Where does your drinking water come from? If you live in Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville, or Blue Lake, it comes from the sand beds underneath the Mad River, courtesy of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD). This agency, originally formed in 1956 to bring a steady water supply to the pulp mills, pumps, purifies, and distributes drinking water to more than 88,000 households.
The HBMWD has multiple functions. In addition to wholesaling water to four cities and a number of smaller communities, it also oversees the health of the 70-mile long Mad River; runs a power producing dam at Ruth Lake in Trinity County; supervises the recreational use of the lake (along with the Ruth Lake Community Services District); and operates two small but attractive parks along the riverbank near Blue Lake. It has two separate systems of pumps and pipelines – one for untreated water going to industrial facilities, and the other for treated water going to communities. The untreated water is drawn from the surface waters of the river; the treated water is first pumped up from the sand and gravel beds, then filtered, chlorinated, and piped to large storage tanks in the cities it sells to. Each city then distributes the water to its customers through its own lines, and collects monthly bills from the residents.
The district therefore interacts with government on multiple levels. If a grower wants to start an operation that will draw water from a tributary of the Mad, the County Planning Department lets the HBMWD know and gives it blocking power if members think the operation could harm the watershed. State Fish and Wildlife oversees the Habitat Conservation Plan that the HBMWD created years ago. HBMWD negotiates with the Harbor District to provide untreated water to new industries such as the Nordic Aquafarm, and to provide treated water to new housing developments proposed on the peninsula. State and federal agencies that supervise dam safety inspect the facility, and sometimes demand changes and upgrades to promote safety. The State Water Resources Control Board also oversees the HBMWD. And of course, the district must interact with the municipal governments of the cities that purchase its water, as well as multiple departments of both Humboldt and Trinity Counties.
To do all this, the HBMWD has an elected five-person Board of Directors, as well as a staff of employees. The directors, in the opinion of this writer, are well-informed about both watershed science and the political nuances of the communities that they serve, and tend to stay in their positions sometimes for decades. Directors are chosen according to the district they represent, in a process somewhat analogous to the Board of Supervisors. GHD, a local engineering firm, serves as the district’s engineer (as it does for many other local agencies).
The chief problem facing the district at this point is that with the loss of the pulp mills about twenty years ago, it may run afoul of the state’s “use it or lose it” water mandate. The first priority is to keep water sales local, but it has in the past considered selling water out of the area. This has never worked out because the costs of long distance transportation are so high.
The wells and water treatment facilities are located along the riverbank between Arcata and Blue Lake: the District Office is in Eureka at 828 Seventh Street. Directors are Neal Latt, Sheri Woo, David Lindberg, Bruce Rupp, and Michelle Fuller. The General Manager is John Friedenbach. A more ethereal figure is King Neptune, the God of Water, who is displayed prominently on the district’s logo, representing the “prudent administration” of the district. Actually, the logo contains quite a lot of mythical symbolism which is interesting if you’re into that kind of thing.
Board meetings are usually held on the second Thursday morning of the month. They are lengthy and often take up the whole day. Because of Covid, they are virtual at the present time. Links and agendas are on the HBMWB website at www.hbmwd.com. The monthly board packet contains an interesting compilation of water-related articles from various publications, and is almost a magazine in itself. Check it out sometime.