Join us in ensuring our public trust resources are protected from unrestricted groundwater pumping! Russian Riverkeeper is continuing hard to push to get key requirements incorporated into the Sonoma County Well Ordinance Amendment that will help ensure the short and long-term protection of our public trust resources (tidal and submerged lands, and the beds of navigable waterways, for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of the public). We’ve met with local environmental leaders, citizen scientists, and community members that are all equally interested in ensuring the County takes strong actions now and commits to an ongoing process to revisit its affirmative public trust duties.
We helped draft a sign-on letter consisting of 6 key issues we would like to see the County address before adopting any proposed amendments in the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting this month. With the help of other leaders, we have more than 30 different environmental organizations and individuals who joined us in requesting the County to address these important needs.
Here is our second sign-on letter further lamenting the importance of our requests in response to the recently released draft amendment language. In conjunction with this second community sign-on letter, we submitted our individual and robust written comments laying out exactly why each of our identified concerns must be addressed to protect our important public trust resources and help provide important protections to local residential well users, as well as recommendations on how the County may do so.
Follow our social media accounts for more updates post the hearing on April 4th!
The first joint sign on letter can be found below.
Well Ordinance_Community Letter (3.15.23)
Our second joint sign-on letter and talking points can be found below.