Southern California water districts are grappling with what the fallout could look like if supplies from a critical source — the rapidly drying Colorado River — are cut next year.
As of Monday morning, no agreement had been struck, said Robert Schettler, a spokesperson for the Imperial Irrigation District, which receives the vast majority of the river’s water in California. “Progress has been made and we remain hopeful and work continues,” he said in an email.
The Department of the Interior is expected today to address the status of the negotiations, the drought and future Colorado River conditions.
The verdict is especially high-stakes for Southern California, where the river provides a quarter or a third of the region’s water supply. Seven Southern California counties rely on the river for water and hydroelectric power, and 600,000 acres of farmland draw on it for irrigation.
“Our region, our economy, our way of life in Southern California depends on the Colorado River,” said Bill Hasencamp, Colorado River resources manager for the giant Metropolitan Water District, which supplies imported water to 19 million people. “It is vitally important.”
But climate change, drought and overallocation have been threatening the Colorado River’s supply for decades, even as the amount consumed and lost through reservoir evaporation regularly outpaces its natural flows.
And now, with the two major reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — at historically low levels, more needs to be done, warned Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton at a June U.S. Senate hearing. “The system is at a tipping point,” Touton said in her written statement.
What exactly “more” means — and what that means for California — is still under negotiation. Here’s what to know:
A century of deals, acts and legal decisions have carved up 15 million acre-feet between Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico in the Upper Basin, and California, Arizona and Nevada in the Lower Basin. Native American tribes hold rights to this water as well, and a 1944 treaty set aside another 1.5 million acre feet for Mexico.
The biggest straw, by far, is California’s. The state is entitled to 4.4 million acre-feet, or more than a third of the river’s natural flow. It’s enough water to supply more than 13 million Southern California households for a year. In the Lower Basin, Arizona comes in next with about 2.8 million acre feet.
Most of California’s Colorado River water is used for irrigation. The Imperial Irrigation District gets as much as 3.1 million acre feet a year, mostly supplied to nearly 475,000 acres of farmland and a handful of communities in the southeastern corner of California. Another major recipient is the Metropolitan Water District, which last year diverted roughly 1.1 million acre feet of water from the Colorado River system.
“(For) 81 years now, it’s been the backbone of our supply,” Metropolitan’s Hasencamp said. “Today, on average, about half of our imported water is from the Colorado River.”
In 2019, the Upper and Lower Basin states struck agreements laying out who gets cut in the event of water shortages. The Lower Basin’s Drought Contingency Plan, in place through 2026, allowed for cuts to California’s deliveries for the first time.
Arizona and Nevada, with more junior rights than the Golden State’s, start seeing cutbacks when water levels in Lake Mead drop to 1,090 feet; California’s cutbacks start when water levels hit between 1,040 and 1,045 feet. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, is projected to drop to less than 1,040 feet by the close of 2022.
“California — by virtue of the legal structures — is in a relatively good position on paper,” said John Fleck, director of University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program and author of two booksabout the Colorado River.
“But the problem is that ‘on paper’ is not the reality now.”
The river’s reservoirs are at a historic low
Drought has been parching the Colorado River basin for more than two decades. Even in years with close to normal levels of precipitation, less runoff is reaching the river — the result of increasing temperatures and drier soils drinking up the flows as climate change continues.
“We’re just not seeing the benefits that we used to that we once had to surface water, streamflow runoff and reservoir storage,” Christopher Harris, executive director of the Colorado River Board of California, said at a June meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board. “It’s definitely impacted the reservoir system significantly.”
Last summer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation called the first level-one shortage for the Lower Basin states, prompting cuts to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico — but not California.
At the end of July, levels in Lake Mead, according to NASA, “stand at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time.”
The Colorado River is critical to the Imperial Valley
For the Imperial Irrigation District, the Colorado River is “our only source of water. We live in a desert. And that’s it,” Schettler said. Now, he said, “the onus is to generate a lot of water, rather quickly.”
Schettler laid out two strategies for conservation: The first, he said, is farms conserving more with use of efficient strategies such as drip irrigation. “That may take some money, and then it may take a little while to get that water.”
Another possibility is fallowing fields — paying farmers to leave fields dry. It’s a strategy that the Imperial Irrigation District has employed in the past, but it’s unpopular, Schettler said.
“Fallowing is like the F word around here,” he said.
