Darker days: The Ruth Lake spillway in January.

Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District Board Member Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap just Facebooked the following li’l bit of good news:

Ruth Lake filled and spilled last night! Hurray! We’re still in a drought folks but the situation for those of us on the North Coast is not dire (in terms of drinking water). And we will be able to augment river flows in the summer as usual to help fish and other critters who need that water.

District general manager Carol Rische confirms: The lake is full. Taps will be able to flow freely all summer long within the district’s area of service. Not that this was completely unexpected, Rische said — the last time Ruth Lake didn’t fill was in the 1976-77 season, and even then the district was able to service not only its residential customers but the two water-hungry pulp mills on the peninsula. 

Rische is promising more info in a press release later today. We’ll update here.