Dear Shareholders,

I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season.
The recent heavy rains have been a blessing to the ongoing Drought situation, but have also caused problems for the Calaveras County Water District. Runoff from Big Trees Creek exposed a CCWD water pipe, and there was concern that the pipe could break, causing a water outage for the town of Arnold. CCWD crews have since stabilized the pipe, and are working toward a more permanent fix.
I want to assure our homeowners that a recent news article referring to “ Arnold Area Water in Jeopardy”, would not effect us here in Blue Lake Springs. We do purchase about half of our water from CCWD, but our system can be isolated from theirs, and we can supply 100% of our demand from our wells. We have 2 large tanks with over 1 million gallons in storage for emergencies, and our wells can produce enough water to fill them and also supply our usage demand. Our wholesale Water Purchase Agreement with CCWD has made it possible for our wells to recover from the demand of the drought years to the point that there is sufficient water for our needs. We work closely with Dave Eggerton and his staff at CCWD during storms and other events, and can deliver water back to them if necessary.

It’s always good to keep emergency water at home in case a water outage does occur.

Usage 2016

  • Here is the breakdown by year for water usage in Blue Lake Springs:
    2013 56,114,000 gallons.

    – Comparison year for State Drought Report

  • 2014 46,258,000 gallons. 18% water savings – Stage 2 of Drought Action Plan
  • 2015 37,293,000 gallons. 34% water savings – Stage 3 of Drought Action Plan
  • 2016 46,464,000 gallons. 17% water savings – Stage 2 of Drought Action Plan

As you can see, we held pretty steady with 2014 usage, which shows a very good conservation effort.

In spite of excellent precipitation recently, I intend on remaining in Stage 2 of our Drought Action Plan.

The Governor may revise the State Drought requirements later in the year, after the precipitation totals are in for the season, and we can take a look at revising our Drought Plan then.

I thank everyone for conserving.

Ground Water

With so much rain lately, the ground has become saturated, and water is coming out of the ground in places. This used to be a common occurrence in winter, but we haven’t seen this in quite a few years.

If you see water gushing out near your home, and think it might be a broken pipe, please call the water company, and we can check it to determine if it is a leak, or a spring.

That’s all for now.

David Hicks
General Manager
Blue Lake Springs Mutual Water Co.
P.O.Box 6015, Arnold, CA 95223
Ph: (209) 795-7025