Russian River residents praise city for drastic reduction in effluent discharge; lack of rain, Geysers project cited

For decades Santa Rosa was the prime offender along the Russian River, annually dumping billions of gallons of unwanted wastewater into the county's primary drinking water source and water sports area.

But this past year, the city, which treats sewage for 218,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati and Sebastopol, barely discharged more wastewater than its harshest critics -- the river's downstream residents.

Between last Oct. 1 and May 14 -- the only time it's legal for Santa Rosa to dispose of its effluent via the river -- the city discharged 190 million gallons of wastewater into the river.

In comparison, the Guerneville and Occidental sewage treatment plants operated by the Sonoma County Water Agency on behalf of fewer than 8,000 residents, discharged 110 million gallons.

Santa Rosa's progress was praised by Guerneville resident Brenda Adelman, head of the Russian River Watershed Protection Committee, who since the mid-1980s has been the leading voice demanding the city get as much of its effluent out of the river as possible.

"It's wonderful. I'm praising Santa Rosa to the sky. They are really going in the right direction," she said.

The 190 million gallons of tertiary-treated wastewater represent a huge turnaround for Santa Rosa, which historically used the river to dump billions of gallons of unwanted wastewater every year.

It was just five years ago that Santa Rosa dumped 4 billion gallons of wastewater into the river, more than half the 7.5 billion gallons it processed that year, because it lacked the ability to put it to productive use or store it.

Santa Rosa's dramatic turnaround, at least for the current year, is largely credited to two things -- a relatively dry winter and completion of the $205 million Geysers wastewater-to-electricity system in 2003. The system uses 4 billion gallons of the city's effluent annually to generate steam and electricity.

"It's a success story," said Richard Dowd, chairman of Santa Rosa's Board of Public Utilities.

He cautioned, however, that like most weather-dependent systems, the amount of effluent discharged can fluctuate considerably in wet years when rain swells the amount of wastewater the city must process.

That happened in 2006 when heavy rains that swamped Sonoma County around New Year's Day swelled the amount of effluent, resulting in the city discharging 2.1 billion gallons into the river compared with 902 million gallons the year before.

Santa Rosa, Guerneville and Occidental are not the only cities and sewage districts that discharge along the river's winding ecosystem.

The two largest are Ukiah and Healdsburg, which last year discharged 1.1 billion and 364 million gallons, respectively, followed by Windsor at 275 million gallons and, after Santa Rosa, Cloverdale at 123 million gallons.

While the majority of cities and sewer districts discharge into creeks or the Laguna de Santa Rosa, which flow into the the river, Ukiah and Cloverdale pump effluent year-round into percolation ponds alongside the river that allow the wastewater to seep into the ground. Healdsburg uses a gravel pit.

Santa Rosa, along with Windsor and the two lower Russian River treatment plants, can only discharge between Oct. 1 and May 14 and only when river levels are high enough to dilute the effluent to a mandated level.

Ann Burck, Ukiah's interim water and sewer operations superintendent, takes offense at the assertion Ukiah might be the river's major discharger, citing the lack of evidence to indicate their percolated wastewater ends up in the adjacent river.

"No way, shape or form are we the largest discharger. There is no data to substantiate that. That question still is to be answered," she said.

But a test demanded by the North Coast Water Quality Control Board is under way in Ukiah and Cloverdale to determine if the river and wastewater intermix.

If so, both cities will be under additional demands to improve their sewage treatment and disposal systems.

"We are doing a very thorough, rigorous investigation to put an end to the speculation," said Burck, who expects the test to be completed by next year.

Healdsburg made a similar argument years ago. But Healdsburg, which relies on a gravel pit to disperse its effluent, is under state orders to find another solution after tests showed its effluent was making its way into the river.

Catherine Kuhlman, executive officer for the North Coast Water Quality Control Board that oversees the 1,485-square-mile Russian River watershed, said she wouldn't be surprised if wastewater from other ponds along the river also intermixes.

"It will depend on the geology, but a lot of them (ponds and pits) are located right next to the river and, like Healdsburg, its (effluent) is finding its way into the river," she said.

The amount of wastewater discharged by all treatment plants this past year totaled 2.2 billion gallons, well below what Santa Rosa used to exceed by itself.

Santa Rosa wastewater consultant Dave Smith said the right conditions -- increased pumping to The Geysers and a very dry year -- could result "in zero discharge into the river" in some years.

The turnabout comes decades after Santa Rosa gained its reputation as the river's major polluter after its illegal dumping of 750 million gallons of wastewater into the river in February 1985, a time when the river was already low. The discharge was to relieve pressure on storage ponds in danger of overflowing.

The controversy led to The Geysers project.

"Our ratepayers have spent a lot of money to improve our system and reduce our impacts on the Russian River. Other communities should do the same," said Santa Rosa's Dowd.

Adelman acknowledged the downstream communities that have criticized Santa Rosa in the past haven't done as well.

"I wish we could get out of the river, too," she said.

But river residents don't have the millions of dollars it would take to finance a major upgrade, a cost more easily afforded by larger populations.

"The costs for us are so astronomical, it's beyond the pale," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mike McCoy at 521-5276 or mike.mccoy@pressdemocrat.com.