April 2009

U.S. Water News Online

UKIAH, Calif. — Mendocino County officials are asking the state to allow less water to flow to the Russian River to keep the area's reservoir from going dry.

Lake Mendocino, the only major water source for 150,000 residents and growers from Ukiah to Healdsberg, is currently only 60 percent full.

Officials say at the current rate of flow, the lake will drop 10,000 acre-feet per month and run dry as soon as late summer.

The Mendocino County Flood Control and Conservation District filed an urgency petition with the state asking that the flow requirements to the Russian River be reduced by half on May 1. The districts wants that to go down to one-sixth of current flows beginning June 1.

Even if the state approves the request, residents still will have to cut their water use by half.

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