More on Water/Drought related Meetings
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24 mag 2021, 21:26:1224/05/21
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More on implications of the drought, and the potential for alternative water supply solutions …
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Rue
Sonoma Water Directors Hopkins, Gore to Host Drought Town Hall
Santa Rosa, CA – May 24, 2021 – Sonoma Water and Board of Supervisors Chair Lynda Hopkins and Supervisor and Sonoma Water Director James Gore will host a virtual Drought Town Hall on Thursday, June 3 at 6:00 p.m. The Town Hall will be held utilizing a Zoom webinar and will be broadcast live on Chair Hopkins’ Facebook page. The focus of the meeting will be on the drought and impacts to the Russian River watershed. Speakers will include representatives from Sonoma Water, State Regional Water Quality Control Board, Sonoma County Regional Parks, and Sonoma County Environmental Health.
Representatives will discuss the drought, its impact on the Russian River and community, as well as the Temporary Urgency Change Petition (TUCP) filed by Sonoma Water. The TUCP seeks state approval to lower minimum instream flows in the Russian River to preserve water in Lake Sonoma due to drought conditions. The TUCP also seeks to reduce pumping of Russian River water by 20 percent. Learn more about the TUCP and the drought online.
The public zoom link and call in are below:
When: June 3, 2021 06:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Lower Russian River Drought Public Meeting
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://sonomacounty.zoom.us/j/91817502049?pwd=R3A4c1QyYk52eVNNT2swbktCUVZ3UT09
Passcode: 907125
Or One tap mobile : US: +16699009128,,91817502049# or +13462487799,,91817502049#
View on Facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/supervisorlyndahopkins
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Well could offer some drought relief
PETALUMA » Reviving source could provide water for local dairies
By
TYLER SILVY
ARGUS-COURIER EDITOR
Sonoma County water officials plan to revive a long dormant well in the Santa Rosa Plain, a move leaders say could be key to the survival of Petaluma’s storied dairy industry as it confronts a historic drought.
The $400,000 effort, approved quietly last week during the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting, promises to inject new water into the county’s system as reserves dwindle and more
ranchers turn to hauling water for livestock.
In Petaluma, four companies are already hauling enough water to account for nearly 1% of the city’s use, and with mandatory cuts looming in the coming weeks, the city, which is required to reduce consumption by 20%, has frozen any new water hauling accounts amid a growing backlog of requests. Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt said the Laguna de Santa Rosa well could allow Petaluma to reopen
Cows dot the landscape on March 29 at DeBernardi Dairy. A new agreement would open a long-dormant
well in the Santa Rosa Plain, helping dairies get water they need to keep livestock alive amid the drought.
WELL
CONTINUED FROM A1
its metered water program, giving a lifeline to area ranchers.
“If we don’t do this,” he said, “I guarantee you we would lose, God knows, another half-dozen dairies.” Rabbitt, who has pushed to open the well for weeks, added, “It would really change the landscape. I think it’s important that we go to bat for them and look for solutions.”
Sonoma Water owns three wells in the Santa Rosa Plain, at Occidental Road, Sebastopol Road and Todd Road. The wells, installed in 1978 and dormant since about 2010, are meant to bolster water stores during drought or other water supply interruptions, according to county documents.
Although it’s not spelled out in reports related to the board action Tuesday, Rabbitt said he worked to broker a deal with water officials that would replace any water pulled from Petaluma meters for livestock with new well water, reducing Petaluma’s overall water saving burden.
Grant Davis, general manager with Sonoma Water, said the agreement would make up to 500,000 gallons of water per day available for use, which he said should be sufficient to meet livestock needs.
“We’re looking at the total scope and the urgency involved in meeting this demand,” Davis said in a phone interview Wednesday. “They’re literally culling herds right now and making decisions not to plant. You’ve got dairies and vibrant parts of our community that are desperate.”
Restarting just one well will cost nearly a half-million dollars, and require construction of 300 feet of pipeline before it can begin feeding water into the Sonoma Water system, which serves more than 600,000 residents in Sonoma and Marin counties.
