Elsinore Valley water VP to Northern California: "I have no intention of stealing your water."
Darcy Burke is looking for a win-win situation in Potter Valley.
Last week, 750,000 Northern Californians who were on the verge of losing a critical water source, got a lifeline. A Southern California water district emerged as a potential buyer for a pair of orphaned hydroelectric dams on the Eel River that have been slated for demolition by PG&E.
In an interview with UNWON, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD) vice president Darcy Burke clarified her board’s interest in and intentions for the project.
“I have no intention of stealing your water, so people can stop that right now,” Burke said. “No intention of changing how Potter Valley lives. What we want to make sure is that it’s protected, that somebody else can’t come back and want to take down the dams. That whatever water that you need is still affordable.”
She said when her board learned about the impending dam removals on the Eel River, they felt compelled to act.
“When I brought this issue to my board, they said this was criminal—their words, not mine—and that they were going to do what they could to figure out how we can make this work.”
Solving water scarcity anywhere in California benefits the state as a whole. She said her board’s interest in Potter Valley is “not a water grab.”
“An investment in water anywhere in California, any water infrastructure, it’s like a high tide lifts all boats right? So that’s why we’re here. We believe in supporting the California farmer.”
Two Basin Solution: “It just doesn’t work.”
After examining the post-dam plan promoted by local lawmakers, Burke came to the conclusion that the alternative officials have in mind will be unworkable for the region.
“The math didn’t work, about the other solution that they were offering, the Two Basin Solution,” Burke said. “It just doesn’t work. And when I looked at the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act plan, I think it’s for the Ukiah Basin, their primary source of recharging all those wells is this diversion. So if the diversion goes away, how do they recharge? I mean, none of it made sense to me.”
Under the Two Basin Solution, both Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam would be demolished, and Lake Pillsbury dried up. A smaller facility would be built in place of Cape Horn Dam called the New Eel-Russian Facility (NERF). This facility would allow for diversions only in wet months, and only under certain conditions.
“I found out that I’m not the only one that has discovered that the math does not work. And there are other agencies that have shown interest with us and like, hey, we want in on this because you’re right, the math does not work.”
EVMWD is looking to invest in outside infrastructure to offset rates for their customers
Potter Valley wouldn’t be the first project EVMWD owns outside its service area. The entity currently manages an outside groundwater project; profits help offset costs for Elsinore customers.
“We have purchased out-of-area systems before,” Burke said. ‘We don’t import that water into our service area, we use the sales from that water to offset rates to our customers here.”
The money generated by that project helps customers in her district.
“It’s not something we import,” Burke said. “I think that’s really important. That reliability for that community helps them, the money that they provide to us is considered a ‘non-rate revenue source,’ which means we can use it to offset rates. We can use it to enhance the quality of life for our employees, for our communities. We can use it for a rate assistance program that we have for our lowest income customers. We have the most generous rate assistance program in all of California, which is almost $40 a month for families that qualify to offset their water and wastewater bill. So that type of money gives us flexibility to do the things that otherwise we would not be able to do.”
EVMWD’s management of their outside asset should give Russian River water users peace of mind.
“By purchasing the system outside of our service area, we helped another community have safe, reliable, clean water at an affordable price. And that may help offset our customers and keep safe, affordable water in our service area.”
Managing the Potter Valley Project would presumably offer EVMWD similar benefits. There is no mechanism or infrastructure in place to move water the roughly 600 miles from the Eel River to southwestern Riverside County, and California has not built a major interregional aqueduct in almost 30 years.
“Your culture, your community, how you’re honoring your past and what has been built to date—how do we keep that and make it safe? What improvements are needed? That’s our biggest question.”
PG&E sent the buyer on a “wild goose chase”
EVMWD met with PG&E earlier this year to begin discussions. They have not submitted a formal proposal yet. Burke says she has many questions that need to be answered, and she feels PG&E sent her group on a “wild goose chase” rather than seriously entertaining their offer.
“We were told to go meet with all the NGOs of ERPA—the Eel River Project Authority,” Burke said. “I thought that was odd being that the dams belong to PG&E.”’
Instead, she attended a meeting of the Potter Valley Irrigation District (PVID) and met with community stakeholders to ascertain whether intervention is really something the community wants.
“People came out of the woodwork, many that do not want to be named because they have been told by elected officials that there will be retaliation and it will be painful,” Burke said.
She refused to say which officials threatened constituents for speaking out about their water supply.
Questions about seismic safety unanswered
Her board is still in the process of collecting information, particularly on alleged seismic issues with Scott Dam.
“What’s the integrity situation?” Burke said, adding that seismic, hydrological, geological, and biological studies all need to be done. What little information she has received, she has not been able to verify.
“Doing our due diligence, there’s lots of studies that have to be done because, to be quite frank, even if they hand their studies over to me, I’d have to have them validated.”
But Darcy says EVMWD is serious about their intentions.
“We want to be at least part of the solution, however that solution plays out. And if nothing else, we knew that by coming forward and saying, ‘We’re interested in buying,’ that perhaps the conversation would turn, and Secretary Rollins and Chief Bettencourt would be able to say, look, here’s an interested buyer. And that’s not for show. That’s for go.”
Since news came out about her district’s interest, multiple prospective partners have come forward.
“There are other interested parties working with us. We plan on moving forward until it’s a no.”
Russian River community had “no voice” in this
Burke pushes back against those who are attempting to pit Californians against one another in their reactions to news about EVMWD’s interest.
“I think a lot of the NGO groups like to separate us—ag versus urban, North versus South. And that separation has not done any of us any good. It really needs to be about what’s best for California as a whole. And when we work together and we can be collaborative and we can help each other solve problems, we have a better economy, we have a better quality of life, and overall, we do far better than if we have little fiefdoms where we’re fighting each other, which a lot of outside groups have done their best to make sure that we’re fighting and we’re not cooperating.”
In Potter Valley, she and her board are looking for a win-win solution.
“Winning to me means that there is a solution that works for Potter Valley, for Sonoma County, for Lake County, works for the environment, and works for the people. That’s not one or the other. That’s not one NGO group over a different one. It’s not one tribe over another, but that people have reliable, safe water first and foremost, that farmers have water to irrigate with second, and that we can do so in a way that is responsible and environmentally sound.”
Before EVMWD’s intervention, Burke believes the Russian River community was on the verge of being railroaded.
“No one’s listening to this community,” Burke said, “They seem to have no voice. And I would say that you’re expendable. You’re not a large voter base. You don’t have a very wealthy resident that’s willing to write a big check somewhere or to raise the flag. I have seen enough small systems to know that, you know, they’ll just move on. That’s what people think. They don’t understand that the only thing a farmer has to leave for his family, the legacy, is the land. And the land without water is worth nothing.”