How's Ruth Lake Doing?

With all the depressing news lately about lakes and reservoirs way below their capacity, and communities beginning to consider water restrictions, I wondered about our very own Ruth Lake? The Mad River comes from Ruth Lake and that's where most of us get our water from.

I did a quick search yesterday and couldn't find anything about Ruth Lake's current water level. I found a page for a Ruth Lake Community Services District, or some such. I sent them an e-mail asking about water levels. I've yet to receive a reply.

This morning I got to thinking about it again and realized the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District should probably know something as they supply much of the area's water from Ruth Lake via their pumps at Blue Lake. I gave them a call.

The guy I spoke with, John F...(?), told me they actually run or own the Ruth Lake reservoir and all the water infrastructure. He said he wasn't sure of the current level as they're still analyzing the figures, but at their meeting last month it was something like 60 to 65% of capacity. In other words, we're much better off at this point than some of the others that are at 20% or below.

He also pointed out that, unlike some other reservoirs, Ruth is dependent on rainfall rather than snow runoff and that it fills quite quickly with a couple good rains. At this point, though, things aren't looking good in that regard so we'll have to wait and see. He also mentioned they're planning on updating their web site and including lake levels and some other info in the future.

So, we're not close to mandatory water restrictions yet. Good news for us compared to many other areas but, if we don't get enough rain before June, I might well be looking for another job.