Calistoga faces lawsuit over city reservoir

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Monday, June 01, 2009

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By JOHN WATERS JR.
For the Register

Dredging up the history of the city of Calistoga’s municipal reservoir, a Southern California man is suing the city in an effort to restore water to Kimball Creek.

The civil suit charges the city built Kimball Reservoir to hold more water than it is allowed to, and deceived state regulators by not reporting accurately its 1939 agreement with the family of Alfred Tubbs, among Calistoga’s earliest residents. San Diego resident Grant Reynolds filed the suit May 13 after purchasing the rights to collect any settlement based on the allegations from Tubbs’ survivor, Debbie O’Gorman.

The suit also says the city improperly took what was to be drinking water for residents and sold it to vineyard owners for agricultural use.

Calistoga officials have not commented on the lawsuit.

Aside from taking water the suit claims it wasn’t entitled to, Reynolds alleges the city built the Kimball dam higher to hold more water than was permitted by the 1939 agreement with the Tubbs family, which in turn destroyed upper Napa Valley fish habitat.

“When you speak to the real old-timers — and I’d like to hear from anyone with a story — you can hear all kinds of stories about the fish that used to be plentiful,” Reynolds said. “Today you’d be hard-pressed to find any fish at all.”

“Before all of this, the fingerlings would survive year-round in small pools of water along the upper parts of the Napa River and Kimball Creek,” he added. “When the winter rains came those fish would swim downstream and out to the ocean. All of that has been destroyed.”

Reynolds is asking the public for stories and photographs of fish caught in the upper tributaries of the Napa River.

To prove his point, Reynolds has included a photograph of sea-run steelhead trout he claims O’Gorman’s ancestors caught from Kimball Creek as an exhibit in his suit.

“I want the city to put the water back into the creek,” Reynolds said. “They’ve been saying all along that they’d allow water from the reservoir into the creek, but there’s none flowing into it.”

15 comment(s)

Char wrote on Jun 1, 2009 4:08 AM:

" My father was born on the banks of Kimall Dam before it was a Dam. That was in 1908. I just think we need to pay closer attention to how we spend our money. Fish of years past verses people in today. Don't know about you but I'd like to see people helped first. Reminds me of the man who wanted to shut down the airport because he bought property on Dunaweal and the plans bothered his wife when she wanted to sleep in on Saturday mornings. Sometimes I just don't get people. "

Ruff Limblog wrote on Jun 1, 2009 7:04 AM:

" The 'Water Wars' come to Napa County.

As California continues to dry up, there will be more suits like this.

Fresh pure water is getting harder to come by and more expensive.

~Ruff "

O/U now wrote on Jun 1, 2009 7:07 AM:

" Think about the impact our over use of water has on our valley. Do we really want a golf course in pope valley destroying streams with nitrate runoff and using up ground water, to keep grass that will has no purpose but to " play on" green? This dam is wrong,Remove it. and lets not make mistakes like this again. "

Alter ego wrote on Jun 1, 2009 9:02 AM:

" Interesting tale. I wish someone would do a similiar investigation on the story of Rector Dam.

Was it built just to provide water to the Veteran's Home? Who owns it?

How did the town of Yountville end up with water rights?

What is our new Parks and Rec Dept doing to open it up to public access for fishing?

Only a "stones throw" off of Silverado Trail, it would be a great asset to the public that paid for it! "

napadad wrote on Jun 1, 2009 10:28 AM:

" you guys are missing the point, this is an individual who bought the rights to any settlement from the suit. hes talking about water, but there will be a monetary settlement. This is an out if town lawyer attempting to get money from napa county/calistoga on the assumption there will be a pay out on the case.
San Diego resident Grant Reynolds filed the suit May 13 after purchasing the rights to collect any settlement "

shareathought wrote on Jun 1, 2009 11:07 AM:

" I agree that this article is about "an individual who bought the rights to any settlement from the suit." and that "hes talking about water" I only wish that rather then or in addition to "...a monetary settlement" that in the least the "1939 agreement" be met and that our creeks be restored to healthy conditions.

Its not that we can successfully return our waterways to the healthy conditions of a hundred years ago but we could certainly stop washing weeds from our driveways, blowing garbage down our streets, dumping chemicals down our stormdrains and pick up after ourselves.

The health of our water system reflects the health of our people. If we maintain a healthy balance we could help our people.

Our selfish attitude has led to our unhealthy economy, our unhealthy environment and our unhealthy people. "

antipc wrote on Jun 1, 2009 12:51 PM:

" Sounds pretty fishy to me.

At least when the water rates for Calistoga go up, the citizens will know what ambulance chasing, gold digger to thank.

Some people have no shame. "

amazed wrote on Jun 1, 2009 1:09 PM:

" Purchasing the rights to collect any settlement? Doesn't that sound sleazy! "

kevin wrote on Jun 1, 2009 5:52 PM:

" I wonder if they ever fenced out the cattle that used to wade (and do other things) in the upper end of the lake... "

grapegirl wrote on Jun 1, 2009 5:56 PM:

" Not only is this man hunting for ambulances to chase in our valley, he's got the Napa Register helping him seek out free legal researchers. I think the NR should not have helped him by including his request for information in this article. "

MarkMiwords wrote on Jun 1, 2009 8:32 PM:

" There are several sleazy things going on here. The purchase of the rights to any settlement is bizarre and most certainly sleazy. But what is very notable here is that the city of Calistoga lied to the state and took more than it was entitled to. I thought that this kind of deception was a modern phenomenon, but I guess greed is something that spans time. "

shareathought wrote on Jun 1, 2009 9:28 PM:

" "The purchase of the rights to any settlement is bizarre"

I agree with that (and it is astounding that it is legal), and this: "greed is something that spans time". "

squidmond wrote on Jun 1, 2009 10:45 PM:

" i just cannot resist chiming in on this one. in 1962 my family purchased the Tubbs Mansion, about a mile from the lake. There were numerous fish in the Napa River back then, nearly all bluegill or sucker fish. I doubt, however, that the lake level has as much to do with the current fish population as polution. In fact, there were caution signs along the river near Tubbs Lane, warning of poluted water back then. "

truckerca94515 wrote on Aug 11, 2009 5:59 PM:

" GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 14715

14715. The Veterans' Home of California, for all purposes including
irrigation and domestic, shall have the first and prior right to all
available water stored in Rector Dam on state property in Napa
County. Said right shall be prior to any allocation of said waters
for the use of any other state institutions, including the State Game
Farm and the Napa State Hospital. In the event that there is more
water available than necessary to meet the requirements of the
Veterans' Home of California, the department may take and conduct
from the dam such quantity of surplus water as may be determined by
the Department of Water Resources to be necessary for the use of the
Napa State Hospital and other state establishments located in the
County of Napa, including the State Game Farm, and rights-of-way may
be acquired, pursuant to the Property Acquisition Law, Part 11
(commencing with Section 15850) of Division 3 of Title 2, by
purchase, lease, or condemnation for that purpose. "

truckerca94515 wrote on Aug 11, 2009 6:13 PM:

" Mr Squidmond, Doug I remember fishing at Kimbell with
Rodger Hinton and Ed Taylor. Your right nothing but bluegill and carp. But I can remember in 1968 watching Rodger gaff a steel head at the old footbridge from Washington to the Pioneer Park. I think the River Lost salmon when the Fairground put in a irrigation levy to water from when they re aliened the golf coarse. "

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