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Local Water Meeting

[Jul 24]

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau invites the public to attend an informational meeting about how our local water may be in jeopardy, on July 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center.

The dependable nature of the county’s year-round water supply is the Potter Valley Project, a diversion of water from the Eel River to the Russian River with an accompanying power station that provides water and hydropower downstream. It is a system of dams, rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and power stations that has been in place for decades.

The name is deceiving. It could more appropriately be called the Northern California Water Project because it affects approximately 500,000 people from Mendocino County through Marin County.

The Potter Valley Project has provided year-round water and enough power to create thriving communities in Mendocino County and beyond since 1922. That water supply may be threatened because of PG&E’s recent decision to give up the project.

In January, PG&E abandoned its intent to relicense the power station. If no one licenses the project, it will be decommissioned, which means there would be no diversion from the Eel River, putting our year-round water supply in jeopardy.

Currently, a coalition of local governments and private enterprises are working together to figure out how to safeguard our water supply for the future. Issues include:

Maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure

Meeting regulatory requirements, including strict environmental safeguards

To learn more, attend the public meeting on July 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center or visit www.mendofb.org/potter-valley-project-licensing.

One Comment

  1. Pat Kittle July 22, 2019

    Any SJW can assure us that endless immigration-fueled population growth has NOTHING to do with the “water supply.”

    Therefore we can simply ignore it, as will endless highly-paid “experts” hired to figure out what the problem is.

    :-)

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