Since 1980, RRWPC has advocated for policies and governmental actions that protect and improve Russian River water quality. We played a major role in the removal of most of Santa Rosa’s wastewater discharges from the Russian River; and we caused a scientific study to be written
(Report to Russian River Watershed Protection Committee and City of Santa Rosa by Daniel E. Wickham and Robert W. Rawson: Phosphate Loading and Eutrophication in the Laguna de Santa Rosa: January 28, 2000) that demonstrated there is too much phosphorus flowing into the river as a result of those discharges, and subsequently feeding large amounts of algae downstream.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) ultimately followed up with stringent permit limits of phosphorus in Santa Rosa’s permit. They did the same for Windsor’s discharge permit as well. Some years there is no river discharge by these cities, and in years when there is, a program now exists whereby they must compensate for discharged phosphorus with an approved nutrient removal program in the Laguna area (where the worst phosphorus pollution occurs). RRWPC has accomplished numerous other improvements as well that will be mentioned in future letters. Because of the following, our assumed task of lower Russian River protection will now become much more challenging however.
Supreme Court Upends Historical Environmental (and other) Rulemaking…The Regional Board and their team of scientific experts, work in tandem with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement Federal Laws (written by Congress) that protect water quality. There are State Laws, as stringent or more so than the Federal, that must be followed as well. Discharge permits for Santa Rosa, Windsor, and Russian River are lengthy directives, often as much as 200 pages long, and contain many rules governing limits on such things as flows, discharge timing and amounts, disinfection requirements, pathogen limits, testing, monitoring, and reporting requirements, etc. These rules were established only after extensive study and input by experts, government officials, and the public, occurred.
Generally RRWPC has not dealt directly with Federal EPA, but we have extensively interacted with our local Regional State Board. In carrying out its mission, the Regional Board must adhere to all Federal Laws, but State law can override Federal when more stringent. Over the last 40 years our group has been involved in at least a dozen legal actions. Some we have filed ourselves with hired attorneys, and some where we were party to actions with other individuals or groups. These actions were only taken after very serious consideration and only in opposition to those circumstances demonstrating egregious ignorance of potential water quality outcomes. And it was these kinds of actions by ourselves and many other groups, that brought about improved water quality over the years.
Supreme Court sets stage to override work of County and State….DUE TO VERY RECENT DECISIONS BY A MAJORITY OF THE SUPREME COURT, MUCH OF THIS IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. At a time when the environment is experiencing extremes in record breaking weather events, environmental law may be largely eviscerated by a new Federal involvement, at least in the case of new legal challenges, and will not only negatively affect water protections, but will also impact the ability of Federal (and probably State also) Agencies to set rules on medical drugs, consumer products, vehicle pollution standards, oil and gas drilling on public lands, etc. This would also have a particularly heavy impact on new issues that come up in the future on these categories.
By overturning the 40 year old Chevron Doctrine, which allowed lower courts to defer to the EPA if laws passed by Congress (i.e., Federal Law) are unclear and/or ambiguous, they will force the conflicting matter back to Congress where the issue may be clarified (or not) and rewritten or dropped. Initially, Congress acknowledged, through that doctrine, that experts who interpret and develop scientific policy to implement the laws, know more about how it should be applied and its effects. These experts work in agencies where they apply the law in in order to protect the local public. By diminishing their role, it would be harder to implement things like workplace safety rules and enforce overtime rules and wages and much easier for large corporations to challenge protective requirements in the courts.
In other words, it will be the courts that interpret whether environmental regulations are necessary and adequate, and not the environmental experts, working in the agencies, who provided the scientific basis for recommended new requirements. It can open the doors to massive litigations over all sorts of environmental and other requirements that may have been settled many years ago. In fact agencies can be sued decades after rulings are made and be forced to show why their more detailed requirements are better than the original general law passed by Congress.
This new law was announced (6-29-24) before any cases have even come to the Supreme Court, an unprecedented occurrence. Environmental attorneys are predicting that this new law may dismantle all the progress over the years in providing clean air and water and many other issues. RRWPC does not fully understand the implications of all this, but we intend to follow its development and provide more information in the future.
Community meeting held on June 29, 2024, in Monte Rio regarding changing septic rules….This meeting was a follow up of a meeting held late last year on the same topic. Interest in this issue thus far has been rather tepid, but we anticipate major changes coming in the area of wastewater treatment and septic discharge in the coming years. These changes can include, new rules and requirements on septic systems monitoring, design, siting, leach field configurations, inspections, etc. It may include hooking these communities to a hyper expensive RRCSD treatment system, or building a massive raw sewage pipeline to Santa Rosa that combines waste from Villa Grande, Monte Rio, Occidental, Graton, Sebastopol and possibly others. This is likely to be a 5+ year project (It’s been that long already.) Also, a consultant’s document will be coming out soon that will explain the project in greater detail.
Here are some resources for further information:
- General or property specific questions: contact Michael Makdisi at 707-565-3747 or Makdisi@Sonoma-County.org
- MR/VG wastewater feasibility study: Steve Koldis at 707-547-1914 or Koldis@scwa.ca.gov
- Information on septic permitting and requirements: Permit Sonoma’s website: permitsonoma.org
- For information about TMDL Action Plan and Basin Plan visit Regional Board’s website at: ly/NCRWQB-rr-tmdl
The TMDL referred to stands for Total Maximum Daily Load: in this case of pathogens. It’s a program overseen by the North Coast Regional Board to correct bacterial pollution. The Action Plan will consist of the actions that will need to occur in order to make this happen. The goal is to remove sources of untreated bacterial contamination. While people are being told by County officials that the 20 mile long raw sewage pipeline to Santa Rosa to obtain treatment, is going to be cheaper than current facilities, `in fact, may be way more risky and expensive for construction AND ongoing maintenance.
RRWPC needs your continued support….Donor contributions sustain our independent river protection work. We rely exclusively on six (or fewer) mailers a year for our entire fiscal support. We can do so because we are primarily a volunteer organization. We appreciate any amount you can contribute. Donations may be sent via mailed check (with card and envelope provided) or by using PayPal at our website. Our coffers need refilling now and we hope you can help us out.