June 2021 Update
Proposed emergency Russian River curtailment triggers
Lake Mendocino is currently just more than 38% full, holding 33,950 acre feet of water, or 2,868 acre feet less than it did one month ago. An acre feet is enough water to cover an area about the size of a football field with a foot of water.
If emergency regulations are approved June 15, curtailment orders would be issued for Russian River diverters only if lake storage falls below the following levels prior to the specified dates:
- 29,315 acre feet before July 1;
- 27,825 acre feet before July 15;
- 26,109 acre feet before August 1;
- 24,614 acre feet before Aug. 15;
- 22,745 acre feet before Sept. 1;
- 21,251 acre feet before Sept. 15;
- 20,000 acre feet on any date while the emergency regulation is in effect.
State regulators are considering sweeping drought emergency rules that would let them suspend the diversion of water from the Russian River by as many as 2,400 homes, businesses, municipal agencies and other users. The proposal, which would cover both the upper and lower parts of the watershed, could greatly extend the list of more than 900 water suppliers, agricultural producers and property owners already notified there has been too little rainfall for them to exercise their water rights this year.