Water woes return

New rules and too little rain have transformed a North Coast awash in water last year to a region bracing for a dry lake, low river and hold-the-car-wash conservation measures reminiscent of the 1970s drought.

An unprecedented combination of scant rainfall and new water regulations wiped out Mother Nature's largess in 2006, when flooding did more than $300 million in damage but also pumped up water supplies.

Now, only one dry winter later, the call is out to conserve water from Tiburon to Ukiah as water managers scramble to balance the competing needs of those who drink, swim, irrigate and inhabit Russian River water.

What happened to the old rule of thumb that it took at least two rain-stingy seasons to add up to trouble at the water tap?

A one-two punch by nature and policymakers has left Lake Mendocino, one of the region's two major reservoirs, critically low with a long, dry summer looming. And efforts to revive endangered salmon and steelhead have crimped relief from the other reservoir, Lake Sonoma, which is full to the brim.

With little hope for significant rainfall, worried water managers are appealing for relief from water flow rules that keep the Russian River ripe for canoeing all summer. If they can't get a break, managers fear Lake Mendocino could be nearly bone-dry by fall and much of the river itself may disappear.

"This is now a regional problem," said Judy Hatch, Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District president. "I think it's everybody's problem."

Water managers called on the 750,000 residents of Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties last month to voluntarily cut water use by 10 percent to 15 percent, and will soon boost that request to 20 percent, said Chris Murray, chief of water resources planning for the Sonoma County Water Agency.

Residents, farmers and businesses from Tiburon to Ukiah, even rural homes on their own wells, should save every drop they can, Murray said. "If people want to drive a dirty car for (the benefit of) salmon, I would encourage it," he said.

Sonoma County Supervisor Paul Kelley, whose district includes Lake Sonoma, calls the situation a "regulatory drought" and is pushing for bureaucratic relief.

In the absence of any regulations, both reservoirs would be full and water could flow freely to all who need it for survival, fun or profit.

Instead, water officials say they are engaged in a "balancing act," attempting to stretch a limited water supply to meet the competing needs of ranchers, city dwellers, recreational interests and fish.

The crux of the water crisis is Lake Mendocino, a reservoir north of Ukiah built in 1958 to hold about 90,000 acre-feet of water -- a year's supply for about 360,000 people.

Approaching a naturally dry summer, the reservoir is about 70 percent full, with 66,700 acre-feet of water. At this time last year, after a wet winter, Lake Mendocino held 88,680 acre-feet.

Mother Nature was generous during the winter of 2005-06, dropping 55 inches of rain on Ukiah through May 5, well above the 30-year seasonal average of 37 inches. As of Saturday, Ukiah had just 22 inches of rain this season.

Santa Rosa's 20-inch rainfall so far this season is two-thirds of the 31-inch average.

The Army Corps of Engineers keeps Lake Mendocino low by releasing water during winter to hold runoff from a major storm and control flooding, and counts on spring rains to top off the reservoir.

Until this year, Lake Mendocino had a secondary water source in the event of a dry spring. Water from the Eel River, diverted through a tunnel and a power plant at Potter Valley, would deliver as much as 160,000 acre-feet to Lake Mendocino.

But two things happened this season. A fish screen collapsed in the tunnel in December, reducing its water-carrying capacity, and in March new rules more than doubled a cutback in Eel River diversions -- from 15 percent to 33 percent.

The two factors curbed Eel River diversions to Lake Mendocino by about 50,000 acre-feet. "We would have been in good shape," Murray said, had that much water arrived from the Eel River.

Instead, the lake is already unseasonably low and is expected to shrink all summer long due to mandatory releases that maintain a recreational flow in the Russian River from Ukiah to Healdsburg.

Barring any changes in streamflow rules, Lake Mendocino will be down to a mere 8,000 acre-feet by the end of October, lower than ever and possibly too low to discharge any water into the river. The lake's record low, 12,000 acre-feet, was recorded Nov. 4, 1977, at the height of the area's two-year drought.

The Sonoma County Water Agency has asked permission to lower the river's summertime flow, a step that threatens tourism but would help sustain Lake Mendocino. The state Water Resources Control Board is expected to issue a staff ruling on the request this month, followed by a hearing later in the summer.

Meanwhile, Lake Sonoma, which opened near Healdsburg in 1983, is full with 242,000 acre-feet of water, a little less than last year at this time. "We're very proud of that reservoir," Murray said.

But Lake Sonoma's ability to provide water to the agency's 600,000 customers in northern Marin and most of Sonoma County is constrained by its mechanics. Water released from the lake travels 15 miles down Dry Creek to the Russian River, then downstream to the water agency's intake at Wohler Bridge near Forestville.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, intent on restoring the river's steelhead and salmon populations, is pushing for a cap on Dry Creek flows, reducing the allowable volume by about 40 percent.

Dry Creek is a "rearing habitat" for the endangered fish, and the government recently determined that too much water is harmful, Murray said.

A pipeline from Lake Sonoma to Wohler could circumvent the Dry Creek restriction, but county officials say it is not a perfect solution and is, at best, hundreds of millions of dollars and years away.

Kelley believes Sonoma County should get more Eel River water and wants various agencies to reconsider the 33 percent cutback.

The water agency is hoping to scale back the Russian River streamflow mandates that are slowly draining Lake Mendocino. That step, coupled with aggressive conservation, would leave 30,000 acre-feet in the reservoir at summer's end, Murray said.

Toward that end, he suggested, it's time to revive the 1970s drought-era slogan: "Shower with a friend."

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.