Sebastopol's water future - where is it going?

[Peace Voyager]

This morning I attended the Water Advisory Committee meeting.

www.scwa.ca.gov/water-advisory-committee/

No one there spoke for Sebastopol's water future except me.

None of the other candidate's were there advocating for Sebastopol and Graton's participation in the larger groundwater management planning being done by the WAC members; nor playing a part in gaining a share of Proposition 84, and other funding from the State, etc. for this and other water, sewer, and watershed related projects.

The current City Staff, and majority of Council members just want to raise your rates and taxes to address our concerns. What do the other Sebastopol City Council candidates have to offer in the way of addressing: our water supply, the region's supply; our water/sewer infrastructure, the health of the habitat in Sebastopol's watersheds?

When I spoke at this meeting; suggesting that the RRWA allow Sebastopol and Graton to become members for in-kind services in lieu of the fees, (since both are so underfunded already); I discovered Sebastopol did not choose to hook-up with any Contractors of the WAC to supply water in case of serious emergencies regarding our wells. Just how ready are we for a long term natural or man-made disaster, or contamination?

Who else is even asking this question? Is having a strong position one way or the other on CVS/Chase enough to guard Sebastopol's holistic well being?

Sebastopol had been asked to join the RRWA over the years. It merits being members because Sebastopol contracts it's waste water treatment to RRWA and WAC member the City of Santa Rosa. It merits because then Sebastopol and Graton would have a vote, and channel for sharing all BMP's related to water supply security, waste water management and watershed protection.

Consolidating water and watershed education and outreach resources with the RRWA is a bonus for all involved.

Previously, each municipality and NGO would fight for water bond funds. Now with the IRWMP, regions are rewarded for sharing those funds better by planning and applying together. The process is not always easy; but they have a better opportunity to learn from each other what works, and what doesn't.

It's directly through my advocacy work with the funding administrators of prop 50, RRWA members, and watershed groups that the groundwater management, and regional co-operation became richly rewarded priorities for the applicants.

This is why citizen lobbyist are so important. Sometimes it takes a long time to see results; but if we don't do it; the special intrests of risk, will further dominate those who decide who and what to fund with your precious taxpayer, ratepayer money.

There may have been reasons for Sebastopol not join the RRWA before, which are not valid now. The City Council needs to here from you to make it happen.

www.rrwatershed.org/

Do you know how many times the City of Sebastopol's water was over the limit in arsenic the last 5 years? Prop 50 & 84 was approved for places like Sebastopol to aid in clearing that up, or mitigating the risks of flooding the Laguna, as well as, non herbicide remediation of invasive species so we can create an eco tourist attraction here.

The County has a Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Management Plan, related to the City of Santa Rosa's in the link below . There is a multi-stakeholder group working on it. The more folks from the West County get involved, the better the results will be. If you are on a well, you need to be up on what the big water users are doing to our water table.

If you have a septic system and need help with it, and need to be in complience with the new laws for onsite wastewater treatment AB 885, then please contact me; I know of a high quality, most affordable solution.

I plan to share proposals for Community Watershed Care, which helps us more easily put all our efforts to work as we refine what shade of sustainability is right for us.

Hope you'll help step in and be a water/watershed advocate as well.

Cheers!,

Colleen Fernald



Sebastopol's City Council Candidate
For Our Water & Watershed Security

From: Hall, Linda
Subject: FW: Presentation to the WAC - SR GW Master Plan
To: "Hall, Linda"
Date: Monday, November 5, 2012, 4:01 PM

Attached is the presentation from this morning’s WAC/TAC meeting on the Santa Rosa Groundwater Plan.

Linda Hall|Administrative Secretary
Utilities Department | 69 Stony Circle | Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Tel. (707) 543-3924 | Fax (707) 543-3936 | [email protected]


From: Burke, Jennifer
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 3:06 PM
To: Hall, Linda
Subject: Presentation to the WAC - SR GW Master Plan

Hi Linda,

Per Supervisor Zane’s request, attached, please find a copy of today’s presentation for distribution to the WAC. We have also uploaded a copy of the presentation to our website: www.srcity.org/groundwater.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need anything additional.

Kind Regards,
Jennifer

[Peace Voyager]

Related links:

Sonoma County Water Coalition
https://www.scwatercoalition.org

Northern California River Watch - Action Calendar
https://www.google.com/calendar/embe...ch%40gmail.com

Russian River Interactive Information System
https://www.russianriverwatershed.net

North Coast IRWMP: North Coast Regional News
https://www.northcoastirwmp.net/Cont...onal_News.html