Interesting water dispute brewing up ner Eagle Lake.
According to Sacramento be reporter Jane Braxton Little, a 74 year old out of commission irrigation tunnel carrying water from Eagle lake to the Honey Lake Valley is creating an interesting water dispute. The tunnel and canal which was decomissioned shortly after its construction when it was discovered Eagle lake water was to alkaline for many crops, has always carried a certain amount of water into the valley.
Braxton reports, “Ranchers below the Bly Tunnel believe they have rights to the water that trickles through the tunnel into Willow Creek, a Susan River tributary. Residents above it at Eagle Lake believe the tunnel on the east shore is responsible for lowering the lake level, leaving their boat ramps high and dry. Controversy has plagued the tunnel ever since Leon Bly obtained the water rights in 1920 to build a concrete channel big enough to stand in.”
After the tunnel and cannel was abandoned, BLM assumed ownership of the tunnel.
“Some water continued to seep into the structure and flow into Willow Creek, so in 1986 BLM workers plugged it with concrete and installed a 6-inch bypass pipe that would allow any accumulated seepage to flow downstream.” Braxton continued reporting, “BLM took that action based on a 1977 interpretation of the original water rights, which said downstream users had the right to any water accumulated in the tunnel. Recently, however, citizens concerned about the falling level of Eagle Lake have filed at least 14 complaints with the State Water Resources Control Board. They want the valve to the bypass pipe closed, and the tunnel shut off.
“That prompted Dayne Barron, manager of the BLM’s Eagle Lake Field Office in Susanville, to ask state water rights officials to review the issues. In a June 1 response to Barron, Charles A. Rich said no downstream water users have any valid rights to the flow out of the tunnel or its bypass pipe. The seepage is from groundwater and beyond the jurisdiction of the Water Resources Control Board, said Rich, chief of the complaints section of the division of water rights. He reiterated a 1962 water board decision establishing a policy that requires Eagle Lake water to remain in the lake to conserve the public interest. That frees BLM to decide whether to close the pipe, continue to allow seepage to flow through it or come up with another alternative.”
