SUSANVILLE – An octogenarian water tunnel that has not deliberately carried water for 74 years is facing federal scrutiny to determine how – and whether – it should operate in the future.
Prompted by public controversy, the federal Bureau of Land Management has launched an environmental review of the Bly Tunnel, built in 1920 to irrigate crops in Honey Lake Valley.
The 1.4-mile tunnel between Eagle Lake and Willow Creek has residents at both ends complaining, said Jeff Fontana, a BLM spokesman with the Eagle Lake Field Office.
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.
Ranchers used it to supplement river irrigation water. But the water was too alkaline for most crops, and in 1935 the tunnel was blocked. The water rights were revoked and the right-of-way canceled.
BLM eventually 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, Fontana said.
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.
"The division of water rights has basically said, 'BLM: your call,' " said Barron.
In the face of contradictory legal opinions, the agency is seeking public comment on issues that should be considered when it analyzes options for the bypass pipe, Barron said.
Any action could have an environmental impact, including a social or monetary impact to those downstream ranchers who thought that was their water right, said Fontana.
He encouraged written comments sent by Aug. 4 to Bureau of Land Management, 2950 Riverside Dr., Susanville, CA 96130, or sent by e-mail to the BLM Eagle Lake Field Office at ca350@ca.blm.gov.
Barron said he expects a decision later this year.
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