Temporary Office hours:
Tuesday thru Thursday
2:30 to 4:30
MWCD District Office:
120 S. 11th Street
P.O. Box 247
Montague, CA 96064
530-459-3371
Meetings are held the second Tuesday of the Month at the District Office at 7:00 pm
The Montague Water Conservation District (MWCD) is a Special District that provides irrigation water to landowners within the District boundaries. The District owns and operates Dwinnell Reservoir/Shasta River Dam No 60 located in the southern portion of Shasta Valley in Siskiyou County California that delivers water via a main canal to properties in the northern part of the Shasta Valley near the town of Montague and Montague City.
Dr. G.W. Dwinnell had a vision and through feasibility studies and a vote of the people the Montague Irrigation District was formed in April 1925. The name was later changed to Montague Water Conservation District. Engineer John A. Beemer was employed to design and supervise the building of Dwinnell Dam which is designated by the Department of Resources as Shasta River Dam No 60. The building of the Dam was completed in 1928. The lake was later named Lake Shastina.
The current storage of the Dam can be found on the California Data Exchange Center (CDEC). The Station ID is DRE
DWINNELL RESERVOIR NEAR EDGEWOOD (DRE) (ca.gov)
Current Releases to the Shasta River from Dwinnell Reservoir are also on the CDEC website. The Station ID is SRD
The link is:
https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryF?s=SRD
The current scheduled release for environmental water is at 6 cfs . Prior Rights releases (rights that existed before the construction of the Dam) begin around April 1and end on November 1st. each year. Prior Rights releases are currently 3.45 from the main canal.
The year type is determined by the storage in Dwinnell Reservoir on March 1, April 1 and May 1. There are 5 year types; Very Dry, Dry, Normal, Wet and Very Wet Year.
The operation and maintenance of the District is under the exclusive management and control of a five person Board of Directors. The Directors meet as a Board on the second Tuesday of the Month. The current Board of Directors are:
Division 1 Keith Smith
Division 2 Chase Mercier
Division 3 Tristan Allen
Division 4 John Hinton-President
Division 5 Rex Houghton
