Sunday, October 11, 2026
Swimmers and beachgoers on the Russian River at Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville on Aug. 2, 2019. (Lasthib via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped)
Sonoma Water wants the state to keep its Lake Mendocino drought index past Nov. 16 and cut the lower river’s minimum flow in a normal year. Objections are due Oct. 19.
Daily storage in Lake Mendocino through Water Year 2025 and Water Year 2026, from California Data Exchange Center readings at station COY. (Chart: Wine Country Gazette)
Lake Sonoma ended the year about a foot higher despite 12 inches less rain. Lake Mendocino closed Water Year 2026 holding about 9,100 acre-feet less than a year earlier, as Eel River imports through the Potter Valley Project keep shrinking.
Golden hills of northern California reflected in the still water of the Nicasio Reservoir in West Marin County.
Sonoma County’s supervisors approved a 15-year water contract with Marin on the consent calendar, with no discussion. The number that mattered — a near-doubling of Marin’s winter draw on the Russian River — was not in the staff report they read.
