The Nevada Irrigation District lost nearly 1 million gallons of raw, untreated water back into Wolf Creek Sunday morning.
According to Public Information Officer Tomi Riley, the district learned that the Tarr Ditch, an irrigation canal used to transport raw water for 115 customers in the Penn Valley and Wolf Mountain area, was going dry around 7 a.m. Sunday.
Riley said upon investigation, an operator found damage to a spill structure used to uptake water along the canal.
“We definitely had vandalism at Tarr Ditch, which caused the water to go out from intake back into the creek,” Riley said.
Riley said the district currently categorizes the incident as vandalism as opposed to water theft, although 1 million gallons of water was “lost” over the four hours between learning about the damage and repairing it.
With a mandatory 20% water-use reduction in place, the Nevada Irrigation District Board of Directors on Wednesday discussed the realities of enforcing drought-related restrictions, opting to impose fines for violators.
A resolution adopted by the board lays out a progressively financially punitive course of action in response to excessive or wasteful water use.
The administrative citations begin with a written warning that will specify a date and time by which a person can correct their violation. If the deadline is not met, NID may issue a second administrative citation. If the second violation takes place within 12 months of the first, the district will charge $250 for each. If a third administrative citation is issued within 12 months, then the district demands $500 for each violation cited. A fourth violation, and the individual responsible must pay NID $1,000 for each violation cited.
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