On February 12, 2024, the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) held a public meeting to discuss dedicating instream flows on the Mad (Baduwa't) River. HBMWD is applying for a petition for change under Water Code section 1707, which would permanently dedicate a portion of the District’s water right to instream flow for environmental benefit.
Currently, water from the Mad River is stored in the Ruth Lake reservoir, which is impounded by Matthews Dam. Flows are released 75 miles downstream to HBMWD’s diversion facility at Essex. Municipal water is then pumped from below the Mad River stream bed and sent to its seven municipal (drinking water) users: the cities of Arcata, Eureka, and Blue Lake, and the Fieldbrook-Glendale, Humboldt, Manila, and McKinleyville Community Services Districts. Industrial water is pumped from surface water and distributed to industrial users, which have historically been on the Samoa Peninsula. HBMWD maintains an industrial water system capable of supplying 60 million gallons per day (MGD) of untreated water for industrial customers and a domestic water system capable of supplying about 20 MGD of drinking water.
Since the last pulp mill on the Samoa Peninsula was closed in 2010, HBMWD no longer has an industrial customer base and there has been an 80% drop in district-wide water consumption. Water rights are owned by the State of California, and operate under a “use it or lose it” system, in which unused water could technically be transferred to other water users, potentially in the form of an out-of-basin transfer. The existing water rights are up for review by the State Water Resources Control Board in 2029, and if a solution is not proposed prior to 2029, there is a chance that we could lose the rights to that water.
In order to maintain local control of Mad River water, HBMWD has opted to permanently dedicate a portion of its existing water rights in the Mad River for beneficial instream uses. At the February 2024 public meeting, HBMWD made it clear that this proposal would not change the instream flows that have been in place since 2010.
In 2023, HBMWD submitted a Draft Petition for Change to the State Water Resources Control Board to staff for review, and the next step is to engage the public in the process. Provided that the instream flows would not change from current conditions, which have generally been beneficial to the Mad River and the species that inhabit the river, and all processes and requirements are fulfilled to ensure the protection of the environment throughout the instream flow dedication process, EPIC is supportive of this proposal. We plan to stay engaged in this process as it unfolds and will update our readers as it progresses.