Wells fill gap in conservation

The 19 percent reduction in Russian River water use has been achieved by cities' and the county's increasing reliance on their own well water as much as by homeowners getting stingy with their tap water.

After reviewing water use in July -- the first full month of a state-mandated reduction in Russian River water usage -- many water department officials across Sonoma County say they've pumped more ground water in place of water they would normally take from the Russian River.

Use of the river as a source of potable water has been restricted since July 1 by state authorities who ordered a 15 percent reduction in order to save enough in Lake Mendocino for the salmon spawning season in the fall.

"It may be half and half," said Glen Wright, Santa Rosa's deputy director of water resources, referring to the split of how much of the Russian River decrease can be attributed to consumers conservation and how much is being supplemented through increased use of city wells.

Santa Rosa, which is by far the biggest water user, decreased its river water usage by 6.4 percent over the July 2004 daily average. But in a better gauge that includes all water sources, the average number of gallons used per connection dropped 10.4 percent.

To meet the state-mandated 15 percent cutback in Russian River water, Wright said Santa Rosa in mid-July kicked into gear two wells on Farmers Lane that are putting water into the city's system, thus allowing the city to use less Russian River water.

Use of so-called "local production" of water to meet the state's 15 percent cut is, according to critics, a disingenuous manner of coping with the water shortage. The argument, coming from many of the county's environmental and slow-growth activists, centers on the current need for water conservation that could extend to include water shortages making necessary such things as building moratoriums, growth limits and development restrictions.

"Why should cities hand out development permits when we have a water situation that is not going away anytime soon," said David Keller, a former Petaluma councilman and leader of the Friends of the Eel River group.

"Solving the water problem by pumping locally also means we are draining the local water sources."

State water officials said this week they are satisfied with the way that the nine municipalities contracting with the Sonoma County Water Agency are reducing their Russian River water intake. However, they also said that, during a prolonged drought, this won't work.

"We are very confident that the people in your area are taking conservation seriously, but the order is for reduction in diversions only from the Russian River," said William L. Rukeyser, public affairs director for the state Water Resources Control Board. "Should this dry year extend to a multi-year event, then we may get to the point where you have to actually reduce consumption."

When the Sonoma County Water Agency last week released its tallies of average daily use during July for its contractors, it prompted questions about who was saving water and how.

Some city water department officials felt slighted because the totals reflected Russian River water and not their residents overall water usage. Some activists on water issues complained that conservation was ballyhooed when wells and reservoirs were actually more crucial.

In fact, the Water Agency itself is pumping more water out of wells in the Santa Rosa Plain, which caused a major discrepancy between the amount of water being saved at two metering stations on the river and by the various cities and water districts, which have 150 meters in different locations.

A Press Democrat survey of the nine cities and water districts using Russian River water provided by Water Agency aqueducts found drops in river water usage in July were attributable to increased well pumping as much as consumer conservation. Water officials in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma and North Marin reported their total water usage dropped about 10 or 11 percent.

The survey also found:

Windsor's astonishing drop of 57 percent less river water usage was in error and was actually only 1 percent. The initially reported decrease in river water usage included only the change in the amount that the Water Agency pumped through the aquaduct and not the significantly larger amount that Windsor pumps from wells on the river.

"It is not a stellar performance," said Windsor's associate engineer Craig Scott, referring to the town's placement at the bottom of the list of Russian River water savers.

Windsor has been forced to take "stage two" water saving measures such as banning filling of new swimming pools and turf landscaping. While Windsor reduced from 13.1 to 10.4 million gallons the amount it drew from the aqueduct, its pumping from wells along the river increased from 173.6 to 175 million gallons.

Cities like Petaluma and Rohnert Park are lucky enough to have wells they are using to balance what they are taking out of the Russian River.

Rohnert Park city engineer Darren Jenkins said the city predicts the city will pump an average 1 million gallons a day from about 30 active wells "in order to help out the situation on the river." Since 1996, well pumping has been reduced from 4.8 million gallons daily to 300,000 gallons last year, he said.

"We are helping out, but we are not going past what we used to pump," Jenkins said. "We have the same concern about sustainability of water resources."

Two Marin County districts, North Marin and Marin Municipal, shifted to water stored in lakes and reservoirs in their area in addition to water conservation programs like rebates for water-saving appliances and recycled water projects.

Paul Helliker, Marin Municipal's general manager, said its reservoirs are down to about 94 percent of average as it relies on them to reduce Russian River water usage. In the July through October period, the district's share of Russian River water usually comprises only 25 percent of the 34 million gallons consumed daily and Helliker sees little problem in cutting that in half.

In the North Marin Water District, officials said they reduced Russian River water usage 24 percent by taking more from Stafford Lake, by a recycled water project at a local golf course that began this summer and through consumer conservation.

North Marin district manager Chris DeGabriele said about half the savings came from increased reliance on Stafford Lake, which stores about 4,000 acre-feet of Novato Creek water. "From my perspective it is immaterial where the water comes from. Hallelujah we have the local sources," DeGabriele said.

Perhaps the purest measure of conservation was in the Valley of the Moon Water District where usage of Russian River water was reduced 13 percent.

The district, which covers 6,800 Sonoma Valley customers from Glen Ellen through Boyes Hot Springs, had the same five wells pumping the same amount of water in July 2004 as it did last July, making it easy to peg the amount of reduction attributable to conservation at 13 percent.

"Everybody is doing what they can, reducing the watering cycle times by 20 percent, using nozzles on their hoses and avoiding over watering," said Krishna Kumar, general manager of the Valley of the Moon district.

You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.