In February 2003, the State Department of Health Services (DHS) made a finding that Brooktrails does not have enough water supply to serve more than half of its current population of about 1,500 homes in a drought year. DHS then issued a "Compliance Order" which prevents the District from adding any more water connections to its existing system, until and unless enough water supply and storage can be created to satisfy DHS that our current population can be served. Then DHS will consider allowing more connections to be added to the system. This is called being under a "water moratorium."

This means that lot owners who have not yet built on their lots will not be able to build, until and unless the moratorium is lifted. While most people who were already in the process of building on their lots were allowed by DHS to continue and to receive a connection, no further connections are possible for those who had not yet begun their construction process in February 2003. Brooktrails must comply with the DHS Order and has no authority to make any exceptions to the moratorium.

We receive many questions about the moratorium daily, and many people ask if there is some other way they can get water for their lot. Unfortunately, because of numerous factors including state law, water district regulations, lot size, water rights ownership, and Mendocino County code, it is not possible for Brooktrails lot owners to get water sufficient to allow construction by any means other than a Brooktrails water district connection.

DHS has placed moratoriums on many California communities as regulations for drinking water supply have become more strict. Some communities have not been able to get their moratorium lifted and, even though Brooktrails has a better chance than many smaller water districts, we cannot guarantee when or if we will be able to get ours lifted. Many large and expensive water projects will be required, with environmental and regulatory hurdles to be overcome. What we can guarantee is that Brooktrails is energetically and diligently pursuing every possible means to comply with the State's order. We have multiple projects in progress and planned.

You can read the DHS Compliance Order link here. You can get much more information on the District's moratorium-related projects at these links too:

A note about "DHS Service Once Granted". In general, the public does not seem to fully comprehend that the state DHS service connection, once granted, (i.e., APN site specific and nontransferable from that APN site) is conditional; meaning that the applicant must then meet specific District ordinance requirements such as producing a valid County Building permit (pre-development review) and payment of connection fees (currently $6,200). Upon meeting those two primary conditions the applicant then receives a 1-year "construction meter," whereupon they must build their dwelling to house plan specifications and have it ultimately finalized by both the County and Brooktrails (post-development review). At that point they receive a regular meter.

We send out a newsletter to each lot owner around May each year giving an update on all water moratorium-related projects. This newsletter goes to the address you gave the County for your tax bills.