• van-sickle-and-idle-pumps
    Barry Van Sickle, superintendent of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, and his crew in May turned off pumps, at Pumping Station No. 6, at Essex that had drawn water from the Mad River to deliver to the pulp mill. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • blue-heron
    A blue heron studies a pool a-leap with fish across the river from the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District’s pump control station and industrial diversion works. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • industrial-diversion
    For decades, water from Mad River has been diverted into the pump station at Essex, through a series of fish screens, and delivered by pipe to the Samoa Peninsula to supply the pulp mills. Now all the water runs past. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • pumpstation-no-6
    Pumping Station No. 6 replaced the original pump system that had supplied industrial customers. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • river-above-blue-lk
    The Mad River, above Blue Lake. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • bill-kier
    Bill Kier, a fisheries consultant, wants the district’s unused water to go to the fish in the Mad River. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • aldaron-laird
    Aldaron Laird, an environmental planner and a member of the HBMWD board, brainstormed with residents of McKinleyville last week about what to do with the district’s surplus industrial water. Photo by Heidi Walters
  • mad-river
    HBWMD holds a water rights permit to divert water from the Mad River. Water is captured in Ruth Lake and released during the summer to flow to the district’s diversion facility at Essex, near Blue Lake. Map by Miles Eggleston