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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is asking for the community’s help in locating a missing man.
They are attempting to locate Jordan Nagel, 32.
Nagel was known to be in the Lower Lake area on Dec. 11. He was possibly headed to Sacramento on Dec. 12.
He is described as a white male, 5 feet 5 inches tall and 150 pounds, with blonde hair and brown eyes.
Nagel typically wears sweatshirts and baggy pants.
If you have any knowledge of Nagel’s whereabouts please contact Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251, Extension 1.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — There are many dogs at Clearlake Animal Control this week that are waiting for their new homes.
The shelter has 56 adoptable dogs and puppies listed on its website.
This week’s dogs include “Pablo,” a 2-and-a-half-year-old pit bull terrier mix.
Shelter staff said Pablo loves to give kisses and makes a great cuddle bug. Pablo also likes taking walks and playing in water on hot days.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lingzi Chen
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Ten days after a three-million-gallon sewage spill left some Clearlake residents without clean running water, the Board of Supervisors approved a $750,000 budget resolution to purchase and fill water tanks for affected households during a special meeting on Wednesday.
The discussion began with District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, whose district is ground zero for the incident, requesting a $500,000 transfer from the general fund reserve to the Lake County Sanitation District’s Southeast Regional System to purchase water tanks for residents advised not to use their private wells due to contamination concerns.
“We need to provide a certain level of dignity and quality of life back to the people that are living in those areas,” said Sabatier.
Providing and installing these water tanks until residents can re-access safe and clean water wells and go back to normality — “That is the least of what we should be looking at doing,” he said.
The $500,000 amount would cover only the purchase and installation of 60 water tanks, each with a capacity of 2,500 gallons.
To cover water refilling, “it would need to be raised a little bit, at least to $600,000,” said Assistant County Administrative Officer Stephen Carter.
“Where is that money coming from to fill the tanks?” Supervisor Brad Rasmussen asked.
“I believe that Special Districts is expected to continue to burden the costs,” said Robin Borre, administrator of the agency. “We are out of money; we've depleted our reserves in that district.”
On top of that, Borre suggested an uncertain timeline of the situation.
“We don't know if the sanitation of the wells is going to be successful,” Borre said. “So this could be a two-week thing. It could be a two month-thing — we don't know how long it's going to go on.”
“So why not make it $750,000 and if we don't spend it, we don't spend it,” said Sabatier. “If we have to spend it, at least it's available so we don't have to have an urgent situation of money.”
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the increased amount.
The Lake County Sanitation District, or LACOSAN, is overseen by Lake County Special Districts. LACOSAN operates a 16-inch force main near Robin Lane and Pond Road in Clearlake that ruptured on Sunday, Jan. 11, resulting in a sewage spill.
Lake County Special Districts reported being notified of the spill at 7:30 a.m. that day. The spill was stopped at 9:55 p.m. on Jan. 12.
An estimated 2.9 million gallons of raw sewage spilled across hundreds of acres east of Smith Lane, west of Old Highway 53, south of Pond Road and north of Bowers Avenue, with 3,900 gallons released into a drainage ditch that ran to Burns Creek and into Clear Lake, according to county staff.
By the time the board approved the resolution on Wednesday, impacted residents had been living without clean running water for 10 days.
“I do wish that this had been done earlier, but it is here today,” Sabatier said at the meeting.
At the meeting, Sabatier demanded repeatedly that an order of water tanks be placed by the end of Wednesday.
“I don't mean to be rude or overly directive — as soon as this meeting is over, we need to order ASAP,” Sabatier said.
As a response, Borre said twice she had to check in with staff about quotes. “It's my understanding we have one quote so far,” Borre said.
However, both Carter and Sabatier said there were multiple.
“So please get that accomplished,” said Sabatier, who added, “I’ll be checking it.”
During the town hall in the evening at Clearlake City Hall, Borre said that 20 water tanks had been ordered.
Delayed response
At the beginning of the discussion, Sabatier said he had not expected board action would be required to allocate funds for disaster relief.
“I was not aware that we needed to do what we're doing today,” he said. “I would expect that dollars made available in what we call disaster relief and recovery should be accessible immediately.”
The city of Clearlake declared a local emergency on Monday, Jan. 12, while the spill was still active.
The following day, Jan. 13, the Lake County Office of Emergency Services and the county’s Public Health officer declared a local emergency near the end of the Board of Supervisors meeting. That remained the only time spent on the sewage spill during that board meeting, which lasted less than three minutes.
A week after the proclamation, barriers to immediate fund allocation still exist.
“I was not aware that things were on hold until I had to put this together,” Sabatier said at Wednesday's special meeting. “So I feel the frustration of the people that are involved, and I don't disregard their frustration with me. We also have barriers that should not be here for emergencies, and we need to solve that for the future.”
“I'm just asking staff — please make it as simple as possible,” he said. “This is the beginning of it, but this is an emergency that is unlike any others. This is not a natural disaster.”
While the board was discussing the budget resolution, Sabatier said water tanks had been brought in and installed for some residents.
