The Senate Must Protect Our Drinking Water Recent Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of protections of the Clean Water Act, putting the drinking water of millions of Americans at risk for contamination. But the Senate has an opportunity to restore the original protections of the Clean Water Act by supporting the Clean Water […]
Read MoreCategory: Water Conservation Issue
Farmers Told How to Save Huge Amounts of Water
Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer California farmers could save enough water each year to fill Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy reservoir 16 times by using more efficient irrigation techniques, according to a study that is bound to be highly controversial among the state’s powerful agriculture interests. The report, released today by the Pacific Institute, an Oakland water […]
Read MoreTaming the Tap
Saving Water by Dry Farming Grapevines Matthew E. Green, Special to The Chronicle 2009 It wasn’t by choice that Dan Lehrer cut off the water supply to his apple trees. When the irrigation system on his organic farm in Sebastopol broke down five years ago, repairing it was too costly, so his entire orchard of […]
Read MoreSupport a Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund!
Protect and Strengthen Our Public Water – Support a Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund! July 28, 2009 Dear Activists, Our water and wastewater infrastructure is in desperate need of repair. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given both systems a D- grade. In order to protect our essential water resources, create tens of thousands […]
Read MoreFOER’s Comments on North Bay Water Recycling Program
July 20, 2009Marc BautistaSonoma County Water AgencyPO Box 11628Santa Rosa, CA 95406-1628By Email: info@nbwra.orgMarc.Bautista@scwa.ca.govRe: North Bay Water Recycling Program Draft EIR and Draft EISDear Mr. Bautista:Attached are comments on the NBWRA Project DEIR/EIS from Friends of theEel River. Reference materials will follow in a second email.We are looking forward to a comprehensive and effective response.Sincerely,David KellerBay […]
Read MoreCCWI’s Workshop Creek Cleanup and Bugs, August 1
Hello there! On August 1, Community Clean Water Institute (CCWI) is proud to present a fun and hands-on workshop for teens and adults in conjunction with CHOP’s Teen Center and the Sonoma State University Entomology Outreach program. Meet at 10 am at the Pierson Street Bridge Santa Rosa (near the crossing of 6th Street and Pierson) for a […]
Read MoreSign Up for Tour by Water Agency
Here’s a free tour by people who are intimately familiar with the system. Conversation: Email to WAC and TAC – SCWA Tour Date – Save the date! Subject: FW: Email to WAC and TAC – SCWA Tour Date – Save the date! Save the Date: WAC/TAC Tour of SCWA Russian River Water Supply System What: […]
Read MoreBasin Plan Amendment Decisions at Water Board Meeting
Hi everyone: There is an extremely critical meeting coming up at the North Coast Regional Board on July 23rd at about 9 AM at their offices near the airport at 5550 Skylane Blvd. This is the meeting where they will decide on a Basin Plan Amendment (water law for the North Coast and Russian River) […]
Read MoreA Series on California’s Water Can be Seen on Website
FYI…BrockCalifornia’s Water: An Overview “California’s Water” is a multi-part series for public television produced by Huell Howser and underwritten by members of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA). The series explores California’s water resources and the complex system of natural and man-made features that has allowed growing communities, productive farms, industry and ecosystems to […]
Read MoreWinery Development in Knights Valley, Sonoma County
The file on this project is good. I think that they have met the threshold supporting the need for an EIR – under CEQA. Their attorney is the best. Craig, Thank you for this update. You clearly and succinctly explained this issue and in an objective justice system would prevail. We will see. –Larry On […]
Read MoreClean Water Act Alert
Finally, after years of delay, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) is going to mark up (vote on) a compromise version of the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787) THIS Thursday, June 18. This is an all-hands-on-deck alert! We need your help to make sure our Senators know how critically important it is […]
Read MoreIImpressions of the Guerneville Low Flow Meeting
Impressions of the Guerneville Low Flow Meeting My impressions of the meeting? I wonder sometimes what the purpose is of some bureaucratic meetings. I suspect most of the time it is simply fulfilling the mandates of public obligation in the law–really a dog and pony show. In this case, did they really want the community’s […]
Read MoreRussian River Low Flows Letter
Dear Ms. Whitney: I submitted extensive comments on the Emergency Order issued by your office in April regarding water diversions from Lake Mendocino in Sonoma County. I also attended the Board Workshop in early May and gave testimony on this issue. I represent Russian River Watershed Protection Committee, a local non profit that has been […]
Read MoreAustralia Drought Portends Future for Russian River?
At the SWRCB meeting 5/6 hearing the protest by the Contractors about the proposed RR flow cutbacks, Vicky Whitney (staff in charge of water rights) presented a graph of historic droughts (423 years) in the Russian River watershed, from the Univ. of Arizona, showing length of historic drought events based on Blue Oak tree rings, […]
Read MoreHB 2080 Grey Water Bill Passes!
