Recent Rains Have Filled the Reservoirs That Provide Much of Our Drinking Water

About the Reservoirs that supply our drinking water

Lake Mendocino
Located on the East Fork of the Russian River, Coyote Dam is a rolled earth embankment dam that forms Lake Mendocino. Lake Mendocino is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project that began storing water in 1959. It captures a drainage area of about 105 square miles, and provides a total storage capacity of 118,000 acre-feet with a water supply pool of 70,000 acre-feet.

Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma
Located about 14 miles northwest of Healdsburg, Warm Springs Dam is a rolled earth embankment dam that forms Lake Sonoma. Sonoma Water generates electricity at Warm Springs Dam through a hydroelectric turbine. Located at the confluence of Warm Springs Creek and Dry Creek, this lake began storing water in 1984 and has a total storage capacity of 381,000 acre-feet with a water supply pool of 245,000 acre-feet.

Warm Springs Dam is a multi-purpose reservoir that serves as a flood control, water supply and recreational facility. Sonoma Water is the local cost-sharing partner for Warm Springs Dam, and determines the amount of water to be released when the lake level is in the water supply pool, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages flood control releases.