Every day, water from the South Fork of the Eel River is diverted into the Russian River through a tunnel at the north end of Potter Valley. The water flow is used by P.G.and E. to generate power. P.G.andE.'s license is granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC will only grant a renewal if the needs of the Eel River watershed are addressed.
FERC has been working with other government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and members of the public to determine how much diversion, if any, can be permitted. Those interested include water users in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties. Southern Sonoma and Marin Counties receive their water through the Santa Rosa Municipal system, even though they are not in the Russian River watershed.
In late November, DOI took the position that the Eel River fisheries must be protected before any water can be diverted. Marin County officials responded that bureaucrats were taking "their" water, noting that Sonoma County "owned" 87% of the water in Lake Mendocino (the construction of which was financed by that county). In early December, Mendocino County officials expressed concerns that the newly formed Russian River Watershed Council was weighted too heavily toward Sonoma County users.
There are essentially three positions in this debate: 1) Priority should be given to agricultural/residential uses over the natural watershed; 2) Priority should be given to the watershed, including the fisheries, over the agricultural/residential uses; and 3) The Eel should be restored to its natural state, with no diversion.
Last August I went to a gathering of like-minded nature lovers for a celebration of summer along the East Fork of the Russian River above Lake Mendocino. Most of our activity was in or near the water, which rushed neck-deep before widening to a pleasant shallows ahead of the rapids. A few miles away, along the North Fork, the riverbed was dry, as the East Fork would be without the diversion. Every drop of water we were playing in, every drop that was flowing into the lake, was the Eel River.
In late October, before the heavy rains, I went to the Eel. First I passed the Russian, still flowing strong. Then a brief look at the power plant at the top of Potter Valley before heading over the divide into the Eel River watershed. Van Arsedale Dam awaited, several stories high, its awkward, switchback fish ladder seemingly impassable. Finally, via a closed road between private property, I reached the river below the dam.
It was no longer a river. It was an ankle-deep stream that I easily jumped across, meandering through a wide cobblestone riverbed. At least 95% of the water, even by the roughest estimate, was being diverted.
The strongest argument for diversion is the fact that the Russian River would dry up each year north of the Warm Springs Dam near Healdsburg. That area is composed of five valleys: Potter, Redwood, Yokayo, Sanel, and Alexander. These valleys were created by a river that included the flow from Clear Lake, until a massive landslide several hundred years ago redirected that water to the central valley.
If there is to be any diversion, then the stewards of the Eel River would adopt the valleys of the upper Russian. And they would require this adopted family to use and protect the water as though still flowing north, with the same protections as other wild and scenic rivers.
Would this be natural? Yes, if human ingenuity is part of nature. But then, so is the human conscience, and reasoning. And love.
There can be no compromise in the need to restore the Eel River fisheries. If there is any diversion, it can only be the excess. And the Russian River Valleys must be protected.
There are some with whom I've spoken about the diversion, and their response is "Hell, no. Damn the tunnel!" They are principled people who have seen impersonal forces, such as the profits of distant corporations, destroy nature. The river speaks through them.
The Russian River dwellers must never presume the generosity of the Eel. If we need its waters, let us please ask with respect, and cherish each drop. Or, like the goose's golden eggs, the water will disappear forever.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited