Water supply improves, conservation still reigns

Sonoma County’s water supply storage levels rose above 100
percent this week but the Sonoma County Water Agency said
conservation is still a major concern after three years of
drought.
“It looks great right now, but we still have to be cautious of a
bone-dry spring,” said Water Agency spokesman Brad Sherwood.
This week Lake Sonoma held slightly over 100 percent of its
water supply pool capacity of 245,000 acre feet, according to the
Water Agency.
Lake Mendocino’s water level was at more than 105 percent of its
supply storage capacity of 68,400 acre feet.
So the drought is over?
“Don’t say that,” said Sherwood.
“We saw in 2008 a very wet January and then a dry spring that
resulted in low storage levels in Lake Mendocino,” said
Sherwood.
“That resulted in conservation efforts required of all the
contractors” who depend on the Russian River to supply drinking
water to about 600,000 people in Sonoma and Marin counties.
“We really need continued rain well into late spring,” said
Sherwood.
“The bottom line is we’re starting the year off with the lakes
right where we want them, but we always push for year-round
conservation.”
Recent rains produced a far better water supply picture compared
with just a month ago when the water supply was still less than
half capacity at Lake Mendocino and about 75 percent at Lake
Sonoma.
Lake Sonoma’s water supply level in early January was 74 percent
and Lake Mendocino’s at 48 percent of capacity, the lowest recorded
levels on that day over the past decade.
At the Hacienda Bridge on Tuesday the River was flowing at more
than 5,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), well above the required
minimum stream flow of 125 cfs.