How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The city of Clearlake on Monday said it has assumed joint command of the recovery effort for the nearly three-million-gallon Robin Lane sewage spill — together with the Lake County Office of Emergency Services — revealing a new estimate for the number of properties impacted.
For the first time, officials confirmed that the number of impacted properties relying on private wells for drinking water has risen to more than 200, according to the Monday announcement by the city of Clearlake.
This represents a significant increase from the 58 properties cited in the city's initial emergency declaration on Jan. 12, issued while the spill was still active.
Over the past two weeks, none of the public announcements or email correspondence from the county — the agency responsible for the spill and response — have stated the updated number of impacted properties, despite high public interest and multiple requests from Lake County News.
The city of Clearlake announcement stated that City Manager Alan Flora and Lake County Undersheriff Corey Paulich will serve as “joint incident commanders” in accordance with protocols for multi-jurisdictional incidents.
“Since the primary impacts of the incident are occurring within city boundaries and affect local neighborhoods, public spaces, and municipal infrastructure, the joint command structure ensures the city has an active leadership role,” the city’s announcement said.
Under the new structure, Flora leads jurisdictional coordination and Paulich directs county resources. Lake County Special Districts remains responsible for operating and repairing the sewer system.
This new arrangement came five days after the Jan. 21 town hall with county leadership and impacted residents, where Flora spoke publicly about his dissatisfaction.
“I'm going to be really blunt — I'm pissed about a lot of things too,” Flora said at the town hall. “I hope you know that you can't see everything that is happening, but there's a lot of people fighting for you.”
The Monday announcement also said the transition in leadership intends to support “coordinated oversight” and “will strengthen coordination, resource alignment, and public communication.”
The response and recovery efforts follow the Jan. 11 rupture of a force main on Robin Lane owned and operated by Lake County Sanitation District, which is overseen by Lake County Special Districts.
The spill released an estimated 2.9 million gallons of raw sewage across the road into what a Robin Lane resident described as “a river of poop and pee.”
The impact zone has expanded beyond the immediate spill area to nearly 300 acres, encompassing areas east of Smith Lane, west of Old Highway 53, south of Pond Road and north of Bowers Avenue, according to the county’s latest update on Sunday.
The Special Districts reported that the spill lasted about 37.5 hours, according to the Monday announcement. However, that does not align with the hours publicly stated by staff.
Lori Baca, a customer service supervisor for the Special Districts, said at the Jan. 14 town hall that the department was notified of the spill at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 11 and that the flow was stopped at 9:55 p.m. on Jan. 12 — a duration of approximately 38 hours and 25 minutes.
Still, residents on Robin Lane have disputed this timeline, posting videos and photographs on social media that they said showed the leak was still active beyond the time.
Where are the water tanks?
Affected residents have lived without clean running water for 15 days due to the county infrastructure failure. Most of them have not been provided with a water tank large enough to supply water for the household based on Public Health Officer Dr. Bob Bernstein’s recommendation of a minimum of 60 gallons of clean water per person per day.
Despite a county budget allocation to provide affected residents with water tanks, the equipment has not yet materialized
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, the Board of Supervisors called a special meeting and approved $750,000 for the Special Districts to purchase 60 water tanks — each holding 2,500 gallons — and to provide refilling services for affected households.
“We need to provide a certain level of dignity and quality of life back to the people that are living in those areas,” District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, whose district is ground zero for the incident, said at the meeting.
Sabatier requested emphatically to have the water tanks ordered by the end of that day.
Special Districts Administrator Robin Borre said later that evening that an order of 20 tanks was placed.
On Friday, the county’s update said water tank installation would begin on Monday. It did not include numbers of water tanks ordered or received by the county.
On Saturday, the county update upheld the Monday start date for installation. However, on Sunday, the update stated installations were expected to begin on Tuesday instead, without specifying the reason for the delay.
So far, the only water tanks installed by the county appear to be the 1,500-gallon units for smaller households, administered through the Department of Social Services' Home Safe program, which is separate from the newly approved $750,000 fund.
Last Wednesday, Lake County News was told by the county that “at least one tank has been installed” while “multiple are in process” through the program.
Lake County News on Monday asked the county how many tanks have been ordered and received so far by Special Districts, why there is a delay in water tank installation, and whether the Tuesday installation start date is guaranteed.
Questions were also submitted regarding how many 1,500-gallon tanks have been installed through the Home Safe program.
The county had not responded to any of these questions by the time of publication.
Lake County News forwarded the email of inquiries to the city of Clearlake at 4:09 p.m., 15 minutes after the joint command was announced.
“We are just stepping into this role this afternoon so I will send over any responses to your inquiry below as soon as possible,” said City of Clearlake Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson in an email.
After all, even if fully deployed, 60 tanks would serve less than one-third of the affected households, while it remains uncertain how many more tanks the county has actually ordered than the initial 20.
Well testing progress remains uncertain
With the new confirmation that over 200 properties relying on private water wells are impacted, the county’s well testing progress disclosed so far is insufficient to tell the full story.
By Friday, the county said approximately 175 water samples had been collected and analyzed. But it did not specify how many individual wells those samples were drawn from, nor how many tested positive for coliform and E. coli, which are water quality indicators of contamination by fecal bacteria.
That update also stated 60 private wells had been sanitized, with 55 tested again following treatment. Out of that 55, results are “encouraging,” the county update said, with most samples showing no detectable contamination and eight wells with contamination.
No well testing data has been released since then. It remains unclear how many wells from the more than 200 impacted properties have been tested, sanitized and retested so far, or what the wider implications of the results may be.
As of Monday, all public safety guidance including well testing, water use precautions and health recommendation from Lake County Health Services remain unchanged.
A Nixle alert issued by the Clearlake Police Department on Monday evening said city-led assessment teams will be contacting residents at affected properties beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27.
The third in a series of town halls on the spill will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
