State Water Board gearing up for curtailments on Russian River water diversions
State water regulators are gearing up for another summer of reduced supplies in the Russian River watershed and may adopt a framework for water diversion curtailments as early as May 10.
But unlike last year, stakeholders are working on an alternative that would allow senior water rights holders to share access with junior claimants, and they say the proposal appears to have potential for success.
The state must still approve the plan, and enough participants with senior water rights would have to join in for the scheme to work, proponents said.
But the result could reduce the economic impact on agricultural users and others who would have little or no access to water if curtailments are ordered.
John Nagle, board chairman for the Sonoma Resource Conservation District, said the proposal would mean greater resilience for the community as a whole.
Nagle’s comments came during a presentation of the proposal at a workshop Thursday hosted by the water board.
“And it’s a more equitable solution,” Mendocino County Farm Bureau Executive Director Devon Jones said.
Thursday’s discussion occurred as light rain fell around the region after what’s generally been a record dry year that has ushered in a third year of drought.
Under the 100-plus-year-old system of water rights in California, landowners with property that touches a water source have rights to that water.
Others may have “appropriative” rights that permit them to divert water if there’s enough. Those with the oldest, or most senior claims, get first dibs.
Last year, conditions were so dry the state in August imposed curtailment orders on all 1,600 or so water right holders in the upper Russian River. It was extended to another 300 users in the lower reaches of the river later in the month, though the curtailments were lifted in October, when an atmospheric river brought substantial rain.
While those who were curtailed included ranchers and grape growers, farms and industrial users, they also included whole cities like Cloverdale and Healdsburg.
This year, early warning letters went out March 21 to roughly 2,400 water right holders alerting them to likely curtailments and urging them to reduce water use. They were also asked to plan ahead by irrigating less acreage and using innovative irrigation techniques, managing herd size and diversifying their water portfolio.
Both Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma, which release water to the Russian River to maintain flood control capacity and ensure sufficient flows for diverters and federally protected fish, are more than 40% below target storage levels for this time of year.
Though Lake Mendocino holds slightly more water than it did a year ago at this time, the Eel River flows that have helped feed the reservoir for a century have been thrown into question by uncertainty around the future of PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, through which those diversions run.
PG&E’s license to operate the century-old hydroelectric plant expired Thursday. A coalition of regional interests, including Sonoma Water and the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, had for several years hoped to acquire it, in part to ensure continued Eel River flows, but announced earlier this year it could not meet the timeline.
In the meantime, federal fisheries regulators last month alerted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees licensing of the plant, that current operations have increased the threat to Eel River salmon and steelhead trout populations protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Wildlife advocates and agencies are now calling on the commission to require federal protective measures now that PG&E’s license no longer protects it from liability for illegal harm to the fish, potentially reducing the amount of summertime flow from the Eel River into the Russian River watershed.
Sam Boland-Brien, project manager for the state water board’s division of water rights, told those who attended Thursday’s workshop in person and on Zoom that the future of Eel River diversions was unclear.
But projections for the Russian River nonetheless suggest there could be little to no water beyond what’s released from reservoirs to maintain minimum requirements for protected fish. That water would be off limits for diversion except for enough to supply basic human health and safety needs, generally capped at 55 gallons per capita per day.
State regulators are working on some provisions to allow for needs outside of households, including food gardens, domestic livestock, hydropower and fire prevention, Senior Engineer Philip Dutton said during the workshop.
The new draft rules also would allow for special curtailments in the Green Valley, Mark West, Dutch Bill and Mill Creek watersheds at times when voluntary water releases are made under state or federal arrangements with landowners to supply sufficient water for imperiled fish in especially low water.
But people like Jones, Nagle and water rights attorney Philip Williams, who works with the city of Ukiah, said they were hopeful to work out a system where water right holders could choose to participate in a system that would prevent anyone from being cut off from the river.
Instead, those with senior rights would use less than their share so those with junior rights could have some, and the total withdrawals would be the same.
A large group has been working on the plan with state water board staff, multiple tribes, water districts and agricultural groups.
It was an effort attempted last year, with less time to work it out and conditions so dry there wasn’t enough for senior claims anyway, Boland-Brien said.
“We’re hoping that this year the numbers will be better so that there will be water available for sharing,” he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: