Fiction: The Potter Valley Project is a water delivery system in the guise of a power plant.

PVP PowerhouseThe Potter Valley Project is a hydroelectric power plant that releases water after beneficially producing power. The total capacity of the main power plant is 9.4 megawatts, nearly enough to meet the electricity demand for the City of Ukiah with clean, renewable energy. The released water powers several other small hydroelectric power plants downstream in Potter Valley which add an additional 0.8 megawatts of capacity, and then it is used beneficially again, and again, and again by over half a million people for their cities, farms, and to enhance fall migration flows for salmon and steelhead. There is no "guise". This is the truth, plain and simple. Isn't it amazing that such a small amount of Eel River water (less than 3% of the flow of the entire Eel River) can do so much good? With the diversion of this water an entire economy and a way of life has evolved. It is the life blood of the communities of Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Calpella, Ukiah, Talmage and Hopland in Mendocino County, and Cloverdale, Asti, Healdsburg and Geyserville in Sonoma County.

Cape Horn Dam, May 2008 Tailrace of the PVP Powerhouse