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WATER cont’d from page 1Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma,Sonoma, Valley of the Moon, NorthMarin Water District, and Windsor,keep changing. First the Agency couldsell 52,000 acre feet (AF). At the Marchcontractor’s meeting, the amount wentup to 54,500 AF.The numbers looked “fishy” tous. Contractors have been braggingfor years about conserving 15%. Welearned recently that conservationsavings are based on 2004 water use,a year when contractors consumed66,193 AF. 15% of that amounts toalmost 10,000 AF. If we deduct 10,000AF from 66,000 AF (rounded numbers)we get 56,000 AF as the target numberto meet 15%. Yet for three yearsbetween 2006 and 2008, the contractorsaveraged 65,352 AF per year.In addition to river water theAgency also pumps about 6,000 AF ayear from Laguna groundwater that isunregulated, since there are no limitson groundwater withdrawals. Even ifwe assume that the 15% applies onlyto river withdrawals, they are stillmissing their conservation target byabout a third. It is further misleadingthat they only have to make the 15%target and stay there; they do not haveto conserve a new 15% every year.These numbers become importantbecause the State Water Board veryrecently came out with a new orderthat significantly lowers flows (fromnow to September) throughout theriver. In normal rain years, flows in thelower river have to meet a minimum of125 cubic feet per second (cfs); underthe new order they will go down to 85cfs while Lake Mendocino is at 25,000acre feet (AF) or more. (It is currentlyaround 53,000 AF.) If Lake Mendocinogoes BELOW 25,000 AF, then the flowsas measured at Hacienda will have togo down to about 35 cfs. This wouldhave a major impact on recreation andwater quality!Another part of the problem lies withvineyards, which use major amountsof water for frost protection this timeof year to sustain their crops. Thewater draw down in creeks is so rapid,that the practice has caused death tounknown numbers of endangeredcoho both this year and last.Lake Sonoma has more than enoughwater for all downstream needs;yet the problem is conveyance tothe distribution system. Because ofthe endangered fish species and therecently released Biological Opiniondictating the means by which thatwater can be obtained and the amountof flow to be released, increased LakeSonoma water supplies probably won’tbe accessible for a very long time. TheAgency is required by National MarineFisheries Service (NMFS) to maintainflows within a limited range to protectendangered fish in Dry Creek.Several environmental groups arecalling for the State Board to holda hearing on the new Order justreleased. We feel it is much too roughand many of its directives need to bemore clearly spelled out. For instance,in regards to CEQA compliance it says,“The proposed action will assure themaintenance of the environment,i.e., the instream environment ofthe Russian River.” What is notacknowledged is that this order willcause both environmental benefitsAND detriments. By lowering flowsnow, before what may be a long hotsummer, it may cause greater harm toriparian vegetation. It is also likely tocause great proliferation of invasivespecies such as Ludwegia, which inturn would have further impacts.Unknown impacts fromunregulated toxins are also likelyas the lower flows deny any mixingbenefit to minimize their effects. Weasked, “What harm will come to thefish and other aquatic life as a resultof this scenario? We are referring to allaquatic life, not just identified at-riskpopulations. What will be the impactsto human health from swimming inthis water with possible concentratedpollutants and how much more likelywill it be for them to come in contactwith pathogenic bacteria? Will thesecircumstances cause public beaches tobe closed?”Water quality monitoring is beingproposed to address possible harmfrom lowered flows. We asked whathappened to the monitoring donein 2004 and 2007 during low flowperiods? Where is that information?How complete was it? Simply orderingmonitoring doesn’t address potentialimpacts from lowering flows.We further stated, “To assurethat a healthy environment will bemaintained, simply stating that impactsto beneficial uses from this Order willnot occur, is just a convenient way toaddress the “emergency” through apiece of paper, rather than providemeaningful information about actualenvironmental reality. For this reason,it is essential that you open the reviewprocess and allow public input. Thisis now the fourth year of the lasteight where emergency situationshave arisen. When that occurs, whatyou have is not an emergency, but aMANAGEMENT PROBLEM!Russian River Watershed ProtectionCommittee works in the publicinterest on Sonoma County water andwastewater issues. All of our fundingcomes from our supporters on ourmailing list. If you are interested insupporting our work, please send adonation via PayPal at www.rrwpc.org or mail it to RRWPC, P.O. Box 501,Guerneville, CA 95446. You can emailus at rrwpc@comcast.net4/16/09 - www.westcountygazette.com - 7