water diversion – Enviro Updates

Ag landowners ask for reconsideration of proposed Alexander Valley water district

September 2, 2026

Anna Armstrong, PRESS DEMOCRAT

As major changes hang over the shape of the region’s water supply, a group of agricultural landowners in northern Sonoma County is advancing the latest attempt to create a new water district for the area and secure a seat at the table in ongoing talks tied to that future.

The proposed district would give Alexander Valley stakeholders their own local agency to pursue water projects, weigh in on regional decisions and prepare for a future in which the Russian River could see less water — both from changes in climate and from any drawdown in supplemental flows from the Eel River.

The fate of the proposed water district could be decided as soon as October, when the Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, is expected to again take up the proposal. The panel oversees jurisdictional boundaries for existing and new local government entities.

If commissioners reject it a second time, LAFCO Executive Officer Mark Bramfitt said, the applicants would have to wait a year before submitting another application, and any new proposal would have to be different from the one currently under consideration. Proponents also could challenge the agency’s decision in court.

The proposal comes at a pivotal moment for water users throughout the Russian River watershed.

A system of dams, diversion tunnels and an electric powerhouse, known as the Potter Valley Project, has diverted water from the Eel River into the upper Russian River for more than a century. Those diversions have supplemented dry-season supplies for irrigators and rural and urban residents from Mendocino County’s Potter Valley to Healdsburg.

Agriculture/Food System, WaterAlexander Valley Water District, groundwater, LAFCO, Potter Valley Project, Russian River, vineyards, water diversion, water supply

Trump administration doubles down on effort to stop California dam removal

June 1, 2026

Kurtis Alexander, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The Trump administration has offered one of its most detailed explanations of why it wants to stop dam removal on Northern California’s Eel River, citing in a letter numerous concerns that include water, power, wildfire safety and even the state’s “radical leadership.” Still, big questions remain.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent the three-page letter Friday in response to a congressional inquiry about her agency’s sudden interest in a pair of relatively obscure PG&E-owned dams. The inquiry was opened in April by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

The dams, in Lake and Mendocino counties, are part of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project, which Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is seeking to retire because of its age and expense. Many support the project’s dismantling as a way to restore the Eel River — which would become the longest free-flowing river in California — and boost its struggling salmon runs. Last summer, however, Rollins unexpectedly took to social media to criticize the project’s retirement, suggesting the federal government might intervene to thwart it.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, Potter Valley Project, salmon, water diversion

Federal regulators signal support for PG&E’s bid to decommission Eel River dams

May 26, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The federal agency responsible for approving Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s bid to decommission two Eel River dams and a downstream hydroelectric powerplant has signaled its support for the utility’s plans, despite last-ditch efforts by those who oppose the teardown to keep the waterworks in Lake and Mendocino counties intact.

In a May 22 scoping document that provides an overview of proposed actions and potential resource issues, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission noted it “proposed to eliminate … alternatives” to full decommissioning, including a proposed takeover of the dams either by the federal government or other public agency.

Federal takeover of two PG&E dams and shuttered powerplant, known as the Potter Valley Project, would require congressional approval. FERC said “there is currently no evidence” showing that such a takeover should be recommended to Congress. Additionally, no federal agency has expressed interest in operating the project, FERC said.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, PG&E, Potter Valley Project, salmon, water diversion

Round Valley Indian Tribes respond to Trump administration’s attempt to thwart Eel River dam removal

January 31, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

James Russ and Joseph Parker, the former and current presidents of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, are seeking to make their reservation healthy again.

That means helping their people, they say, and specifically tackling high rates of diabetes and obesity that affect their tribal nation and many other Indigenous communities.

It also means restoring their land and the river that has been intrinsically linked with their people for millennia.

“We are Native people tied to the resources and rhythms of the Eel River,” Parker said. “Our health is connected to the river.”

