From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Monday, Aug. 16. I’m Sonia Waraich.

Last month was the hottest July ever recorded on Earth and in Mendocino County, according to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,. The federal agency is also predicting there’s going to be lower than average rainfall in Mendocino for at least the next six months so the drought’s not going anywhere.

One of the groups working on addressing the drought locally is the Mendocino Countywide Drought Task Force. The task force is made up of Supervisor John Haschek, Supervisor Glenn McGourty and Josh Metz, who was contracted by the county to coordinate the drought response. They met on Thursday by Zoom and gave updates on how the drought is being felt and addressed around the county.

Josh Metz started with some good news – the county is making progress in addressing one of the major issues its facing because of the drought, how to move water from one part of the county to another.

Ukiah and Fort Bragg started the push for a regional approach to the drought through mutual aid agreements. Those agreements are expected to make it easier for cities to share water by without facing regulatory hurdles.

Metz said the initial goal will be to transport ten 6,000-gallon truck loads of water from Ukiah to Fort Bragg for a total of 60 to 70,000 gallons per day.

There’s also been talk of using the Skunk Train to transport water from inland to the coast. The idea hit some roadblocks around cost, but it looks like funding has become available for the project through the state’s Department of Water Resources.

Not everyone in attendance was happy with that idea. During public comments, one resident of the Willits Valley called in and told the task force to lobby elected officials to implement solutions that won’t tax people living inland.

Supervisor Glenn McGourty didn’t foresee the depletion of groundwater being a problem in the immediate future since that water supply is monitored by the Ukiah Valley Basin Sustainable Groundwater Management Agency.

Move water around the county in an efficient and cost-effective way has been central to the drought response. That’s because even though the entire county is facing an extreme drought, not every part of the county is experiencing the drought the same way. 

Ukiah is faring pretty well through the drought because of early investments the city made in building up its water resources. The city has reduced how much water it pulls from the Russian River by 75 to 80% and still has water available to spare to help other areas around the county.

But cities like Fort Bragg are concerned. The city still has a steady supply of water but last Monday the Fort Bragg City Council kicked up its water emergency to Stage 3, calling for water users in the city to conserve 10% more than they had been since mid-July.

City officials are worried about the lack of rainfall predicted in the region in the coming months because of how it will impact the Noyo River. Fort Bragg relies on the Noyo River as one of three main water sources. The Noyo usually experiences its lowest streamflow at this part of the year and doesn’t get replenished until there’s significant rainfall. In the meantime, high tides can cause the water in the Noyo to become too brackish to be pumped for drinking water by the city. 

Fort Bragg Public Works director John Smith said the city’s is expecting its desalination system to arrive next month. That will allow the city to make the brackish water drinkable after high tide events.

For the KZYX News. I’m Sonia Waraich, a report for America corps member. For all our local stories, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast where you get your podcasts.