GRASS VALLEY, Calif. June 10, 2024 – Nevada Irrigation District (NID) Directors will vote on establishing Emergency Canal Outage Rotations throughout the duration of the PG&E’s unplanned Spaulding One and South Yuba Canal outages at their June 12th meeting.
Why the outages?
The initial return to service date of the Spaulding #1 Powerhouse was scheduled for June 8, 2024, while the return to service date of the South Yuba Canal was scheduled for June 18, 2024. Both estimates were delayed to June 18th. In mid-May, PG&E informed NID the South Yuba Canal repairs would be completed by the end of August. Then, on May 30, PG&E notified NID that further delays had occurred on the powerhouse repairs, delaying the return to service date to June 30, 2024.
The NID staff report lays out the dilemma:
Normal irrigation season flows in Nevada County are supplied via two major arteries, the Cascade Canal, and the DS Canal. The Cascade Canal diverts flows from the SYC above Scotts Flat Lake. Due to the SYC outage, NID has relied on runoff in the Deer Creek watershed as a source of supply. Unfortunately, runoff flows are diminishing, and the delay in the return to service of the SYC means NID will have to rely solely on the DS canal for water deliveries. The DS Canal was not designed to carry the entire load of the Nevada County water supply; thus, the canal is anticipated to run out of capacity towards the end of June. Staff is preparing for the shortfall with a proposal for temporary rotating canal outages to a limited number of canals. Each rotating outage is expected to last 3 days (plus travel time to the end) before moving on to the next canal. If the current PG&E return to service date of June 30th holds, four rotations are expected.
NID staff report
NID has used and will continue to use emergency pumps to take water from the DS Canal to supply water to the Cascade Canal system, which provides drinking water service to over 11,500 connections through NID’s E. George and Loma Rica water treatment plants, and in-home canal use to 120 customers.
Capacity exhausted by June 20, 2024
At this time, NID forecasts that its DS Canal will reach maximum capacity on or around June 20, 2024. The rotation for the outages, based on the modeling and PG&E’s revised return to service date of June 30st are as follows:
Rotation #1
Clear Creek Canal
Outage: June 20 through June 23
Rotation #2
Tarr Canal downstream of Retrac Road
Outage: June 23 through June 26
Rotation #3
Cole Viet, Wolf, Pearl Barnes, and Carpenter Canals
Outage: June 26 through June 29
Rotation #4
Smith Gordon, Casy Loney, Stinson Pipe, Pet Hill, Pet Hill Extension
Outage: June 29 through July 2
Additional outages if needed
NID staff also included a caveat in their report: “If the PG&E outage extends beyond the June 30th date, NID staff will establish additional canal outage rotations until service is restored.”
The three-day outages are prolonged by the ‘travel time’ it takes for water to reach the far ends of each canal. Real time outage information will be available on NID’s outage page.
The NID Board meeting starts at 9:00 am on Wednesday, June 12 and is open to the public. You can watch the livestream on NID’s YouTube Channel. The full agenda is here.
