State and Local Water Assistance Programs
Access to water is recognized as a human right yet 2 million U.S. citizens and over 2 billion worldwide still don’t have access to a safe, reliable, or affordable water source's. Since 2012, California law (Assembly Bill 685) has declared that every person in [...]
Hispanic Heritage Month, the New Latino Scorecard and Local Gatherings
Español This past month from September 15th until October 15th was National Hispanic Heritage Month! California and Sonoma County have a deep history of Hispanic American contributions to culture and achievement that shape our diverse landscape today. Roughly 30% of the county's population (that’s [...]
Groundwater Pumping Goes Unchecked In Sonoma County
It is time for accountability when it comes to our groundwater resources. Groundwater pumping is going unchecked in Sonoma County. To date, Sonoma County has failed to fulfill its public trust duties by not considering or mitigating the known impacts of groundwater pumping on [...]
Press Release: Sonoma County Groundwater August 9, 2022 Sonoma County is Wrestling with State Groundwater Well Permitting Requirements in the Face of Growing Impacts on Existing Water Supplies, Public Health, and the Environment Sonoma County faces a perfect storm of water management challenges during [...]
Voluntary Water Sharing Agreements
To date, our watershed has largely been plagued by colossal sized gaps in the available data our water managers have access to when trying to make informed decisions for our waterways. Finding ways to close these gaps is paramount if our watershed is [...]
First-ever Well Water Fees Proposed
The Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency is currently looking at a variety of fee structures that would allow them to better achieve the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Considered to be a historic piece of legislation, the Act was enacted to [...]
Clean Water Act 50th Anniversary
Fifty years ago, US waters were severely contaminated by sewage, trash, oil, and toxic industrial pollution. The Russian River was no exception, making fishing and swimming frequently unsafe and drinking water unhealthy. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 to provide the public [...]
Water Solutions Must be Climate Smart…Not All Solutions are Equal
Our hopes for March rains are quickly dissipating, as we are now expecting less than half an inch for the month. As our climate warms and periods of drought become more common, we need to come up with better options than “pray for rain.” [...]
2022 Drought Emergency Regulations
As rain falls outside our windows and the nights get chilly, it can become easy to forget that we are still in an extreme dry period and facing a continuing water supply shortage. In fact, with so little rain these past few years, California’s [...]