ERG-Supported Water Management Assessment Wins 2021 Outstanding Water Project Award

The Lake Mendocino Final Viability Assessment (FVA) of Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), a multi-agency water supply improvement effort that ERG helped produce, has been recognized with the 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers San Francisco Section Outstanding Water Project of the Year Award. This award is given to projects that demonstrate innovation and improve water supply and delivery practices. Like many reservoirs in the western United States, Lake Mendocino in California’s Russian River Watershed experiences severe floods and droughts caused by a changing climate. The FVA demonstrates that FIRO—a water management approach that uses modern forecasting skill—can increase water supply by 20 percent while managing flood risk. The approach may also benefit fisheries by improving habitat conditions and water temperatures without the need for costly new infrastructure. Project partners include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, Sonoma Water, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. ERG is also supporting FIRO viability assessments at other reservoirs in California and Washington.