OROVILLE — As summer begins to wind down, the dry weather that has plagued California this year continues, leading to a number of new drought-related issues.
Over the course of the past 30 days, 11 new dry well reports in Butte County have been sent to the California Department of Water Resources. That comes out to 39 in the past year and 98 total.
Additionally, Glenn County has seen 105 total dry well reports and Tehama County has reported 229, according to data from DWR.
Interactive maps provided by DWR show that the majority of dry wells in the tri-county region center around where the three counties meet, particularly on the northeastern section of Glenn County surrounding Orland and the southern-central portion of Tehama County.
Butte County has dry wells spread throughout, however.
With funding from the state, counties have begun putting mitigations in place for those facing water insecurity.
One of the largest operations that has utilized DWR funding is in Glenn County where a large number of residents in the county’s jurisdiction have been able to sign up to be connected to the waterlines leading to Orland’s water supply. These individuals are those facing dry and drying wells. In December 2021, DWR partnered with the North Valley Community Foundation to begin drumming up interest in the community to come up with a long-term solution.
This led to support for a major construction project to branch out water lines into county territory. Construction is covered through DWR grant funding and residents who opted in will be charged double the water rates of those in Orland.
Initially, the project was allotted $8 million for completion but has since been doubled to $16.7 million, said Orland City Manager Peter Carr. The extra funding will go toward a new well and a new storage tank for the city.
“We will connect 168 of these residences,” Carr said. “State engineers and city engineers are working together behind the scenes daily to plan all the design, permitting and construction documents that will be necessary to make this happen as soon as possible.”
DWR has stated that the project is still in its design phase.
“While we press forward on this, (Glenn) County is continuing to register new at-risk and dry well properties in addition to those identified last year,” Carr said. “While the current project will take services northwest and southeast of the city (of Orland), the preponderance of the newly dry wells are showing up in the west and southwest of the city.”
In the meantime, DWR and Glenn County have created programs to haul water to those experiencing dry wells, including loaning out tanks and pumps to those who need them.
“All of this, plus the county groundwater sustainability plan in process, address long-term drinking water needs,” Carr said. “Short term, the county is serving now 200 households with regular deliveries of bulk water and bottled water. North Valley Community Foundation, the city and local water haulers are all partnering to make this happen. Orland water customers are also doing their part to find ways to improve the conservation of existing groundwater resources.”
Similarly, Butte County has been utilizing a water hauling program for its residents in the same boat and posting a list of licensed water haulers.