"Tanks are being installed, as we speak,” Sabatier said. “I saw a lot of them yesterday. I don't know that any of them have been installed, but they are starting."
Lake County News sought clarification from the county. “At least one tank has been installed, as of this time, and multiple are in process,” Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein said in an email Wednesday afternoon.
Those tanks were 1,500 gallons per tank, funded via the Social Services-administered Home Safe program and intended for relatively small households, Rothstein said.
The process of allocating funds, ordering and installing water tanks for residents started 10 days after the incident started, a week after the county Public Health officer advised 60 gallons of clean water for daily use per person per day.
Both Carter and Borre mentioned the “depletion” of department funds during the special meeting.
In response to questions from Lake County News about when those funds were depleted and when the depletion was formally reported, “Funding initially available toward disaster response was depleted; not all Special Districts funding,” Rothstein responded in an email.
“Staff in County Administration have been closely following expenditures associated with this event, and it became evident over the weekend additional funding would need to be allocated to support the response,” Rothstein said.
Lake County News followed up with questions asking how much funding was initially available for disaster response and how much has been spent responding to the spill. No response had been received as of publication.
Community members voiced grievances
During public comment, impacted residents voiced frustration over the county’s outreach and notification during the disaster.
“I found out about this meeting today because I happened to read my local paper. I found out about the town hall meeting last week because I happened to check the city of Clearlake’s Nixle — not their obligation; each and every one of yours,” said Jacqueline Snyder, who lives on Old Highway 53 within the impact zone. “This is becoming rapidly a joke.”
“I haven't had any outreach other than I called and I asked for water for my three dogs, three cats and six chickens, and I got two gallons [of water],” she said at the meeting. “Nobody has been out to my property to test.”
Snyder later told Lake County News that the abovementioned exchange took place on Saturday, and that the household had continued to use water from their private well until last Wednesday, Jan 14.
“I'm on the outlying part of the zone,” she said during a phone call. “But we didn't realize at that point that we were in the zone.”
Speaking on Zoom, Cassandra Hulbert, a Robin Lane resident who lives in the spill area, demanded county notification by mail.
“We need documentation because there are people still drinking their water that aren't taking this seriously because they have not received notification,” She said, adding that Facebook and Nixles are not reaching people who do not have access to social media.
“There's been nothing in our mailboxes saying anything about anything. We've gotten no well test results that have been documented,” Hulbert said. “I don't have anything on a piece of paper that says this is even happening.”
“There are still people, as of yesterday, that still did not know what was happening,” she added.
During her comment, Snyder also spoke against the demeanor of Susan Parker, county administrative officer, or CAO, before the meeting started.
“I also observed your [CAO] laughing, hopefully hurriedly getting out of here today," said Snyder, who said she overheard Parker laughing and saying the meeting would take five or 10 minutes.
“[This] is exactly why I'm taking at least three minutes, so you have to stay three minutes longer,” Snyder added. “This is disgusting.”
This sentiment and observation were echoed by a Facebook post by Rachel White right after the meeting.
“I was irritated because I just felt like she should have shown a little more professionalism,” said Snyder of Parker in a phone call.
Lake County News reached out to the county for comment.
“Unfortunately, it appears Ms. Snyder overheard a differently oriented comment and received it out of context,” Rothstein said in an email.
Parker’s comment on a brief meeting time “spoke to her confidence that the item responded to a clearly demonstrated public need, as well as the urgency of work commencing that was enabled by today's action,” he added.
The email said Parker has taken the incident “very seriously, and has also sought to ensure all responding remain calm and effective in their work.”
“Any laughter that may have been observed was in no respect making light of what affected residents are facing,” Rothstein added.
The discussion at the special meeting, including all public comment and action, ended up lasting about 30 minutes.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Close to 100 community members impacted by a massive sewage spill in the northern part of the city of Clearlake attended a town hall on Wednesday evening to hear the latest about efforts to test wells and help residents try to get back to normal.
Wednesday marked 10 days since a 16-inch force main operated by the Lake County Sanitation District ruptured in the area of Robin Lane in Clearlake, spilling an estimated 2.9 million gallons during the 38-hour period of time in which repairs were underway.
The town hall, held at Clearlake City Hall, featured updates from county officials and comments from the city manager on the ongoing efforts to clean up the nearly 300-acre spill area and test and clean nearly 100 private wells. A similar town hall was held the week before at City Hall.
Among the updates on Wednesday was that the recovery is now transitioning to being led by the Health Services Department, with Lake County Special Districts — which oversees the Lake County Sanitation District — to continue its mitigation efforts.
District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said the spill, which began on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 11, was stopped on the night of Monday, Jan. 12, and the cleanup started on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 13.
Environmental Health is taking the lead on well testing. Department Director Craig Wetherbee said the first week of testing was a blitz to try to get as many sample points as possible.
During the question and answer portion of the meeting, Wetherbee said that of the 94 wells tested, 39 were found to be contaminated with E. coli and coliform. Of those, four came back with testing levels so “astronomically high” they were outside of the scope of the test.
