The following is a press release issued by the County of Mendocino:
In response to the historic 2020-2022 drought, which underscored the need for effective water management, Mendocino County is taking proactive steps to enhance its drought preparedness. Following the signing of Senate Bill (SB) 552 by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2021, which mandates state and local governments to share responsibility in planning and responding to water shortages, the County has been diligently working to comply with these requirements.
Background on SB 552
SB 552, authored by Senator Hertzberg, identifies counties as the primary government entity to lead efforts in improving water shortage preparedness for state small water systems and rural communities supplied by domestic wells. Under this legislation, all counties in California are required to prepare a County Drought Resilience Plan (DRP) and establish a long-standing County Drought and Water Shortage Task Force Group (Drought Task Force).
Mendocino County’s Progress and Plans
Since 2021, the Mendocino County Water Agency (MCWA) has been actively holding Drought Task Force meetings to address water scarcity during the drought. In February 2024, the County received a grant from the Department of Water Resources to facilitate the development of its County DRP, which commenced in June 2024. MCWA hired a consultant that specializes in water resources planning, EKI Environment and Water, Inc. (EKI), to lead the technical development of the County DRP.
Public Engagement and Development Workflow
The development workflow of the DRP includes four main steps: data collection, vulnerability/risk assessment, development of short-term response actions and long-term mitigation strategies, and plan implementation. These steps will be carried out with active public education and engagement, in collaboration with water suppliers and managers throughout the County.
To ensure comprehensive community involvement, the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) will support and facilitate public engagement. Two public workshops will be held to provide an opportunity to discuss the DRP development process and its results, allowing for transparent communication and feedback.
Furthermore, DRP agenda items will be presented at the Drought Task Force meetings under the General Government Standing Committee (GGSC) meetings in September 2024, as well as in January, March, and May 2025. These meetings will serve as additional platforms for public engagement and updates on the DRP progress.
Upcoming Mendocino County Drought Resilience Plan Meeting
To kick off the initial development of the DRP, the University of California Cooperative Extension is hosting a Mendocino County Drought Resilience Plan meeting on September 5th, 2024. This meeting will showcase the initial development of the DRP by EKI Environment and Water and is an opportunity for community stakeholders to get involved.
- Date: September 5th, 2024
- Time: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
- Location: UCCE / Farm Advisor Building (limited capacity, please RSVP) and Online via Zoom
- Registration Link: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=43418
- Event Details: Free event with refreshments provided
Why Attend?
Public participation is vital to the success of the DRP. By contributing your insights, experiences, and feedback, you will help shape both immediate and long-term strategies for addressing drought and water shortages. We seek participation from key community stakeholders, including domestic well owners, residents relying on local small water systems, tribes, and public water suppliers.
For updates and further information about the DRP process, please sign up for updates and fill out the public engagement form if you are a domestic well owner or connected to a state small water system.
- Mendocino County Drought Resilience Plan webpage: https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/water-agency/drought-water-conservation/drought-resilience-plan
- Sign up for updates: https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/water-agency/drought-water-conservation/drought-resilience-plan/get-drp-email-updates
- Public engagement form: https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/water-agency/drought-water-conservation/drought-resilience-plan/drought-resilience-plan-public-engagement-form
Mendocino County should be increasing it’s capacity to store water in places other than vineyard ponds. There’s your drought resilience plan.
Fort Bragg seems to be the only local entity trying to pull that off.
I’m sure the consultants will be handsomely compensated as usual. Can’t wait to see the half-baked solutions they come up with. It’ll be like putting a bandaid on a corpse.
Water is very important to the community and the community does need and sometimes like water. The future is much like the past if we see abd know about water.
Great and the leftists here want to tear down Scott Dam and eliminate Lake Pillsbury. To save a doomed species of fish. Brilliant idea. Eliminate 80,500 acre feet of water storage that has existed for 115 years. The definition of insanity. Nothing enrages me more than the loss of Lake Pillsbury. A place where my family has been recreating and hunting since 1971. This is the main reason I’m moving my family out of California. Because these people want to tear down a small reservoir that supplies 600,000 people with water. I’m moving to Tennessee where I won’t have to deal with this kind of insanity. Let’s put a species of fish that is doomed for extinction over the well being of a half million people. Tear down the dam and see what happens next. No water in the Eel 3 or 4 months out of the year. Thousands and thousands of cubic yards of sediment released down the Eel river. Which will be dry most of the fall because the only reason there is water below the dam is because it is impounded by a reservoir. Fish can’t swim in a dry river bed and you can’t divert water when there is no water to divert. From August to October, every tributary going into the Gravelly Valley is dry and every tributary running into the Eel River below Scott Dam is bone dry. You leftists would know this if you ever kayaked the river in the fall. Lake Pillsbury is the only reason there is water in the river at all four months out of the year. Leftist environmental insanity at it finest. Destroy critical water supply in a futile attempt to save a few hundred doomed fish. This makes me lose my mind.
Leftist and most enviromentalist don’t think with their minds they go with their hearts and what feels good to them and therefore seldom get things right and screw things up.
So Newsome should save Lake Pilsbury and the water storage which saves both rivers during exstreme summer water shortage. We had a good rain year…but PG&E left gates open. Now rivers drying up already with heat. Where is the logical thinking? Plus invigorate the hydropower which is green energy. Why isn’t this part of the plan?