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Mendocino County keeps drought monitoring at Stage 1 after state and county briefings
Summary
At a May 20 General Government Committee meeting, state and county staff reported mostly normal to slightly drier-than-normal conditions for most of the water year and the committee voted unanimously to accept the presentations; county staff said monthly monitoring will continue and public outreach materials will be posted online.
Mendocino County’s General Government Committee on May 20 heard state and county presentations on current hydrologic conditions and formally accepted the briefings, with staff saying the county remains at a Stage 1 water-shortage monitoring posture.
Janine Jones of the California Department of Water Resources told the committee that statewide precipitation has been near long‑term average for a third consecutive year while temperatures are distinctly warmer, which contributed to a rapid decline in spring snowpack and reduces the usual runoff benefits for reservoirs. “Going into summer, we definitely expect heat risk, because, you know, we’ve been experiencing that for the past decade plus, and related to that wildfire,” Jones said.
The county’s Department of Transportation (DOT) environmental compliance specialist, Josie Slavitt, gave the county’s drought‑trigger monitoring report. Slavitt said the county tracks three metrics: U.S. Drought Monitor classifications, dry‑well reports submitted to the state, and current hydrologic indicators such as reservoir storage for inland areas and two‑year precipitation totals for coastal areas. She reported that most of Mendocino County spent the water year in normal to wetter‑than‑normal categories and that a brief March reclassification to D0 (drier than normal) eased by April. “All of these factors indicate that we are in Stage 1 response,” Slavitt said, adding that the county is conducting monthly water‑shortage monitoring and acting as a clearinghouse for information for partners and the public.
Slavitt described how the county uses thresholds tied to dry‑well report counts and reservoir storage to escalate responses; she reported one dry‑well submission in January for an inland area (the county noted that normal years typically see zero to two reports). Slavitt also described coordination with state programs and local partners to get water‑resiliency resources to households; the transcript lists an unclear quantity for the tanks obtained and staff flagged this for follow‑up.
Amber Fassett, the county’s deputy director of transportation, said the drought resilience plan adopted in May 2025 calls for two standing drought‑task‑force meetings per year in normal times and more frequent meetings during shortages. Fassett said staff will solicit agenda topics from water stakeholders ahead of future meetings and will post the presentations and resources to the DOT website to broaden public access.
During public comment Linda McElway of the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District thanked presenters, said the RCD will cross‑link its drought resources to the county portal, and described additional streamflow gauges installed in the Navarro watershed through partnerships with The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited.
Votes at a glance: The committee voted unanimously to accept the DWR and DOT presentations and to provide recommendations to staff. The committee also unanimously approved the minutes from the April 22, 2026 meeting.
What’s next: Staff said they will continue monthly monitoring under the county’s drought‑resilience plan, post the presentations and resources online, and return to the committee with any recommended agenda items or alternative public‑engagement formats for future outreach.