Southern Californians could face more restrictions
The cuts could have ripple effects across the entire state’s water portfolio. Southern California’s other sources of imported water from the northern half of the state are low, too, after several years of drought.
“What do we do when both systems are stressed out? And how do we manage ourselves?” Harris asked at a state water board meeting in June.
For the region served by the Metropolitan Water District, which has characterized the negotiations as difficult, “every type of water user could be affected, including urban and agricultural uses,” according to a recent district board presentation.
The Metropolitan Water District has already implemented unprecedented watering restrictions for the 6 million Southern Californians who rely on the parched State Water Project, which funnels water from Northern California south and this year reduced deliveries to just 5% of requested supplies.
The district warned customers that receive Colorado River water that they could face restrictions as soon as next year.
“The areas that get water from the Colorado River are also going to have to conserve more,” Hasencamp said. “We’re going to have to, because we know we’re going to get less water in the future than we’re getting today. How much less we don’t know.”
California has seen federal cuts before — about 20 years ago, after water users failed to reach an agreement to cut back by 800,000 acre feet and stay within its 4.4 million acre-foot allocation.
“Importantly for the future of water agreements in the basin, despite predictions of doom, California absorbed the reductions with only modest impact,” reported Fleck and Anne Castle,a former assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Eventually California water systems hashed out a deal. And now,Metropolitan’s Hasencamp said, it’s time to do so again.
“I think we’re going to be in a permanent state of shortage into the future. And the question isn’t ‘if’ anymore,” he said: It’s how big. “How big of a shortage are we going to have to endure? How big of cutbacks are we going to have to live with?’”
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Joetta Ruth Holsinger passed away in her home on June 22, 2022. Joetta was born in Exeter, California to Dena and Charles Lasseter on January 15, 1933. She graduated from Lindsey High School in 1950. She then attended Collage of the Sequoias in Visalia. She married Ralph Holsinger of Lindsey in 1953. He had been working in Arcata with a logging company, which is where they began their married life. Joetta worked as a secretary for Coast Redwood Company, Humboldt Builders Exchange as well as Warren White Insurance Agency, and retired in 1992.
Joetta and her husband were so fortunate to travel with the California Redwood Chorale and sing in the beautiful cathedrals in Europe and in so many other places and countries. They went back to Austria, Switzerland and Germany in June 2003 to celebrate their 50th anniversary, spending a month with a rental car seeing and doing so many wonderful things. Joetta was truly a light in this world, always so warm and welcoming. She was one of the most giving and compassionate people you could ever meet.
She is survived by her sons Daniel and Larry; five grandchildren, Bryan, Sarah, Corey, Kayla and Monica; and seven great-grandchildren. Joetta was proceeded in death by her husband, Ralph; her parents, Charles and Dena Lasseter; her son Timothy, who was a firefighter with CA Department of Forestry and died of a heat stroke fighting a fire in Redding in 1978; and a baby girl, Deanna Lyn, who was born in 1958 and died shortly after birth. She also had to brothers and two sisters — CL Lasseter, Granvelle Lasseter, Wanda Kiesel and Loyce Devore — who also preceded her in death.
Memorial service will be held at First Covenant Church in Eureka on August 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the sanctuary, followed by a reception in the fellowship hall.
If you would like to donate to the memorial for Joetta, contributions can be made to First Covenant Church of Eureka, Hospice of Humboldt or the charity of your choice.
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The obituary above was submitted by Joetta Holsinger’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.
Google Earth image of a Caltrans-owned parcel along the west east side of Hwy. 101, at the Humboldt-Mendocino county border, now being considered for development of a welcome center.
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Does Humboldt County need a welcome center to greet tourists at its southern border? A group of local hoteliers thinks so, and county officials have begun exploring the idea to see if it’s feasible.
The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, owns a piece of property near Cooks Valley that could serve as the site for such a center. It’s a boot-shaped parcel that you’ll see along the west east side of Hwy. 101 as you’re entering Humboldt County from the south. Dominated by wide patch of dirt and rocks, the property sits on a bluff above the South Fork Eel River and is typically vacant, except when Caltrans employs it as a staging area to store and load equipment for road improvement projects.
In recent weeks and months, employees in the county’s economic development division and public works department have been talking with Caltrans personnel about the property. The state agency has indicated that it’s willing to consider designating the land “surplus property,” which could allow the county to either swap some of its own land for it or possibly purchase it before it’s released for public bid.
