Several leaders from Lake and Sonoma counties remain worried about the future of local water supplies as a key PG&E hydropower facility prepares to go offline.
Press Democrat, 3/19/2025
Although stakeholders have approved a closely watched plan to continue diverting some Eel River water into the Russian River when a key hydropower facility goes offline in several years, civic leaders from Lake County, Cloverdale and elsewhere remain concerned about how the move might impact the region’s water supply.
As a result, Cloverdale city leaders will host a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Building, 205 West 1st Street.
The meeting, which isn’t slated to be broadcast on Zoom or another video platform, will provide an opportunity for residents to learn more about the decommissioning of PG&E’s 117-year-old Potter Valley power plant. By 2028 at the earliest, PG&E is set to abandon the plant, with related plans to eventually tear down the Scott and Cape Horn dams on the upper Eel River.
The man-made system has supplied, via a tunnel carrying Eel River through the mountains, a crucial portion of the Russian River’s annual flows, supporting agriculture, rural residents and cities along the upper Russian, including Cloverdale and Healdsburg.
PG&E’s decision to not relicense the project ― which is aging and would need costly upgrades, including for fish passage ― led stakeholders in the two river basins to reach a compromise that would continue the supplemental flows, albeit with stronger protections for Eel River interests.
Lake County representatives, however, have never endorsed that deal and continue to oppose it, raising objections over the draining of Lake Pillsbury and the impact on firefighting capabilities.
Other elected officials, including Cloverdale Mayor Todd Lands, have voiced similar concerns, as have local agricultural leaders.
They include Sonoma County Farm Bureau Executive Director Dayna Ghiradelli, who said Monday the current diversion solution “will have tremendously negative effects on farmers and ranchers.
“I know that Sonoma County has had great, brilliant minds working to devise an alternate solution, but when you really lay it out, this will really devastate our county, Mendocino County and Marin County,” Ghiradelli said. “Our hope is there is a better solution.”
But Rep. Jared Huffman, whose North Coast district includes the Potter Valley facility and who helped craft the two-basin compromise, said the solution — one that focuses on the health of both the Eel and Russian rivers — “is nothing less than remarkable.”
Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore, who represents the north part of the county, echoed Huffman, saying “nobody is 100% happy with it, but this is the best deal the coalition could get.”
Indeed, a 7-member coalition endorsed the future water diversion plan in early February. Its members include 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.
Potter Valley Project Town Hall speakers
The panel includes representatives from:
- Sonoma Water
- Lake County Board of Supervisors
- Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
- Cloverdale Fire Protection District
- Sonoma County Farm Bureau
- Lake Pillsbury Alliance
- Cloverdale City Council
Once the dams are torn down, supplemental Eel River flows into the Russian River are expected to be limited, according to the diversion plan. Under the accord, diversions can continue only when the Eel River has enough water to accommodate different life stages of federally protected salmon and steelhead trout.
The plan also would require water customers in the Russian River watershed to develop new water supply and storage solutions.
But Lands, the Cloverdale mayor, said the solution will create a “quality of life issue” for Cloverdale residents. “I don’t want to be fighting this fight, but this is about making sure Cloverdale has an economy and access to basic needs. This is about health and safety,” he said.
With hotter summers, he says access to the river is vital for people who need cost-effective ways to cool down. He’s also concerned about an increased demand for water as its availability dries up.
“The housing mandates we have to hit, combined with the weather changing through climate change. I don’t know how we can do it,” he said.
A lot of his frustration stems from not being able to have a seat at the table when the final decision was made in February, and he says he’s not alone.
“This includes Cloverdale, Potter Valley and Lake County,” he said. “And so it comes down to the health and safety of our community.”
Huffman said he respects concerns about health and safety, but warns against misunderstanding the reality of the situation.
“There is some genuine fear that things have been the same way for the last 100 years and a lifeline of the Russian River is going away,” Huffman said. “I’m not going to let that happen. That’s why it’s a two-basin solution.”
Both Huffman and Gore noted the deal will likely give Sonoma County more water than it is getting today from the Eel River.
“Over the last five years, we’ve been getting a trickle. This is the last best deal we’re going to get,” Huffman said.
Amie Windsor is the Community Journalism Team Lead with The Press Democrat. She can be reached at amie.windsor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5218.
Link: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/potter-valley-russian-eel-rivers-cloverdale-town-hall/