Tuesday’s ruling said Sonoma County had not properly considered the effects of new rules it issued for increased pumping from the Russian River
By Bob Egelko,
Staff Writer
Aug 5, 2026
In a challenge by environmental groups to the pumping of groundwater from rivers to fill wells for farmers, homes and businesses in Sonoma County, a state appeals court says counties must consider the impact of their water wells on fish and the environment.
Tuesday’s ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Sonoma County had not properly considered the effects of new rules it issued in 2023 for increased pumping from the Russian River and other waterways, but might be able to meet legal standards with an environmental review.
On the central legal issue in the case, however, the court rejected the county’s argument that such reviews of water wells are required only for the state, and not for local governments.
“Sonoma’s regulation of well permits ‘carries with it an ‘affirmative duty to take the public trust into account,’” Justice Tara Desautels wrote in the 3-0 ruling, quoting language from another appellate decision.
The state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled in 2018 that state law required Siskiyou County to consider how permits issued for water well pumping could harm the Scott River. The state Supreme Court denied review of the case in the county’s appeal, but the ruling was not binding on other appellate courts, and Sonoma County and its supporters in the current case urged the 1st District Court to disregard it.
“Sonoma County spent years and significant taxpayer money trying to convince the courts that counties have no duty to protect our rivers from excessive groundwater pumping,” Sean Bothwell, executive director of the water-protection group California Coastkeeper Alliance, which was a plaintiff in the case, said Wednesday. “The Court of Appeal shut that door in a decision that now binds every county in California.”
Don McEnhill, deputy director of Russian Riverkeeper, also a plaintiff, said well-water pumps can lower the surface of waterways and harm or kill steelhead trout. The ruling describes a county’s obligations under the 2018 decision, he said, and provides “a path for other counties to issue well permits” and avoid harm to imperiled species.
Tuesday’s ruling is not yet final: Sonoma County could seek review in the state Supreme Court. Lawyers for the county and statewide groups of local governments and water agencies that filed arguments in the case did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sonoma County says one reason for increased water pumping from the Russian River is to increase drinking water supplies during summertime droughts. Some of the water is steered south to Marin County.
The court ruled in Sonoma County’s favor on one issue in the case, saying the county, when it increased limits for well pumping in 2023, was entitled to consider the economic effects of the limits and their impact on “the reasonable use of one’s property, including use of water for human health and habitation.”
The county “gathered information, engaged the public, and subsequently balanced conflicting policy concerns and fashioned a compromise to address the practical realities” of groundwater well permitting, said Desautels, reversing part of a ruling by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo.
But she agreed with DeMeo that the county had not conducted a proper review of the environmental effects of its increased water well permits, as required by state law.
The county found that the wells would have no harmful impact. But Desautels said the current county ordinance, “at best … both strengthens and weakens environmental protections.” She rejected the county’s argument that its procedures for approving and denying the permits were exempt from environmental review.
If the ruling stands, the case will return to Superior Court to consider the new environmental report that the county was ordered to prepare. DeMeo has retired from the court, and lawyers said the case has been reassigned to Judge Jane Gaskell.