Starting this weekend, drillers and pump teams were in the spill area, shocking — or treating — 51 wells.
He said the effort is focusing on what level of contamination is now present in the wells. Fresh water comes into the aquifer and will push out contaminated water, but Wetherbee said they’re not sure of how rapidly that's happening.
Some of the test results are encouraging, not showing contamination which Wetherbee said is a good sign for the aquifer. If the sanitized wells have clean testing results, he said that will show the aquifer is clean.
Once the wells start getting two clean samples in a row, county officials can start to lift the prohibitions against using the well water, he said.
“I’m actually really encouraged,” Wetherbee said, noting that the process will take time but it’s heading in the right direction.
Then, there is still the ground surface to deal with, and Wetherbee said the warm weather and sunshine is the best thing that could have happened. That’s because more ultraviolet light and heat leads to bacteria dying faster.
Wetherbee said the viable lifespan of E. coli already has passed, and other pathogens from the wastewater are closing in on the end of their lifecycles as well.
Special Districts Administrator Robin Borre, who made her first town hall appearance on Wednesday, said only 3,900 gallons of wastewater made it into the nearby creek. Preventing more of it from going into the creek was what she called a “heroic feat” by her staff.
She said that by Tuesday, Jan. 13, most of the wastewater had been removed from the spill site.
However, in the audience, spill area resident Cassie Hulbert — on hearing Borre’s statement — shook her head and mouthed “no.”
Borre said her team has been working on surface decontamination — pastures, driveways and roadways. Contaminated soil will be removed and replaced with clean backfill. Wetherbee later explained that contaminated soil will be taken to Special Districts and placed in a lined pond.
Crews on Wednesday dug up a 10-inch valve that had been patched after a spill several years ago and replaced it with a new pipe, Borre said.
Special Districts staff also have been assisting with moving livestock out of harm’s way and providing water for them.
Public Health Officer Dr. Bob Bernstein said wells are being tested for E. coli and coliform, which can get into wells with damaged lids and casings. So far, public health monitoring of emergency room visits has not found any cases of illness associated with exposure to wastewater.
City Manager Alan Flora said his heart goes out to the people who are impacted, and he recognized the enormous frustration and need due to the situation.
“I’m going to be really blunt. I’m pissed about a lot of things, too,” Flora said.
He told residents that while they can’t see everything that is happening, there are a lot of people fighting for them.
Flora said he’s been participating in daily briefings with the county, and the city is prepared to respond and assist.
He noted that the Clearlake City Council has been concerned about the system for some time and is engaged going forward.
State Sen. Mike McGuire was in the city on Sunday and Congressman Mike Thompson has been reaching out to the city and county every day to ask what he can do, Flora said.
The city and Konocti Unified School District will host a dinner for impacted residents at Burns Valley School on Thursday evening.
“We love Clearlake,” Flora said, adding that city staff are working every day to make the city better.
Officials explain next steps
Sabatier, in explaining the next steps in the response and recovery process, said the Board of Supervisors earlier that day approved up to $750,000 to be utilized for buying water tanks for residents, with pumps to connect the tanks to homes. By that time, he said some tanks had already been installed.
He said there are conversations about long-term planning and how to prevent — or be better prepared for — such incidents in the future.
Wetherbee responded to questions about ongoing well monitoring. He said monitoring will be long-term — for years — but the response itself won’t last that long.
If there is more rain, he said it could cause more contamination, with the bacteria mobilized in the soil.
Wetherbee said many of the wells in the spill area are very old — some having been sunk in the 1940s — and therefore they lack the sanitary seals that didn’t come into effect until 1981. Additionally, some of them have livestock and septic systems nearby — within 100 feet. Environmental Health is working with property owners to remediate those issues.
Asked about regular well testing, Wetherbee said the United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests it take place once a year. Kits can be picked up at the Environmental Health Office in Lakeport, and usually costs between $60 to $80.
Wetherbee warned of individuals who have been in the spill impact area and representing themselves as contractors, giving property owners bids that he called “extortionist” at best.
The county is paying local companies $435 for each well sanitized, but he said he’s heard of a property owner getting a well sanitization bid for $12,000. Wetherbee urged people to check references and get multiple bids.
Borre received questions about equipment maintenance. She said force main valves — like the one that ruptured — are usually checked yearly, with high priority valves checked every six months.
She said there are 90 miles of gravity line in Clearlake, running from Lower Lake to Lake County Sanitation District’s Southeast Regional plant and passing through a series of lift stations on the way.
Gravity lines are easier to investigate, inspect and clean because they have manholes, Borre said. With a force main, there are limited access points because they are underground and under pressure. The series of valves in them is exercised every six months or a year.
Borre said the majority of Lake county’s pipes are “AC” — or asbestos cement — with a lifetime of 70 to 100 years. The system isn’t quite that old yet, she added.
Sabatier said the county is having high level conversations about future spills not impacting the water table. That work could be years in the making.
“Nothing will be happening any time soon,” Sabatier said, noting that no public works project happens overnight.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
