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Sonoma County Gazette, September 2012

Estuary Lawsuit Settled: A Brief History…..
A year has gone by since the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) Board of Directors (County Supervisors) authorized the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Estuary Project, a plan to construct a channel to keep salt water from intruding into the Estuary, but allow fresh water to seep out.  The purpose was to raise fresh water levels in the estuary lagoon to benefit the growth of juvenile stealhead fish preparing for their ocean sojurn.

At that Board meeting in mid-August of 2011, representatives of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) made threatening statements to the Board of Supervisors, to the effect that they would be in violation of the Endangered Species Act if they did not approve the project, implying something horrific would happen if they did not approve the EIR.  They also strongly implied that anyone else trying to stop the project would also be in violation. Unfortunately, the Biological Opinion, requiring both the Estuary Project and Fish Flow Project (Low Flow) became federal law without any public environmental review; California Environmental Law is circumvented by the Endangered Species Act.

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Sonoma County Gazette, August 2012

What we don’t know can hurt us…..
In the 1950’s, medical doctors extolled the virtues of smoking cigarettes in public advertisements.  People were lighting up in restaurants, airplanes, movie theaters and almost everywhere.  As late as the 1980’s, smoke was so thick in the main room of the Santa Rosa Vets Auditorium bingo games, that one could barely see across the room.

And now, after many deaths from lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema were directly attributed to cigarettes, along with suffering and bad health of others who had their quality of life substantially reduced, and since the discovery that non-smokers coming in contact with second hand smoke were every bit as much at risk, we have witnessed a paradigm shift where one can no longer even smoke in bars or outdoor cafes.  Smokers have become pariahs in office buildings and are no longer allowed to light up on public transportation.  In only 25 years, millions of people were inspired to give up this severely addictive habit, their quality of life immediately improved, and for many, years were added back on to their lives.

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L. Vandenburg, Phd. Letter to Water Control Board

The Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology 200 Boston Ave Suite 4600, Medford MA 02155 Phone: 617-627-4094 email: Laura.Vandenberg@tufts.edu June 27, 2012 Jeanine Townsend, Clerk to the Board State Water Resources ...
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River Friends Email, March 2011

March 2011 River friends: For many years RRWPC has been submitting comments to the State Water Board and the Regional Board expressing concerns about their Water Recycling Policy that allows “incidental runoff” by wastewater ...
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Comments to J. Shu of State Water Board 8.2010

August 30, 2010

Jeffrey Shu
Environmental Scientist
State Water Resources Control Board
Division of Water Quality
1001  I St., 15th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 323-1308 (phone)
(916) 341-5584 (FAX)

jshu@waterboards.ca.gov

Dear Mr. Shu:

This letter is being submitted on behalf of Russian River Watershed Protection Committee in response to your Agency’s request for information on the 2012 303(d) List.  We had emailed a partial submission to you on July 15, 2010, with three attachments, but we are resubmitting that information with this packet so it will be a complete submission.  Our comments address circumstances in the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a major tributary to the Russian River, and the lower Russian River from the confluence of the Laguna/Mark West Creek into the Russian River and down to the Estuary.

We are concerned citizens who are neither scientists nor lawyers, but it is our intent to submit photographs, testimonies, reports, Regional Board documents, etc. to make the case that the Laguna de Santa Rosa should be listed for the invasive plant, Ludwigia, and that the lower Russian River (Forestville to Duncans Mills) should be listed for nutrients (The Laguna is already listed for nutrients.)

In reviewing the requirements for submitting data for the 303(d) list, we are finding it difficult to document our submission in every detail requested (specific camera settings, etc).  Also, as ordinary citizen activists, we are not able to provide scientific data with any authority and so we are relying for the most part on photographic evidence.   The photos submitted with this report are representative of hundreds that we have on file.  If more pictures become necessary later on, we would be happy to provide them (same locations, but different angles, magnifications, etc.)  We can also give more information on specific photos as per request.

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Sonoma County Gazette, October 2007

RRCSD Storage

By Brenda Adelman

The Russian River County Sanitation District (RRCSD) needs additional storage capacity at the treatment plant in order to keep it from discharging contaminants into the Russian River during high water periods.  Russian River Watershed Protection Committee (RRWPC) agrees that it is necessary.  According to official documents, approximately 30 million gallons of storage is needed in order to fully serve current ratepayers under all river flows.  RRCSD currently has 3.5 million gallons (mg) of storage, and the proposed new storage basin would give us 3.5 mg more at a cost of $4.5 million dollars.

We agree on the need for storage, but this is where the agreement stops.  Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA), operators of the system, have neglected developing a master plan for this and other components as required in the General Plan, which states that no projects can be implemented until a master plan is complete.  Yet SCWA has proposed several component projects with separate environmental reviews.  Their intent has been to use inappropriate and possibly illegal methods to turn RRCSD into a regional system.

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