A look at Mendocino County water: Rainfall gives “breathing room,” but only infrastructure, climate solutions can ease drought
Even while power outages, flooding, and downed trees plagued Mendocino County during the first weeks of 2023, we could take comfort in the fact that on California’s drought-ridden soil, rain is good news. Lake Mendocino hit its highest amount of water storage in more than a decade, and our past month of precipitation is on track with or better than “normal” conditions over the past 30 years. … A high water table and a near-full reservoir can no longer be taken at face value: water managers, well users, and those who watched Governor Gavin Newsom deliver a speech on water rights from the bed of Lake Mendocino in 2021 know better than to expect a couple weeks of rain to reverse decades of water insecurity. According to a table from the California WaterBlog, drought can be considered “over” in only one area of impact this month: soil moisture.