On March 21, 2022, Sonoma County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) and the Mendocino County Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District (Mendocino District) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning Lake Mendocino Storage Planning and Russian River Management. The MOU was developed in response to the regional drought that began in the spring of 2020 and establishes planning and management activities related to the shared water supplies in Lake Mendocino.

As determined in the MOU, when conditions are met a Technical Memorandum will be developed to document the approach in assessing reservoir storage and water supply conditions for the Upper Russian River.