‘Lake Mendocino like we’ve never seen it before,’ water official warns
USACE doesn't expect lake to dip below record low in 1977
UKIAH >> A local water official this week described the current drought conditions as possibly creating the driest year yet for Lake Mendocino.
“The data is really pretty stark,” Sean White, director of water and sewer utilities for the city of Ukiah, told the Ukiah City Council Wednesday. “There was no ‘Miracle March’ to change the course of things, and now some of the driest precipitation to date is going to leave Lake Mendocino really like we’ve never seen it — at (maybe) its lowest level since it was built.”
On Monday, the National Weather Service office in Eureka reported that Ukiah had received 13.19 inches of rain since Oct. 1, which is less than half the normal amount for this time: 32.87 inches. Last year by this week, Ukiah had received 13.01 inches of rain.
As of Thursday, April 8, the lake was reported to have 36,570 acre feet of water and an elevation of 716.39 feet. Last year was deemed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which operates the Coyote Valley Dam that controls the amount of water in the lake) as the “third driest year on record for the basin.” On Aug. 15, 2020, the lake still had 50,600 acre feet of water, with an elevation of 726.3 feet.
When reached Thursday for comment, USACE staff reported that “the lowest water level at Lake Mendocino was 690 feet and occurred in 1977. At this time, it is not anticipated that the lake will break this record low.” The total rainfall recorded for Water Year 1977 was only 11 inches, according to the USACE.
“This drought has been a little bit of a sneaker,” White said of 2021. “While we were getting rain, we weren’t getting any voluminous rain. The (California State Water Resources Control Board) is currently considering what they are going to do in terms of water curtailments, and we expect to see some sort of mandate coming from the state.”
As far as what city of Ukiah residents can expect, White said that “the city has invested a lot of effort and money in anticipation of a year like this year (in terms of building new wells and the Purple Pipe recycled water system) and we will get through this with a level of ease that some of our neighbors will not experience.
“That doesn’t mean folks here won’t have to do something — we will have to make some sacrifices, but I’m sure they will be small compared to some of our neighbors,” White said.
City Manager Sage Sangiacomo said Wednesday that he expected to provide regular updates during upcoming City Council meetings regarding this year’s drought.
According to USACE staff, “Water Year 2020,” which includes precipitation from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 3, 2020, is “the third driest year on record for the northern part of the watershed,” or Russian River Basin. Such records for Lake Mendocino go back 127 years to 1894, with Water Year 1977 officially the driest, and Water Year 1924 the second driest.