A watery tale of two cities

Here’s the summer rumor, cleaned up for daylight: “Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) is draining Lake Pillsbury, so the upper river’s toast.” Catchy, dramatic and not quite right. What’s really happening is more boring and more important — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) greenlighted a summer operating tweak that keeps Lake Pillsbury low (for dam safety and fish), which throttles the Eel River-to-Russian River diversion to a trickle. That means the upper Russian River has less late-summer help from the tunnel. Not nothing — just less.

Read the full story at Sonoma County Gazette →