State Board OKs Sonoma Water Changes To Russian River Instream Flows

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The State Water Resources Control Board recently approved a request from Sonoma Water to temporarily modify Russian River instream flows in order to manage water supply and enhance salmonid habitat in Dry Creek and the mainstem Russian River.

Sonoma Water filed a Temporary Urgency Change Petition —TUCP — in April and it was approved May 19 by the State Board. The petition from Sonoma Water was to amend its water rights permits to comply with State Board Decision 1610 and the 2008 Russian River Biological Opinion regarding salmon habitat.

The approved modifications include the following changes:

• From May 1 through Oct. 15, 2023, the instream flow requirements for the upper Russian River will be reduced from 185 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 125 cfs.
• From May 1 through Oct. 15, 2023, the instream flow requirements for the lower Russian River will be reduced from 125 cfs to 70 cfs.

“The Russian River watershed is recovering from three years of consecutive drought and these changes are a key tool in managing the water supply for more than 600,000 people and the environment in Sonoma and Marin counties,” Sonoma Water Director Chris Coursey said.

Sonoma Water will implement the minimum instream flows using a five-day running average of daily stream flows, with the requirement that flows don’t drop below 110 cfs on the upper Russian River and 60 cfs on the lower Russian River, the agency said. For example, upper river flows may be higher than 125 cfs on some days and lower than 125 cfs (but no lower than 110 cfs) on other days, as long as over a five-day period, minimum flows average 125 cfs, Sonoma Water said.

The changes, according to Sonoma Water, allow the agency to manage instream flows more effectively to meet the objectives in the 2008 Russian River Biological Opinion — a federally mandated 15-year blueprint to help save endangered ­fish and ensure the local water supply.

State Board Decision 1610 is from 1986 and dictates, based on water supply, the minimum flow requirements for the Upper Russian River, Dry Creek and the Lower Russian River.

Sonoma Water said it will continue consultations with staff from the State Board, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, National Marine Fisheries Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife to address any water quality, fishery, or public health and safety concerns.

Read the full Temporary Urgency Change Order at Sonomawater.org/tucp.