Earlier this month, commenting on the Supervisors’ recent decision to allocate $500k of hard to come-by County funds to “water security, we mentioned the big, well-publicized $5 million water project grant for the town of Mendocino obtained back in 2022 during the three year drought. Supervisor Ted Williams made a brief splash announcing that he had finagled the grant with the area’s state reps, claiming credit for what was supposed to be a 500,000 gallon storage tank system with associated plumbing for the perpetually parched town of Mendocino. We continue to be amazed at how such a seemingly straight-forward project could cost $5 million, as bureaucracy, planning, engineering and other complications cause costs to escalate but do nothing to provide actual water. The project limped along in planning for a while and then was merged with a parallel water project for the Mendocino Unified School District nearby which added even more complexity to the project.
Fortunately, Mendocino resident Christina Aranguren of MendoMatters, who has been following this project crtically from the outset (and who is a former Director of the Mendocino City Community Services District, recently provided an update on the now-combined project which is now called “the MCCSD/MUSD Water Supply & Storage Project:
Ms. Aranguren writes:
“I'm attaching new information discovered after-the-fact in a March 12 agenda of the Mendocino Unified School District's Board of Directors meeting, Item 8.1. This is despite continuing requests to be noticed of any future meetings or updates pertaining to the project. Once again, MendoMatters and the Fury Town Water Association were not notified in advance that MUSD [school district] would be discussing the matter. It's no wonder, then, that members of the public were not in attendance to provide oral comment and/or ask questions; e.g., where are the hydrological studies we've been patiently waiting for?
“Another item, ‘8.7, MUSD Consideration of a Recycled Water Agreement with the Mendocino City Community Services District,’ a project which requires that a third large tank is constructed on the Water Supply & Storage Project site, commanded far more attention and discussion from the board. It's worth a listen.
“The MCCSD is scheduled to hold a Board of Directors meeting on Monday, March 23. Whether the Water Supply & Storage Project will be on the agenda remains to be seen, as they've avoided discussing it for quite some time while directing members of the public with questions or concerns to MUSD [the school district] instead. Monday's meeting [of the MCCSD Board] should also prove interesting as the board is expected to appoint a pair of new directors after two resigned on January 26, leaving the board with a skeleton crew of only three members. When the unexpected resignations were announced at a Board of Directors meeting that same day, the MCCSD President offered no reason for the pair of resignations; however, a subsequent request for information revealed that both directors cited their relocation outside the district as the reason. Curiously, both resignations were submitted to the MCCSD Superintendent within a little over an hour of each other.
“Roughly two weeks later on February 12, an addendum regarding the Recycled Water Project from the MCCSD Superintendent reported that the district had obtained informal approval of a soils disposal site north of Mendo owned by one the former directors who is willing to accept up to 6,000 cubic yards of soil removed by the project's construction. No terms were provided.
Incidentally, MCCSD meetings have not been covered by a reporter since late 2024.”
From the Mendocino School Board agenda packet:
- Project Status
The project continues moving forward with active construction. Current activities are the continued construction of the control building, construction of the emergency generator pad, and finishing the tank foundations. The tank installation crew is expected to arrive on site Monday March 9, 2026 to begin erection of the two tanks. We are also expecting the short retaining wall along the eastern edge of the site to begin construction soon. The overall expected construction completion date is now July 2, 2026. There was some additional delay associated with the most recent rains.
We are currently working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) on details for the restoration of the small stream on the MUSD property that currently drains to the back side of the Maintenance Building. The spring channel was filled and diverted into culverts and ditches many decades ago, and the diversion of the spring to the back of the Maintenance Building has been a nuisance. MUSD would be well served to relocate the stream away from the building and restore the channel. It would also restore habitat in the Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA). CDFW agrees and would like the work done as a deferred condition of approval for the conversion of Test Well #7 to a production well. We believe there are sufficient remaining funds in the project to complete this work, but depending on the timing of an approved Coastal Development Permit (CDP) amendment by the County Planning Commission and procurement of the requisite resource agency permits, a time extension on the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) grant MUSD received may be necessary. If the CDP amendment is approved without appeal there may be enough time to complete the stream restoration this year during CDFW’s allowable construction window. The grant agreement currently requires all project construction to be completed by October 30, 2026, and CDFW’s construction window ends on the same date. If the CDP amendment is appealed like the original project was, a time extension on the SWRCB grant would be needed. Should this occur, we believe the SWRCB would be willing to extend the grant. We also believe the Coastal Commission would deny any appeal again due to the multiple positive benefits the project is bringing to MUSD and the community.