In the interests of consistent water reuse policy it is worth noting that HB 2080 grey water passed. We are not alone…. Bob Rawson Hi Friends, Today, HB 2080 passed the Senate 24-5. Yipee! Now on to the Governor for signing, and I fully expect his support. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to […]
Read MoreVideo on Recycled Water Diseases: WATERBORNE
May 22, 2009 Little known fact: Sewage treatment plants do not remove all contaminants from sewage. The resulting effluent and sludge contains pathogens, heavy metals, chemicals that mimic estrogen, and more. Worse: many of the pathogens have developed a resistance to antibiotic drugs as a result of the treatment process. Much worse: Cities and developers […]
Read MoreClean Water Restoration Act Update
Latest Buzz on the Clean Water Restoration Act Last week the Obama Administration sent a letter to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) Chairman Boxer urging enactment of legislation to clarify the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction in the wake of the 2001 SWANNC and the 2006 Rapanos Supreme Court decisions. Chairman Boxer welcomed this letter in a press release posted on the EPW website last Thursday. […]
Read MoreGrape-growing vs. Wastewater in Wine Country
Clark Mason, Press Democrat, 2009 When Jason Passalacqua, a Dry Creek Valley winery owner, heard about a plan to use highly treated wastewater to irrigate his vineyards, he thought it was a good idea. “When I first heard about reuse, I thought great,” he said. But he now considers the plan to use wastewater to […]
Read MoreOpinion: Is it really Grape-growing vs. Wastewater in Wine Country?
The Press Democrat story describes some very critical water quality issues that will have to be addressed in the North Bay Water Reuse Authority Project, as well as in the North Sonoma County Agricultural Reuse Project. Over the past several years, SCWA, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, and their engineering and consulting firms have […]
Read MoreRussian River Low Flows Meeting in Guerneville
Hi Brenda: Below is the agenda and list of speakers. For publicity, we are running a public notice in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, West County Gazette, and Sonoma West. We have also included the meeting date in our most recent press release and have it posted on our Web site. I believe Vesta has […]
Read MoreClean Water Restoration Act Action
Clean Water Restoration Act Moves Closer to Mark-Up – Your Help is Needed! Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Chairman Barbara Boxer (CA) has stated her intent to move the Clean Water Restoration Act (S.787) to mark-up. Yesterday at an EPA budget briefing with Administrator Lisa Jackson, Chairman Boxer stated that muddied jurisdiction needs to be fixed now. Though […]
Read MoreFilm: End of the Line
To All, “The inconvenient truth about the impact of overfishing on the world’s oceans” — The Economist Fresh from its World Premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, THE END OF THE LINE is the first major documentary about the imminent peril facing the world’s oceans. Narrated by Ted Danson and based on the book […]
Read MoreGrowers Ramp up NSCARP Criticism,…
… call EIR Flawed, Clean Water Coalition calling for Rejection of EIR by Supes on May 12. Frank Robertson Staff Writer A group of Healdsburg winegrowers turned up their opposition this week against a Sonoma County Water Agency plan to supply vineyards with wastewater for irrigation in the Alexander and Dry Creek valleys. Growers organized […]
Read MoreNSCAR FEIS/FEIR Comes before Sonoma County BOS
The NSCAR FEIS/FEIR will be presented to the SCWA Board of Directors on May 12, 2009 at 8:30 am at 575 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa, California. The full notice for this is below. –Larry NOTICE OF AVAILABILTY OF A FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO CERTIFY AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT Pursuant to […]
Read MoreComments on RR Low Flow, Dams, and Conservation
Brian (et al): My message was designed to raise questions (of which I still have many) and get folks to go look at the policy – web link provided. I still have concerns and will insert them into your text in CAPS: Cumulative effects – I *strongly* disagree that the recommendations do not account for […]
Read MoreDiscussion on Proposed Reduction of Flows to Russian River
Just to clarify – yes, there is substantial Eel River water in the Russian River flows at the Wohler pumps/Raney collectors. Alan SCWA continues to equivocate and obfuscate the reality that they have made themselves dependent on Eel River transfers to keep the Russian River flowing at D.1610 minimum flows – and of course, remarkably, […]
Read MoreSCWA’s Vineyard Irrigation Conservation Projects
FYI… Brock Sonoma County Water Agency PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release CONTACT: April 29, 2009 Brad Sherwood 707.547.1927 Cell Phone: 707.322.8192 Vineyard Irrigation/Cooling Water Conservation Demonstration to Break Ground (Santa Rosa, CA) The Sonoma County Water Agency is sponsoring two unprecedented vineyard water conservation demonstration projects. The demonstration projects will utilize state-of-the-art irrigation and cooling […]
Read MoreWater Shortage or Plumbing Problem?
David Bolling INDEX-TRIBUNE EDITOR, April 27, 2009 Depending on how you define a river, there are well over 100 in California conveying the state’s liquid life through an intricate, arterial maze. Sift through the inventory, river-by-river, and you will find only one discrete system – the Smith, in remote Del Norte County – without a […]
Read MoreOpinion: We Don’t Have the Water
It’s not just this year. We don’t have the water. The Russian River is over-appropriated and abused. The Eel River is overdrawn and her fisheries decimated to cover up the Russian River’s mismanagement. Sonoma County’s major groundwater basins are being drained to supplement the Russian River’s dwindling supplies. The SCWA 2005 Urban Water Management Plan […]
Read MoreClean Water Restoration Act UPDATE
Clean Water Restoration Act UPDATE On Thursday, April 2, 2009 Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin introduced the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009 (S.787). To read the text of this legislation go to the Library of Congress website and do a bill search for S.787: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Senator Barbara Boxer is an original co-sponsor of the […]
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