About Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma
There are two major reservoir projects that provide water supply for the Russian River watershed: Lake Mendocino on the East Fork of the Russian River and Lake Sonoma on Dry Creek. Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma are dual-purpose reservoirs in that they provide flood protection (managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and water supply storage (releases managed by Sonoma Water). Sonoma Water, as local sponsor, controls and coordinates water supply releases from Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma in accordance with its water rights permits and the requirements of State Water Resources Control Board’s Decision 1610. Decision 1610 establishes minimum instream flow requirements for the mainstem Russian River and Dry Creek. Sonoma Water makes releases to meet downstream demands from agricultural, commercial, and residential individual water uses and other public water systems and to maintain minimum instream flow requirements for beneficial uses, including recreation and fish habitat.
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…