reduce their water usage by 20 percent.
County Emergency Services Manager Marisa Chilafoe told the board that the Lake County Office of Emergency Services – at the request of the state's Office of Emergency Services – formed a drought task force along with Special Districts, the Department of Public Works, Cal OES Coastal Region and the California Department of Public Health to monitor the drought situation and propose fixes.
Retired firefighter Greg Scott of Lakeport urged the board to focus on a public education campaign about the drought.
“You've got to change people’s minds out there,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, the board voted to approve an agreement for architecture and engineering services with Kappe+Du for the for Child Support Services Offices at Gard Street School, at a cost of $77,000.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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