Press release from the Hoopa Valley Tribal Office of Emergency Services and the Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District:

Hoopa Valley residents are being asked to limit their water use to drinking and flushing toilets in an effort to refill five tanks that were completely depleted last night.

Residents on Community Services Road and in the Mill Creek area have little to no water as of Saturday morning, June 27, due to the water shortage. The Hoopa Shopping Center is also affected. All residents of Hoopa could be affected if conservation measures aren’t adhered to immediately.

Hoopa Valley Public Utilities General Manager, Julia Gulley, said the tanks began to run low about a week ago and that water withdraws to help combat recent fires in the Hoopa Valley may have exacerbated the problem.

Gulley said the PUD water treatment plant can produce 700 gallons per minute, but water is being used as quickly as it is produced. It is critical that all Hoopa Valley residents decrease their water use immediately in order to refill the reserves.

“If people start conserving now, we may be able to recover the tanks within a week, best case scenario,” Gulley said. “It doesn’t mean people won’t have water throughout the recovery period, but it will take about a week to refill all of the reserves.”

Gulley met with the Hoopa Office of Emergency Services (EOS) director Rod Mendes on Saturday morning to establish a plan to get drinking water to those most affected. PUD is working throughout the weekend to mitigate the problem.

Updates will be provided as they become available.