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For some 50 years, the water supply for the Arcata, Eureka and McKinleyville areas was tied to two pulp mills on the Samoa Peninsula.
The founders of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District were looking to build a water supply system for the region, and to attract pulp mills that would consume lots of water and more cleanly use sawmills' wood waste, which was burned at the time in teepee burners that clouded the air.
The district's plan had strong support from the community, and two pulp mills promised to build on the peninsula and buy water. For decades, the cost of the system -- including Matthews Dam and Ranney wells on the Mad River, and a distribution network -- was subsidized by the pulp mills.
The mills used some 75 percent of the capacity of the available 75 million gallons per day. But in the 1990s, a pollution suit prompted the Simpson mill to close, and the Louisiana-Pacific mill to switch to a chlorine-free system. Over the years, that mill began to use less water, and in October, it folded -- probably for good.
This has led to dramatic rate hikes for the district's 80,000 municipal water users, spiking bills from 69 percent in McKinleyville to 135 percent in Eureka between 1999 and 2008. Those rates will go higher with the closure of the last pulp mill, and significant capital projects to improve the aged system will cost millions on top of that.
That is not an agreeable situation. But beyond that, California's use-it-or-lose-it
”At the end of the day we will lose our water rights,” district General Manager Carol Rische said of one likely option.
Rische said that the district could otherwise try to sell its excess water within the region, though the district acknowledges it would be difficult to find a water user that would need the up to 60 million gallons of water per day that the industrial system produces.
Another option: Release more water for salmon and steelhead in the Mad River. Rische said that strategy could potentially protect rights to the water, but it may not be deemed a reasonable use of the water if it's challenged by another potential user like a municipality or a business.
The water could also be sold out of the area. One such proposal to buy surplus industrial water became infamous in 2002. An Alaska-based company called Aqueous Corp. wanted to buy millions of gallons of Mad River water and pump it into giant bags that could be towed south on the ocean by barge. Its owner promised jobs and income for the water district.
But that bid failed after it sparked public outrage over the possibility of the district losing control of some of its water. Still, it wasn't the first pitch for ocean-going water delivery to thirsty southern cities, and it may not be the last. All it takes is for such an operation to pencil out.
”People do amazing things to get oil, and water is more valuable than oil, really,” said district Director Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap.
The district in 2004 already had to give up rights to about 60,000 acre feet of water per year, an acre foot being enough water to cover an acre to a depth of a foot. But to have actually used that much water would have required Matthews Dam to be raised. Today, it has rights to about 85,000 acre feet annually.
With only municipal customers, the district now uses only about 10,000 acre feet per year, and when its permit is up again in 2029, the state will no doubt look closely at whether the district should retain rights to the full 85,000 acre feet.
Between now and 2029, however, if another user were to challenge the water district's right to the excess water, the State Water Resources Control Board would ask the district to provide a statement of need for the water.
”If they want to keep the right ... we would expect them to have a plan that explained where that water would go,” said State Water Resources Control Board spokesman Dave Clegern.
And by 2029, depending on population growth and climate change in California, much of the state will likely be facing a more dire water supply problem than it does now. While water use per person has fallen some in recent years, it's not enough to offset growth, said Michael Hanemann, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Institute at the University of California at Berkeley.
With climate change reducing storage in the form of snow, Hanemann said, more storage would be needed to capture runoff in wet months for use during the dry months. Hanemann said that California will also need more infrastructure to connect watersheds in order to move water from place to place. Water management also needs to be far more proactive and nimble in the future, he said.
The Mad River's geographical location, its size and its disconnectedness to other rivers could prevent significant diversions. Hanemann said that water is easy to store but expensive to transport -- whether by pipelines or by shipping.
The uncertainty of California's water future makes planning now a smart thing to do, Hanemann said.
”Planning 25 years out is not too early to start,” Hanemann said.
Which is why the Humboldt Bay Water District has embarked on a major planning effort. In early September, the district convened a group of 30 stakeholders and about 20 Humboldt County residents to begin to gather ideas on how the district might safeguard its water.
The district is now developing a larger forum to educate the public on the district's water rights and rates with the loss of its industrial customers. Sopoci-Belknap said that the more people willing to participate, the better the ideas and possible solutions will be.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE:
What: “Frank Language about Our Water” meetings
When: - Oct. 13 at Azalea Hall in McKinleyville
- Oct. 14 at D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata
- Oct. 22 at Wharfinger Building in Eureka
All meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
John Driscoll covers natural resources/industry. He can be reached at 441-0504 or jdriscoll@times-standard.com.
