Life after the Potter Valley Project: Making New Alliances to Ensure Water For the Future

June 2, 2025

Ukiah Daily Journal

The Ukiah Daily Journal recently covered an “All Boards” meeting in Mendocino County that addressed the looming challenges and costs tied to the decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project. The hydroelectric facility, operated by PG&E, has long enabled the diversion of Eel River water into the Russian River, a source of water that has supported local agriculture and communities for over a century.

As PG&E prepares to shut down the project, the future of these diversions and the affordability of the water they supply remain uncertain. Downey Brand water law attorney Scott Shapiro, who serves as legal counsel to the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, provided legal insight into the process and its implications.

Shapiro explained that PG&E’s application to surrender the project, expected by July 31, marks a critical turning point. “Now that the project is on this path, I’m told that the path cannot legally be undone,” he said. Although the utility’s plan includes a proposal to continue water diversions through a new facility, it also signals the end of low-cost, gravity-fed flows. Future diversions will likely require a pump station and significant infrastructure investment, which will dramatically increase water costs for local users.

“Unfortunately, there will be an economic adjustment, but the alternative is no water,” Shapiro said. “It is unfortunate, but it is either [the higher cost], or there isn’t any water.”

The article outlines the financial, logistical, and regulatory hurdles ahead as local and regional agencies work to maintain water reliability in the face of the project’s decommissioning.

Readers can access the full article by reporter Justine Frederiksen here.