Petaluma Public Works and Utilities Director Jason Beatty said city officials are in talks with Sonoma Water staff over the changes, adding that Petaluma wants to support the agriculture communit y.
“We have questions about, ‘Do we need to set up more meters? Are we limited to haulers we currently have?’” Beatty said. “We’ll need to work with Sonoma Water on those details. It’s not something we’ve done before.” County officials, though, felt this year’s water crisis, which has drawn comparison to the devastating 1976-77 drought, merited the novel approach.
Capacity at the region’s reservoirs is already below 2013-14 drought levels, with Lake Sonoma at 59.7% of capacity and Lake Mendocino holding just 42.1% of its target water supply as of May 14, according to Sonoma Water.
And no rain is expected to refill those coffers until October, setting the stage for months of water rationing and water hauling, some of which has already started.
Beatty said the current local water haulers — Clifton Water Trucking, Leras Water Trucks, Pardini Water Trucks and Straus Family Creamery — account for about 0.7% of the city’s overall water use. Petaluma also has standing agreements with Spaletta Ranch and Neil McIsaac & Son Dairy, Beatty said.
With Petaluma setting its sights on 20% cuts in water usage, those haulers have been prohibited from boosting the amount of water they pull from designated hydrant meters located throughout the city.
Officials also froze new metered accounts, creating a growing queue of 15 prospective water haulers as of Wednesday afternoon, although Beatty said some requests were from construction companies and related to dust control.
Petaluma is one of nine cities or water providers grappling with the need to reduce water consumption in the Russian River Watershed, a group that also includes Cotati, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Forestville and Windsor.
Although each of the so-called contractors are required to meet a 20% reduction goal, Petaluma, with its metered water program and growing demand from dairies as farm ponds dry up, potentially faces
a more difficult path toward savings.
“Part of my goal was to not have any one contractor carry a disproportionate burden of keeping animals alive,” said Rabbitt, whose south county district includes Petaluma.
Rabbitt, a former Petaluma City Council member and three-term county supervisor, said he anticipates the need for water hauling will increase as the dry summer months set in. Hauling he said, is expensive, making it a last resort for area farmers, many of whom have already worked to relocate animals or otherwise cull their herds to cut down on demand.
But with dairy farmers already hauling water, Rabbitt said he foresees a long, fraught summer.
“Just because I know the proximity to Two Rock — which is a notoriously fractured aquifer,” Rabbitt said, recounting its reputation as the canary in the coal mine for regional drought. “When Two Rock starts going dry, you know you’re in for severe drought. And that’s what happened again.”
The dam at Don DeBernardi’s dairy farm is usually full after winter rains but this year he is seeing desperate drought conditions. CRISSY PASCUAL / ARGUS-COURIER
Copyright © 2021 PressDemocrat.com All rights reserved. Restricted use only. 5/24/2021
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I thought this might be of interest… You may have seen the notice for the Board of Supervisor's Action on the Consent Calendar this week.
have a wonderful spring evening,
Rue
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Hello there,
Feel free to forward this information to anyone you think may be interested.
The Groundwater Sustainability PLANS must be submitted to the State for approval by January 2022 - so now is a very good time to weigh in. We need to plan appropriately to climate change impacts, drought conditions and potential changing sources of water availability.
Be part of planning for sustainability! Water is a shared resource - no matter where you live and work.
Take good care … have a wonderful spring week,
Rue
Please see the press release, attached, and below, about the GSA Community Meetings:
Petaluma Valley , Wednesday, May 26, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Registration available at
Sonoma Valley, Wednesday, June 23, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Registration available at
Please feel free to forward this information to stakeholders or use the handy social media message immediately below. Please contact Andrea.R...@scwa.ca.gov or me if you need anything else!
Ann
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Calling all groundwater users! Go to SantaRosaPlainGroundwater.org,PetalumaValleyGroundwater.org or Sonomavalleygroundwater.org for information.
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