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Basin Plan Amendment

By Brenda Adelman

As flows in the Russian River are being reduced to a dribble this summer, the North Coast Regional Board, normally in charge of water quality, is going to change the Basin Plan to accommodate summer discharges of treated wastewater, now redefined as “non-storm water discharge”.

Regional Board legalizing wastewater irrigation runoff…..
Until now, summer irrigation runoff has been illegal, even though it happens frequently.  This Amendment is motivated by pressure from the State Water Board to encourage irrigated wastewater reuse in order to stretch the water supply.  The problem is that this waste is not as safe as regulators say it is.

Clean Water Rapidly Disappearing

By Brenda Adelman

In a national survey on planet biodiversity, it was determined that seven out of ten biologists believe that we are in the midst of a mass extinction of living beings. They rated biodiversity loss as a more serious environmental problem than the depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, and pollution, although these three together may contribute significantly to the crisis, which is occurring because of great damage to the natural systems that purify our air and water. Unlike five previous mass extinctions attributed to natural phenomena, it is  believed to be caused by human activity.

In the Russian River area we are being required to immediately deal with the precipitous disappearance of Coho and Chinook salmon and Steelhead Trout, with the first on the verge of total collapse.  The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is overseeing Endangered Species Act implementation.  They developed the Biological Opinion, which directs the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) to make critical changes to our waterway, which NMFS believes is necessary to save the fish.

The Big Water Mess

By Brenda Adelman

SCWC Declares Critical Water Shortages While Holding Meetings on Increased Water Allocations
Critical water shortage alerts have bombarded us in the media lately.  Mother nature was scaring us good until a few weeks ago, when the winter rains finally poured down and reservoirs started to fill.  Not enough, said County Water Agency staff who alerted everyone to the critical need for stringent conservation even while the crisis diminished.  They plan to ask the State Board to declare a state of emergency that would allow the Agency to limit Guerneville flows to 35 cubic feet per second, (normally at least 125).    At those flows, there would be no lower river recreational season this year and a great deal of environmental harm could occur.

Ironically the Water Agency recently held six formal hearings around the County on a proposed project intended to increase the amount of water they could withdraw from the river.  They recorded public comments on the 3000-page Water Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that few people knew about or read. At the Guerneville, Santa Rosa, and Sonoma meetings, there were fewer citizens attending than Agency staff present, even though the Agency claimed extensive publicity had occurred.

Russian River Unreliable as Summer Water Source

By Brenda Adelman

The Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) came to Guerneville again last month.  In February they arrived with an army of staff to inform us of their plans to divert an extra 26,000 acre feet (AF) from Lake Sonoma for their water customers.  In mid-March a few key staff came to warn us about diminished water supplies and lowered flows.  It seemed like a contradiction, and I reported earlier that it was, but now there are several new twists.

At the March 18^th meeting in Guerneville, attended by approximately 70 people, Pam Jeane, responsible for system operations, and Dave Manning, the Agency’s leading fish biologist, responded to questions for over two hours about deficiencies in the water system.  It was an informative meeting, and staff seemed to answer everyone’s questions sincerely. Nevertheless, many questions remained.  Since then, after meeting individually with several key staff, the many complexities of our current water supply situation appear even more muddled.