MENDOCINO COUNTY, 7/15/22 – As of July, the vast majority of Mendocino County residents are living in conditions of severe drought, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. On July 12, Coyote Dam — a pivotal local water source — was storing just 41% of its average water capacity, according to data provided by the California Department of Water Resources — though thankfully, that’s still 21,909 more acre-feet of stored water than this time last year.
“Our current drought’s really highlighting how unsustainable it is that we continue to pump groundwater [and] continue to not capture water when we really desperately need it,” said Kristina Dahl, principal climate scientist for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, at State Senator Mike McGuire’s town hall on wildfires in June. “Climate change is exacerbating that natural pattern of drought that we have.”
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