Now, the tribal nation is confronting the Trump administration over the river’s future and fighting some of its regional allies to reclaim water rights that have been overlooked for a century.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, Potter Valley Project, Russian River, salmon, salmon habitat, Scott Dam, water diversion

A hard look at the 3,000-page Bay-Delta Plan

January 27, 2026

Alastair Bland, MAVEN’S NOTEBOOK

Staff Report in support of updates to the Bay-Delta Plan
Water Quality Control Plan for the SFBay/Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta Watershed

Is a state plan to update Delta water rules double counting restoration of water and habitat?

A historic effort to pump some life back into the San Joaquin River’s devastated salmon runs began more than 15 years ago as water users began releasing more water each year from Friant Dam for restoration purposes. Under the rules of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, Friant water users are permitted to recapture that water downstream of the 153-mile project area, but only if doing so has no adverse impact on the environment downstream of the recapture point.

Now, as part of a state-backed plan known as the Voluntary Agreements that would rewrite Bay-Delta water and ecosystem management rules, the Friant water users have offered up to 50,000 acre-feet of annual Delta outflow to improve conditions for fish. To achieve this, they propose to forego recapturing the San Joaquin River restoration flows.

But environmental watchdog groups are crying foul. For one thing, Friant water users recapture very little water in the first place, so foregoing recapture would not produce much flow for the Delta. Opponents to Friant’s plan also assert that San Joaquin River Restoration flows that benefit the Delta ecosystem cannot be credited to the Voluntary Agreements. To do so, they say, would amount to double counting—using one block of water to meet the rules of two programs.

WaterBay-Delta Plan, Chinook salmon, minimum water flows, State Water Resources Control Board, water diversion

‘Surprise’ drop in Lake Pillsbury water release stokes fears

August 21, 2025

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A planned-for reduction in the amount of water Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is releasing from Lake Pillsbury caught Potter Valley farmers and ranchers off guard earlier this month during a key point in the summer growing and ranching season.

PG&E says stakeholders should have been expecting the dip in water pressure, which occurred on Aug. 5. But Janet Pauli, a rancher who is president of the Potter Valley Irrigation District board, says the utility failed to communicate about the change, which had been quietly approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“Did we anticipate it? Yeah. But until FERC granted it, there was no reason for us to change what we were doing. Instead of giving us a ‘heads up,’ PG&E dropped their flows extremely rapidly,” Pauli said. “It was a surprise, and for a little while it was a problem.”

As the Potter Valley agricultural community panicked over keeping cattle and crops sated, rumors erupted on social media that PG&E had begun cutting off the water supply from Scott Dam in advance of the structure being torn down as part of the decommissioning of PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, which includes a shuttered hydroelectric power plant.

Agriculture/Food System, WaterLake Pillsbury, PG&E, Potter Valley Project, water diversion

A to-be-drained lake, a PG&E plan, and the promise and peril of California’s next big dam removal

June 28, 2025

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

LAKE PILLSBURY — A cool May breeze lapped across the surface of this reservoir in remote Lake County, where a couple made their way out in a boat across otherwise serene waters, taking advantage of the brightest bit of afternoon sun.

This man-made retreat, four square miles of water impounded by a dam across the upper Eel River, feels durable. It’s filled with hungry trout and black bullhead, prey for the sharp-eyed bald eagles, egrets and herons that hunt these waters.

To many of its visitors, and the several hundred people who live along its 31-mile shoreline deep within the sprawling Mendocino National Forest, Lake Pillsbury is the region’s heartbeat.

But Scott Dam, at the foot of Lake Pillsbury, and another, smaller dam on the river 12 miles downstream, have also become a headache for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which owns both dams.

And that’s creating a controversy that’s drawn interest from everyone from those who live on Lake Pillsbury, to North Bay communities whose water supplies are linked to both dams, to federal agencies now under control of President Donald Trump.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, Lake Pillsbury, PG&E, Russian River, salmon, Scott Dam, water diversion