Mendocino City Community Services District, which manages Mendocino’s groundwater, will host a public forum on Tuesday to discuss the first phase of a study on long-term water solutions for the town of Mendocino.
According to the district, the forum will include presentation of the first draft of the Source Water Study prepared by GHD, a consulting firm that has been retained to do a feasibility study to address the water crisis.
The study’s goal is to “to locate water sources and identify options for long-term solutions to ensure a sustainable, reliable, and safe water supply for the village of Mendocino and larger study area,” according to its website.
Mendocino has been plagued by water shortage issues over the years, which have been exacerbated by recent droughts. The town made its way into the national spotlight for the water shortage’s impact on tourism and the Skunk Train’s grand scheme to truck water into the area. Suffice to say, the latter idea didn’t sit well with the Fort Bragg City Council.
According to the 59-page first draft of the report, the district manages water for 855 residents, as well as businesses, two state parks, a school district and local businesses. It is estimated that 2,500 tourists visit the district’s service area daily. “Water scarcity has been a continuing issue for the town for decades,” said GHD in its draft, “with some wells often running dry in the summer and fall.”
The wells are also the worse for wear. The report estimates that there are approximately 400 wells in the district, “many of them old, shallow, or hand-dug,” GHD said. The wells are not able to store or provide the water needed to maintain Mendocino’s current water use and no “resilient and sustainable water supply” is available, according to the draft study.
The draft concludes that community input is essential to help quantify demand, prioritize need, and assess the feasibility of possible solutions.
District Superintendent Ryan Rhoades encourages people to read the study and attend the meeting. The study is a starting point “to see what’s possible,” Rhoades said. He added that the district needs to have “an informed discussion with the community” and find out “what the community would like to see happen here to make us more resilient.”
The GHD study is sponsored by the California State Water Resources Control Board, through the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience Program.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Mendocino Community Center, 10525 School Street in Mendocino. Doors open at 5:30. Register here to attend the meeting via Zoom.