On Tuesday, the board of supervisors will consider authorizing Public Works Director Tom Mattson to negotiate terms with Caltrans, which would be the first real step in a longer process toward potential development of the welcome center.
“We have some sites we use in our road maintenance division that would be strategically located [for Caltrans],” Mattson said. “They have ample space, so maybe we can trade and they [Caltrans] would get a more strategic location. Everything’s in the air at this point.”
Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell said a group of Southern Humboldt hoteliers first promoted the idea of a welcome center at the county entrance — “something like a coffee shop with information about the county … like information about what to see in Ferndale and Eureka and Garberville to showcase where to visit,” Bushnell said.
The boot-shaped property, which does not have its own designated Assessor Parcel Number (APN). | Image via County of Humboldt.
Economic Development Director Scott Adair said his division was approached during the height of the COVID pandemic by the SoHum hoteliers, including Benbow Inn owner John Porter. Out-of-area residents who’d grown sick of staying home had hit the road in droves, leaving their populous city centers and heading for the clean, open air among the redwoods. For months on end, virtually every hotel room and campsite in the county was booked.
To some extent, this surge in tourism has held.
“The pandemic has altered the psyches of people,” Adair said. “Suddenly a backpacking trip in the woodlands with no one around is much more appealing, and we’re hoping to capture some of that.”
The SoHum hoteliers formed a new nonprofit called Redwood Highway Gateway Foundation,and together they began pursuing the welcome center concept in earnest, hoping to create a place that could function as “a stopping point at the front door of Humboldt County, where travelers that were coming northbound could stop and learn about all the travel and tourism activities in Humboldt County,” Adair said.
If the county manages to secure ownership of the property from Caltrans, county officials would then need to open up a competitive bidding process, issuing a request for proposals to identify businesses and/or nonprofits interested in developing and operating the welcome center. The county doesn’t intend to operate the center itself, according to Bushnell, Adair and Mattson.
But Adair said the county could pursue grant funding to help finance the project, should things get that far — seeking tourism funds from state granting agencies or even federal COVID relief dollars, some of which have been earmarked for projects supporting travel and tourism.
“But we really haven’t gone far down that road because if we can’t identify a site, there is no project,” Adair said.
This particular site is right next to Cooks Valley Campground, which hosts tourists as well as events such as the popular Northern Nights Music Festival, but Bushnell said she has spoken with the owners of that property and they don’t object to the welcome center concept.
As usual, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will meet in board chambers at the Humboldt County Courthouse, 825 Fifth Street in Eureka. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., and if you’d like to participate but can’t/won’t be there in person, you can now tinker with the levers of government remotely via Zoom by calling the
conference line (720-707-2699), entering meeting ID number 839 5427 2282 and then pressing star (*) 9 on your phone to raise your hand when the agenda item comes up.
After community members rallied last month to save the hulking maritime artifact from potential annihilation, Monday morning the dolos in question made its scheduled move from Broadway on down to Madaket Plaza where it will now enjoy serene views of Humboldt Bay for the foreseeable future. A concrete chunk of Eureka’s history has been preserved. Let us bask in the win together.
The Outpost rolled out of bed at a stupidly early hour this morning to witness the dolos’ journey. We snapped a few photos, as we do. We also chatted up Madaket Captain and dolos preservation enthusiast Leroy Zerlang on why he believes moving heaven and earth to find a way to lug a 40-ton dolos was worth the trouble.
Hear Zerlang make his case in the clip below and/or let your eyes gaze upon photos of Monday’s dolos caravan even farther down.
# # #
Dolos moving efforts began in Monday’s wee hours
Workers from the City of Eureka, Northcoast Fabricators and Kernen Construction convene to plot the dolos’ move
Dolos loaded
A City of Eureka worker makes sure the height of the power lines is sufficient for dolos passage
Cleared it
The dolos approaches its new forever home at Madaket Plaza on the Eureka Waterfront
At the destination, it was decided that the dolos would look best facing the opposite direction
So it was again lifted while the truck backed underneath it from the other end
Eureka City Councilmember Natalie Arroyo made the scene
Backin’ in
Leroy Zerlang and Mayor Susan Seaman
Mayor Seaman displays one of two 2022 quarters that would ultimately be placed underneath the dolos, as is sort of maritime tradition
Mayor Seaman and Director of Public Works Brian Gerving
Above: Father Michael Cloney places one of the quarters. For years Cloney has blessed the Madaket at the beginning of its season and he’s had a long history with the dolos. “I was teaching at St. Bernard’s High School back in the ‘70s when this thing was molded and set,” he told LoCO
Press release from the Six Rivers Lightning Complex management team:
INCIDENT INFORMATION Unified Command: Six Rivers National Forest, CAL FIRE, California Highway Patrol, Trinity County Sheriff, and Humboldt County Sheriff.
