Stopping Centennial Dam in 2020

Centennial Spending Reduced

At the end of 2019, NID capped Centennial spending to $500,000, much lower than the historical $2 million a year. NID ended the year with less than $100,000 spent towards the Dam and no additional properties were purchased. NID also released a new Cost of Service Study, which "includ[ed] specific allocations between raw and treated water customers and the cost to deliver water to raw and treated water customers by water delivery system and zone."  These were steps towards improving the District's overall fiscal responsibility. Since NID has spent over $14 million on Centennial without any secured environmental approvals or funding plan, SYRCL was happy to see NID re-examine their finances and plan for the future.

Transition to Virtual Meetings 

On March 26, 2020, NID held a Special Board Meeting and declared a State of Emergency to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, the Board decided to transition to virtual meetings on the Zoom platform, rather than cancelling all meetings due to California's shelter in place order. This helped increase public transparency and engagement in a very difficult time for the country and our community. NID continued to hold virtual meetings the rest of the year. 

General Manager Resigns

One of Centennial Dam's strongest supporters, General Manager Remleh Scherzinger, resigned on May 28, 2020. Read more in the Yubanet article here. NID appointed Assistant General Manager, Greg Jones, as an interim General Manager for the rest of 2020. The General Manager is a pivotal position for the District. NID initiated the process to hire a replacement for Mr. Scherzinger in late 2020 and expect the process to be completed within the first 3-4 months of 2021. 

Plan for Water Moves Forward

At a Board meeting in July, NID's consultants presented the new process proposal to update the Raw Water Master Plan (RWMP), also known as the Plan for Water. As a reminder, the RWMP is important because the updated hydrology, water supply, and demand estimates from the Plan will feed directly into NID's environmental review of the Centennial Dam Project. The RWMP update process is now expected to begin in Fall 2021. 

Water Projections Released

At the end of August, NID released updated hydrology, water supply and water demand projections for the District, also called "2020 Water Planning Projections." These reports were designed to help NID manage their water supply and anticipate needs, such as a new dam like Centennial. After extensive review, the the Projections left us with more questions than answers. With the Foothills Water Network, SYRCL filed extensive comments on October 19, 2020 with recommendations to NID on how to move forward in 2021. Read the full comments here. Thank you to all Dam Watchdogs that submitted comments. SYRCL looks forward to seeing how NID addresses the concerns in 2021. 

New NID Board Directors

Welcome to the New Board Directors! Rich Johansen (Division V) and Karen Hull (Division III) were sworn in on Wednesday December 9, 2020, during the last regular NID Board meeting of the year. The new directors join Ricki Heck (Division I), Chris Bierwagen (Division II) and Laura Peters (Division IV in Placer County). SYRCL and the Dam Watchdogs look forward to engaging with them in the New Year.