1.1 Funding Update
As described in the January 8, 2026 Project Status Update Memorandum, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) Urban Multibenefit Drout Relief (UMBDR) grant program ended December 31, 2026. This was the grant obtained by MCCSD. We obtained an extension until March 31, 2026, with the final reimbursement request due by April 14, 2026. Ordinarily they would require that the project be 100% complete before releasing retention withheld, but because MUSD will remain under contract with the State Water Resources Control Board until the project has completed construction, they are allowing release of retention in the final reimbursement. Based on progress to date and DWR’s willingness to allow the project to continue after the grant program has ended, we believe we will be able to complete the project without any funding challenges. However, because significantly fewer test wells were completed than originally planned, we do not anticipate spending all the available funding, and it is expected that some funds will be returned to DWR.
MCCSD was also informed today that DWR has submitted an Extension of Liquidation (EOL) to the Legislature to extend funding for the Urban and Multibenefit Drought Relief Program (Program) for two more years to allow more time to complete the full scope of the project. This request is still in process and there are no guarantees that it will be approved. If the EOL request is approved in June 2026 with the State’s budget, the Program will be able to reimburse eligible costs incurred after March 31, 2026 once an amendment to the existing agreement with MCCSD is executed and claimed costs are verified. If successful, this extension may afford the opportunity to perform additional work on the project.
Mark Scaramella Notes: Holy Smoke: MCCSD, MUSD, CDFW, RWQCB, SWRCB, DWR, County Planning Commission… That’s at least six government bodies with their mitts on the project, plus ESHA, CDP, UMBDR, EOL, EIR, and who knows how many other program and grant requiremetns? For a couple of water tanks and some plumbing.
All for a tiny coastal school district whose primary focus is supposed to be education.
Additional Update from Christina Aranguren:
New information received from County Planning & Building Services staff, combined with a regular meeting of the MCCSD Board of Directors on Monday evening, proved to be as interesting as residents had expected it to be. That’s because PBS finally provided us with a Coastal Development Use Permit Modification application and accompanying hydrological study for the controversial project. Despite having submitted numerous written requests to MCCSD, MUSD, and the County of Mendocino to be placed on a notification list for any/all matters pertaining to the project – as well as personally having teleconferenced with GHD, Inc. last autumn, who reassured MendoMatters and the Fury Town Water Association that the hydro study(s) would be completed in a matter of weeks – residents were not notified once again by the agencies involved – Responsible or Implementing – or by GHD, Inc. – that the application and study had been completed and submitted to the County in November, nor we were directed to the December 2025 Public Agency Referrals listings where they had been posted. The application and study had sat there for months while adjacent and downstream users of the project, people intently concerned about their private domestic wells and water security, waited patiently.
So when the MCCSD Superintendent reported he had no update on the project Monday evening, I was forced to remind him of GHD’s Technical Memorandum and the letter he received from the Department of Water Resources earlier this month regarding the status of their grant discovered in a recent MUSD school board agenda, pointing out that the district can claim anything it wants, but MCCSD was the original recipient of the grant, is currently a partner with MUSD, and each are Implementing Agencies (per CEQA).
The MCCSD Board (of three) also appointed two new members on Monday evening, creating a full board of five. In an appointment process that felt curiously scripted, Mendocino’s two newest directors had never attended a district meeting that regulars can recall – and despite the President having explained the very steep learning curve the office required – both appointees left the meeting much prior to its having been adjourned. Two other very qualified applicants, one who doesn’t miss meetings and a fourth, who often attends, were passed over.
When questioned prior to their subsequent appointments, one of the two new directors exclaimed that, you can always buy water.
Heaven help us. You can’t make this stuff up.