water supply

FERC rejects water district’s bid to stop removal of Eel River dams

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency with ultimate authority over the fate of two Lake and Mendocino county dams that have become embroiled in escalating controversy, dealt a blow Monday to one of the newer — and more distant — players to enter the fray, denying a bid by a Southern California water agency to intervene in the process.

“Movants for late intervention are required to ‘show good cause why the time limitation should be waived,’” FERC Secretary Debbie-Anne A. Reese wrote to Riverside County-based Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District. “Here, the District failed to demonstrate that good cause exists … because it did not provide any explanation for the untimeliness of its motion.”

The Lost Coast Outpost first reported the decision, the latest turn in a growing saga that has drawn in the Trump administration as chief antagonist of utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’ plans to decommission and remove its two Eel River dams, which it contends are outdated and inefficient.

Elsinore Valley had filed its motion to intervene July 9, more than seven months past FERC’s deadline for such motions.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/07/28/federal-agency-ferc-eel-river-dams-decision/

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Edge Esmeralda principal shares plan for Cloverdale development

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Santa Rosa residents drove 30 minutes north to Cloverdale Thursday night to attend an open house about a potential new development slated for the southeast part of the city at the old Alexander Valley Resort.

“We want to see what they have to offer,” Mike Roselli said. “We’d love to have a place to retire and have everything in walking distance. Hopefully they can make that happen.”

Dubbed “Esmeralda,” the proposal for the site ― at Asti Road, south of Santana Drive ― includes housing, parkland, restaurants, a flagship hotel and event/conference center, plus retail space within the 266-acre site.

It is conceptualized to be a walkable, bikable community for multiple generations, according to the Esmeralda Land Co. principal, Devon Zuegel.

“We are looking to build a Chautauqua of the West,” Zuegel told open house attendees, referring to the Chautauqua Institution, a 750-acre community on Chautauqua Lake in New York where roughly 7,500 people go every summer for nine weeks.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/esmeralda-cloverdale-devon-zeugel/

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New momentum in decades-long quest to upgrade Lake Mendocino’s Coyote Valley Dam

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

With $500,000 secured by Rep. Huffman, officials have launched a study that could result in raising the level of the 67-year-old earthen dam impounding Lake Mendocino.

Striding along the southern edge of Lake Mendocino last week, Rep. Jared Huffman spotted a bald eagle soaring 150 feet above, a fish in its talons.

An avid angler himself, Huffman then pointed to a nearby stand of partly submerged trees — prime bass habitat, he noted.

If he had a rod, said Huffman, the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, “I would be casting right into that.”

But the congressman, along with a group of local officials, tribal leaders, and members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, had work to do.

The group had gathered last Friday to sign an agreement geared to deliver significant future upgrades to the 67-year-old Coyote Valley Dam, which impounds Lake Mendocino, a reservoir providing flood control for nearby Ukiah, and other communities.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/lake-mendocino-coyote-valley-dam-study/

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Op-Ed: Still time to settle county well ordinance dispute

Don McEnhill & Sean Bothwell, PRESS DEMOCRAT

It’s time to urge the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to act with responsibility and foresight by resolving the ongoing dispute over the county’s well permitting ordinance. The stakes couldn’t be higher for the future of our environment, economy and way of life.

The people of Sonoma County rely on our elected officials to create policy that is not only transparent and fact-based but also ensures the long-term health of our precious resources, including our salmon populations.

Our organizations, Russian Riverkeeper and California Coastkeeper Alliance, are in court challenging an amended well ordinance passed in 2023. We’re suing because we believe the ordinance violates the Public Trust Doctrine and the California Environmental Quality Act.

The Sonoma County Superior Court agreed and ruled that the county must revise the ordinance to reflect the facts on the ground. Instead of taking the time to protect our resources and comply with state law, the county has decided to continue to waste taxpayer money fighting a legal battle. It’s time for the county to come to the table and work toward a solution that genuinely benefits everyone.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/sonoma-county-supervisors-well-drilling-lawsuit/

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Federal judge: Russian River dam releases are violating Endangered Species Act

Andrew Graham, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has violated the Endangered Species Act by disturbing salmon populations through flood-control releases from Coyote Valley Dam into the Russian River.

Those releases, which relieve pressure upstream from the 66-year-old dam during rainy months, kick up sediment from the bottom of Lake Mendocino, a reservoir that serves as critical water storage for Sonoma County.

The sediment increases turbidity in the river that harms and harasses coho and chinook salmon and steelhead trout in violation of the Endangered Species Act’s mandate to protect the imperiled species, U.S. District Court of Northern California Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled.

Corley ruled on a lawsuit brought by Sean White, who has spent much of his career involved in the Russian River in one way or another, serving as general manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District before moving in 2015 to direct sewage and water services for the city of Ukiah.

White brought the lawsuit as a private citizen. The Endangered Species Act, one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws, allows for citizens to sue governments, businesses or individuals they believe to be violating the act.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/russian-river-protected-salmon-dam-releases/

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Op-Ed: Saving rainwater for sunny days to come

Grant Davis, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The current water year, which began Oct. 1, has been wetter than usual, with the Russian River watershed accumulating 119% of the yearly average rainfall, totaling 49.38 inches since October.

In the past, we might have celebrated our good fortune and watched lake levels rise only to watch much of it sent downriver to the Pacific Ocean as reservoirs reached an inflexible upper threshold. Today, we get to continue enjoying that ample rainfall long after summer sunshine arrives.
Empty
Grant Davis

With almost a decade of data under its belt, the Russian River Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations program has been making great strides by demonstrating the viability of this strategy to operate reservoirs more effectively using modern technology and forecasting.

This year, we expect the new method to ensure an additional 19,000 acre-feet of water in the Lake Sonoma reservoir heading into the summer, just as it did last year, thanks to our ability to leverage weather forecasting techniques and adapt how we manage our reservoirs. Add to that another 9,000 acre-feet stored in Lake Mendocino. An acre-foot equates to 325,851 gallons.

That 28,000 acre-feet represents a substantial savings, or almost 65% of Sonoma Water’s annual demand, given that the agency is projecting its three-year average annual water sales to be just under 43,000 acre-feet.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/sonoma-drought-water-dam-storage/

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Sonoma, Mendocino county water managers propose pathway for continued Eel River diversions

Mary Callahan, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Water managers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties seek to preserve water transfer infrastructure as part of PG&E license surrender for Potter Valley power plant.

Water managers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties have submitted a conceptual proposal to PG&E to buy and maintain portions of the utility’s defunct Potter Valley power plant to enable future water transfers.

The move would be a critical step toward preserving seasonal diversions of Eel River water to supplement supplies in Lake Mendocino and the Russian River.

Working with the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and the Round Valley Indian Tribes, the Sonoma County Water Agency is seeking to preserve elements of the power plant through which water is channeled from the Eel River to the East Fork Russian River. No electricity would be generated as a part of the plan.

Pacific Gas & Electric has planned to surrender its license for the 1908 plant with the intent of decommissioning it. Without a proposal to save it, the diversion infrastructure would eventually be removed, leaving upper Russian River communities and agriculture users without sufficient water.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-mendocino-county-water-managers-propose-pathway-for-continued-eel-r/?ref=mosthome

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