NEVADA CITY, CA — Mark A. De Martini, a retired Professional Engineer, has filed a formal Demand for Action against the Nevada Irrigation District (NID), citing major fiscal contradictions and public safety risks regarding the Newtown Reservoir and Canal system.

At the heart of the challenge is a $20 million discrepancy in NID’s 5-year Capital Improvement Program. While NID Director Rich Johansen has recently indicated that the District will not move forward with piping the Newtown Canal from Nevada City, the budget still carries $4M–$5M per year (totaling $20M) for “Newtown Reach” improvements. 

“If the District isn’t piping the canal, the public deserves to know exactly what this $20 million is being spent on,” says De Martini. “Currently, it appears to be a budget for a project that the leadership claims isn’t happening, while urgent safety needs are being ignored.”

De Martini argues that the proposed $1.7 million Newtown Diversion Dam and the $300,000 “Personeni Pipe Drop” (a bypass of the Newtown Reservoir) are functionally obsolete. 

“If the Backbone Project is constructed to deliver treated water directly to Lake Wildwood, the Newtown Canal reverts to a raw water delivery system. There is no engineering justification to spend millions on these diversions if the treated water is moved to a dedicated pipeline,” De Martini explains. 

Furthermore, De Martini warns that NID’s $300,000 estimate for the “Pipe Drop” bypass is dangerously unrealistic. “A project that de-waters a perennial stream and abandons a century-old reservoir will trigger a full, mandatory EIR. Between legal challenges and environmental mitigation, that $300,000 line item could easily balloon to over $2 million, becoming a massive drain on NID’s future funds for a project that isn’t even necessary.”

De Martini is calling on NID to pivot these funds toward two critical, existing safety requirements at the Newtown Reservoir:

1. Repairing the Failed Bottom Outlet: The reservoir’s bottom outlet is currently inoperable, preventing safe water-level management during emergencies. This repair was already environmentally cleared in a 2017 Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND).

2. Sediment Removal: Approximately 10,000 cubic yards of sediment have accumulated in the reservoir. Rather than addressing this maintenance need, NID’s current plan would bypass the reservoir, creating a permanent, stagnant nuisance of mud and debris on private property and a fire-suppression liability for the neighborhood.

“The Newtown Reservoir is a primary CAL FIRE helicopter dip site,” De Martini notes. “We don’t need a $20 million pipe project for a canal that should remain an open-ditch raw water system. We need NID to fix the outlet and clean the reservoir.”