PD Editorial: Progress toward water security for Sonoma, Mendocino counties

Water is life, and Californians don’t need to watch the “Dune” movies to know it. Recent droughts have reinforced not only just how precarious the water supply is but also the myriad competing demands on limited water. It’s heartening, then, when local communities and tribal interests are able to work together to manage scarce water resources responsibly, as is happening with the Eel and Russian rivers.

Last year, Pacific Gas & Electric announced that it would demolish the Scott and Cape Horn dams and decommission the entire Potter Valley power project. Potter Valley had become a money loser for PG&E and hasn’t generated power since 2021.

Removing the dams will help restore natural river flows, which will improve fish habitat along the Eel River. That’s been a longtime objective of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. The tribes have strong historic and cultural ties to the river and its bounty.

When the dams come down, the Eel River will become the longest free-flowing river in California according to fish advocates. Salmon, steelhead and trout all will benefit. Lake Pillsbury will disappear. Demolition is not restoration, though, and there will be ripple effects on other nearby natural areas.

Enter the recently created Eel-Russian Projects Authority, which is planning what comes next. The authority includes representatives from Sonoma and Mendocino counties as well as the Round Valley Indian Tribes. It aims to make sure that the Russian River, which flows close to the Eel River near the border of Mendocino and Lake counties, continues to have enough water for downstream needs. That’s important not just for fish habitat but also for filling Lake Mendocino, a critical reservoir that holds water for Mendocino and northern Sonoma counties and provides flood control.

The authority this month endorsed a pump system that will move some water through an existing diversion tunnel from the Eel River to the East Fork Russian River when water levels are high. Planning work remains, but there’s consensus on the path forward.

Officials also aim to improve conditions beyond the site of Cape Horn Dam, facilitating the movement of fish into the upper reaches of the Eel River watershed.

There was never a guarantee that water advocates would get here. Environmentalists, tribes, cities, agriculture, recreational users and other water interests fight for their share. Often, they remain at loggerheads as they stare down the reality of high demand and diminishing supply. More droughts will come in a warming world.

Competing interests compromised and found a path forward that promises to serve multiple water needs. That’s an encouraging sign for other dam removal projects that disrupt the status quo. Further north, dams in the Klamath River Basin are coming down, and have generated a great deal of controversy.

The Eel and Russian rivers plan won’t resolve all of the region’s water issues, nor will it make everyone happy in the end. What it will do is provide incremental progress toward a future in which Californians change their habits and ensure that water goes not just to industry, agriculture and homes but also back to the natural world where other species rely on it. Water is life.

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