CURRENT CONDITIONS The Lightning Complex Fire is currently 19,272 acres with 17% containment. 2,045 personnel are assigned to the incident. USFS, CAIIMT 11 and CAL FIRE continue to work closely together in unified command with a full suppression strategy to protect homes and other structures, communities, crucial infrastructure, and important wildlife habitat.
Fire activity was minimal overnight, with occasional spot fires along the southern edges of the Ammon Fire and southeastern edge of the Campbell fire that firefighters quickly contained. Crews completed several successful strategic firing operations and improved control lines using dozers and handlines to remove fuels. All control lines are holding well.
“Last night firefighting crews succeeded in securing more fire line close to communities,” said Incident Commander Chris Fogle. “Some people in the Salyer and Willow Creek areas may be able to return home today.”
Campbell Fire The Campbell, Bremmer and Waterman Fires have now joined and will be collectively known as the Campbell Fire. Crews have successfully secured the fire lines along the western edge of this fire, protecting Willow Creek, and along the southern edge in the Salyer area. Crews will continue to strengthen fire lines and limit the spread of the main fire to communities and other areas. Crews will hold and continue to improve the control line along Lone Pine Ridge and Waterman Ridge to prevent fire spread into the Hoopa tribal jurisdiction.
Ammon Fire Firefighting crews continue to improve primary control lines to keep the fire west of the O-6 Road, north of Grouse Creek, and east of the O-1 Road. Today crews will reinforce the holding line along the southeast corner near the Six Road off Ammon Ridge and along the Friday Ridge System near the southwestern edge of the fire.
Weather Rising temperatures and drier weather are expected to increase fire activity today, especially during the afternoon. Smoke will limit visibility during the morning; winds are expected to pick up in the afternoon. Aerial firefighting support will be deployed when visibility permits.
ROAD CLOSURES State Routes 299 and 96 are currently open in the Lightning Complex, but may be impacted by fire behavior. Travelers are encouraged to visit HTTP: quickmap.dot.ca.gov to check for state highway closures. The following roads leading to evacuation zones have been closed (residents may use these roads to exit only):
Seeley McIntosh Road between Country Club Road and Campbell Ridge Road
Campbell Ridge Road from Salyer Heights to Seeley McIntosh Road
Patterson Road at Raga Hills Road
Friday Ridge Road at Route 6
Titlow Hill Road (Route 1) at Horse Mountain Botanical Area
Due to a large presence of fire personnel and machinery working to build containment lines for the Ammon Fire, residents are asked to limit travel on Titlow Hill Road/Route 1 in zones HUM-E052 and HUM-E062 to essential traffic only.
EVACUATIONS Humboldt County An EVACUATION ORDER has been issued for zone HUM-E063-B, south of Willow Creek. Residents in this zone should evacuate now. There is no immediate threat to Willow Creek proper.
The EVACUATION ORDER for Zone HUM-E057 has been downgraded to an EVACUATION WARNING. Residents who live in this zone may begin to return home with caution but should remain ready to evacuate again at a moment’s notice. Be alert to outstanding dangers upon return, including debris in roadways, gas leaks and hot embers.
An EVACUATION ORDER remains in effect for zones: HUM-E032-B, HUM-E056, HUM-E058, HUM-E061, HUM-E063-A, HUM-E063-B, HUM-E077-B, and HUM-E077-C.
An EVACUATION WARNING remains in effect for zones: HUM-E032-A, HUM-E057, HUM-E062, HUM-E064, HUM-E076-B, HUM-E077-D.
Trinity County The Salyer area has been reduced from Evacuation Orders to Evacuation Warnings with the following exceptions: Campbell Ridge Road from Salyer Heights to Seely Macintosh Road and Galaxy Road will remain under Evacuation Orders. Please be aware of the possibility of falling debris and exercise caution while re-entering the area due to remaining fire activity and emergency personnel.
If you are under an evacuation warning, take the necessary steps to be ready to leave.
EVACUATION CENTER Trinity Valley Elementary School 730 Highway 96, Willow Creek, CA 95573
ANIMAL EVACUATION CENTER Hoopa Rodeo Grounds 1767 Pine Creek Rd., Hoopa, CA 95546 Phone: (707) 492-2851
** The Hoopa Rodeo Grounds has several single pens and larger pens for whole herds. Call directly if you need directions or help transporting your large animals. They cannot house sheep, goats, poultry, or small animals, but they can potentially help arrange for temporary foster placement. If you can foster, please reach out regarding your availability and capacity.
ROAD CLOSURES State Route 299, State Route 96, and Route 1 remain open to through traffic. Residents are encouraged to visit http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ to check for state highway closures. The following roads into evacuation zones have been closed. Residents may still use these roads to travel out of evacuation order zones:
Horse Linto Creek Road at Saddle Lane
Country Club Road at Kimtu Bridge
Friday Ridge Road at Hwy 299
SMOKE
Heavy smoke and strong inversions continue to affect the health of those who are not yet evacuated. Please check https://www.ncuaqmd.org for air quality resources.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
White.
On Aug. 12, 2022, at about 6:20 pm, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to assist the California Highway Patrol with the report of a burglary within Trinity County’s mandatory fire evacuation zone. According to the CHP, two adult male suspects were seen swimming across the Trinity River into Humboldt County to evade law enforcement. Deputies pursued the two men around the Willow Creek area, but ultimately were unable to apprehend them.
On August 13, at about 2:35 p.m. fire personnel in the area of Seely McIntosh Road and Raccoon Lane contacted Sheriff’s deputies to report a suspicious man, possibly related to the previous day’s search, seen within the evacuation zone. Peace officers from the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, United States Forest Service (USFS) and the California Highway Patrol assisted deputies in searching the area. Officers with the USFS located and detained the man, 38-year-old Winkle Edward White.
White as taken into custody and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of interfering with fire personnel (PC 148.2) and entering a closed disaster area (PC 409.5(c)).
This case is still under investigation. Inquiries regarding the burglary investigation and any outstanding suspects should be directed to the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank all our law enforcement partners, in addition to numerous community members, for their assistance with this investigation. If you see a suspicious person or activity in your community, contact law enforcement right away.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Sophie
Constable, as most knew her (Aug.
19, 1932 – Aug.
7, 2022), of Spring
Creek, Nevada. Sophie passed away Sunday morning, Aug.
7, around 9 a.m., with
her family at her side.
Sophie
was born in Conjo, New Mexico to Juan Miguel Vigil and Rumaldita
Archuleta. She grew up losing her mother at an early age was raised
by her siblings along with her father. She often told us that she had
to learn English when she attended her early years of schooling. She
had a desire to help those in need.
Sophie
married George Albert Constable in Colorado Springs while George was
active in the United States Army. Sophie moved to Eureka, where
George’s mother Clara Mable Barns lived, while George finished
serving in Korea, and some time spent in Germany. Sophie was a
long-term resident of Humboldt County, living on Humboldt Hill, where
they raised their family. Together they had three boys — Allan Earl,
Archie John and Aaron Wayne Constable.
Sophie
was a long-time resident of Eureka and worked for local hospitals as
a nurse’s assistant for over 42 years. She was caregiver to
multiple people in her spare time in the Eureka area. She had many of
friends through the area and had some even come to live with us for
short periods as she was a mentor to some and stepmom to some of our
childhood friends.
Sophie
is survived by her bothers John Vigil of Antonito, Colorado,
and LeRoy Vigil of Commerce City, Colorado,
and sisters Casey Garcia of Sun Valley, Nevada,
and Rose Montoya of Littleton, Colorado.
Surviving children are Allan Constable of Eureka and Aaron and Debbi
Constable of Spring Creek, Nevada.
Sophie was preceded in death by son Archie (1981)
of Lodi, husband George (1992)
of Eureka, brothers
Edward Vigil of Antonito, Colorado
Eddie Vigil of Leadville, Colorado,
Floyd Vigil of Sante
Fe, New Mexico,
sister Olivama Casias of Leadville, Colorado.
A
funeral mass is scheduled for Sept.
1 at
4 p.m. at Saint Bernard Church, located at the corner of 6th
Street and H Street in Eureka. Sophie’s remains are going to be
buried with our father’s grave (George Albert Constable) at the
Sunset Memorial Park, there at the Ocean View Cemetery. Her remains
have come back to rest where she spent most of her life. In key of
sending flowers, please donate to a dementia research foundation.
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The obituary above was submitted by Sophie Constable’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.
