Mendocino

What happened, and when

Every dated water event the register holds for Mendocino, newest first, each with the sources that document it.

1. September 26, 2022Restored

   Restored

   The district board reduced the Stage 4 emergency to Stage 2, restoring normal allotments with a voluntary 15 percent conservation request, citing conservation and rainfall.

2. March 28, 2022Restrictedon the card

   Restricted: what happened

   On March 28, 2022 the Mendocino City Community Services District declared a Stage 4 water shortage emergency for the town, whose roughly 400 private wells draw on a shallow rain-fed aquifer: mandatory rationing of a 40 percent cut in every water allotment and a moratorium on new groundwater permits, after only 56 percent of normal rain. It was the third Stage 4 in two years. In July 2021 many wells ran low or dry and Fort Bragg, the town's main source of hauled water, halted sales to haulers because of record-low Noyo River flows; the county began trucking water from Ukiah to the coast on September 8, 2021.

   • Mendocino City Community Services District: Stage 4 water shortage emergency declared (press release) (March 29, 2022)
3. July 2021Ran dry

   Wells run low or dry; Fort Bragg halts sales to haulers

   In July 2021 many of the town's roughly 400 private wells ran low or dry, and Fort Bragg, the main source of hauled water, halted sales to haulers because of record-low Noyo River flows; the county began trucking water from Ukiah to the coast on September 8, 2021.

   • Associated Press (via CBS San Francisco): As drought deepens, Mendocino runs low on water (July 23, 2021)
   • KZYX: Mendocino water managers expect wells to run dry this year (April 30, 2021)
   • The Mendocino Voice: Fort Bragg downgrades water emergency, no longer receiving water from Ukiah (October 13, 2021)