Eel River interests, Russian River consumers reach accord for continued diversions of Eel River water into the Russian River but at reduced rate, in exchange for funding and support of Eel River restoration activities.
Mary Callahan, Press Democrat 2/14/25
Officials from three counties and the Round Valley Indian Tribes have reached a historic agreement that paves the way for continued diversions from the Eel River to bolster flows in the Russian River.
The agreement represents a critical development for anyone whose water comes from the Russian River.
The complex accord resulted from years of negotiations to preserve supplemental flows in the Russian River, the water lifeline for residents, ranchers and wildlife in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The agreement also supports the restoration and fish recovery in the Eel River, which was crucial to securing support from environmental interests, tribes and Humboldt County residents.
It is, at last, the “two-basin solution” envisioned by regional stakeholders in 2019 and even earlier, when Pacific Gas & Electric first raised questions about whether to continue operating the small, aging hydroelectric plant in Potter Valley through which Eel River flows have been redirected.
The utility is now on track to decommission the plant, tear down Scott Dam, which impounds Lake Pillsbury in Lake County, and Cape Horn Dam 12 miles downstream, where Eel River water has long been diverted.
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Lynda Hopkins called the compromise on future diversions “a small miracle” ― part of “a very delicate balancing act” to satisfy widely differing goals of its seven signatories.
They include the Sonoma County Water Agency, known as Sonoma Water, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Humboldt County, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Trout Unlimited, California Trout and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“I feel like we’re tired of using the term ‘unprecedented’ in Sonoma County,” Hopkins said, “but this is truly unprecedented because everyone who is part of it has different interests.”
Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water, said that in his opinion “this was the last, best opportunity to preserve the diversion and the water supply for more than 600,000 people. The very water supply and resilience was dependent on a successful negotiation.”
But changes are in the works. And it won’t be cheap.
Russian River stakeholders are looking at a ballpark investment of $50 million to build the diversion infrastructure needed to direct Eel River water into the Russian River once PG&E is out of the picture.
The new agreement also means reduced supplemental flows into the Russian River, establishing flow levels that allow diversions only when there is enough water in the Eel to support the seasonal life stages of federally protected salmon and steelhead trout. That means any diversions would be limited to the winter and spring months in years they are allowed.
It also pushes users in the Russian River watershed to develop new water supply and storage solutions so they can be self-reliant in the future and no longer in need of contributions from the Eel River.
Under the pact, a new Eel-Russian diversion facility currently being designed would operate for an initial term of 30 years, with the possible renewal for a 20-year-term after that, based on a series of conditions that must be met.
Any operation of the diversion system after that would be contingent on negotiations between parties in existence at that time.
In the meantime, Eel River water rights currently held by PG&E are to be transferred to the Eel-River Project Authority, which was formed in late 2023 by Sonoma County, Sonoma Water, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and the Round Valley Indian Tribes, whose reservation in northeast Mendocino County is on the Eel River’s Middle Fork.
The water rights are then to be handed immediately to the Round Valley tribes, which will collect $1 million a year from the Eel-River Project Authority in exchange for diverted water that for the past 117 years has been free.
The authority also agrees to pay the tribe $750,000 a year, and later up to $1 million, for river restoration to reverse the decline of federally protected fish species in the Eel River.
A representative for the tribes was not available for comment Wednesday, but others said it was important for an entity connected to the Eel River to hold the water rights, and for the tribes, in particular, given historic injustices and long-term impacts of diversions on the river system.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Charlie Schneider, senior project manager for California Trout, a party to the accord and a partner with the Round Valley tribes on river restoration efforts. “From Cal Trout’s perspective, it was really important for Round Valley to have the water rights.”
“We have very similar interests and want to see restoration of the Eel River, and in the bigger picture there’s just that restorative justice that I think is really important for them,” he added.
Parties involved credited Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, for first assembling stakeholders to pursue a two-basin solution in 2017.
“This agreement is a milestone on the path to achieving a two-basin solution that balances the needs of salmon in the Eel River with communities’ need for water along the Russian River – a balance achieved for the first time in 100 years,” Huffman said. “This is what is possible when people do the hard work to find ways to support each other instead of fight each other.”
State Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham shepherded the last year or two of negotiations, in part to ensure disputes over diversions did not interfere or slow PG&E’s regulatory progress toward removing the dams.
Bonham and several other state officials are scheduled to participate in a ceremonial signing of the memorandum of understanding outlining the new pact on Thursday in Sacramento.
Water from the Eel River has been funneled through the Potter Valley plant into the Russian River watershed since 1908 ― before PG&E acquired the facility ― supplying consumers, ranchers and municipalities from Potter Valley to Novato and preventing the Russian River from running dry in low-rainfall years.
Water flows from the Eel, past power-generating turbines in a mile-long tunnel, arriving in Potter Valley, where some of the water is used to irrigate orchards, vineyards and other crops. From there, it passes into the East Fork Russian River and on to Lake Mendocino, outside Ukiah. Releases from the dam there help supply the main stem of the Russian River.
In addition to providing for more than 600,000 customers of Sonoma Water, the Russian River serves ranches, cities and other communities around the watershed. Managers also are required under federal law to maintain minimum water flows needed for survival of salmon and steelhead trout populations listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Studies using 110 years of hydrologic data have shown that Lake Mendocino would go dry roughly two of every 10 years without continued Eel River contributions, according to Sonoma Water. In eight out of 10 years, the reservoir would be unable to satisfy demands on it.
But PG&E’s planed removal of the dams would fulfill Humboldt County’s long-standing and oft-reconfirmed position that the Eel River should run unrestrained, with all of its water left in the river.
It also addresses decades of contention over degradation of the river and federally protected fish that have been in decline for more than a century. Those declines continue despite attempts to improve fish passage at Cape Horn Dam and regulatory restrictions that have reduced diversions from about 150,000 acre-feet per year before 2007 ― almost 100% of the flow during several drought years ― to about 40,000 acre-feet in recent years. (An acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons, or about the amount of water needed to flood most of a football field one foot deep. It can supply the indoor and outdoor needs of three water-efficient households for a year.)
Under the new framework, about 32,500 acre-feet a year could be diverted, mostly in the winter and spring, though ongoing monitoring could result in adjustments.
Even so, Humboldt County supervisors were largely grudging in their decision Tuesday to approve the Memorandum of Understanding outlining the agreement. One, Supervisor Rex Bohn, said he wanted to vote against it “so bad” but had promised someone he trusted that he wouldn’t, allowing for unanimous approval.
“I hope everything works out exactly, with this many hands in the pie, works out for what it’s supposed to work for: the fish, the environment and the people along the river,” Bohn said.
“Maybe everybody won’t be happy,” Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Chair Michelle Bushnell said, “but the ultimate thing is to get the dams out and to get the water coming back down into the river.”
Schneider, with Cal Trout, said he was impressed by seeing diverse parties come together and have “those hard conversations” necessary to reach a compromise.
Even “bigger than the deal” was “working with your neighbor and talking to people who don’t see eye to eye,” he said. “We can come together and solve big problems.”
Said Hopkins, “Nobody gets exactly what they wanted. Everybody had to give to get this across the finish line.”