People living in Sonoma County's three largest cities get much of their water from the Water Agency's Russian River pumps, but since 2004 there has been a perceptible shift toward reliance on municipal wells.
That's because of a confluence of factors, all operating to restrict flow and usage of Russian River water: Federal regulations protecting endangered fish. State orders on water conservation. And drought-like conditions that create on-again, off-again concern about whether there's enough water to accommodate everything from new housing development to residential landscaping.
"Most people don't have a clue where their water comes from when they turn on the tap," said Pamela Tuft, Petaluma's interim director of water resources and conservation. "We do newsletters, we have a very intensive water conservation program, but still it remains a mystery to the average homeowner."
Like most other cities in Sonoma County, Petaluma was entirely reliant on Russian River water in 2004. That year, for example, Petaluma residents used 11,022 acre feet of water, all of it provided via aqueduct by the Water Agency. Compare that with 2009, when its residents turned on the tap for 9,147 acre feet and 12 percent of it was drawn from six wells across the city.
In Santa Rosa in 2004, no tap water came from wells. Last year, 7 percent of the 20,537 acre feet used by residents came from its municipal well system.
In Rohnert Park, water drawn from municipal wells now accounts for 40 percent of usage.
Windsor, Sonoma, Cotati and the Valley of the Moon Water District also have dropped their reliance on the Water Agency since 2004. In Windsor and Sonoma, the amount of water drawn from wells grew to 11 percent in 2009, jumped to 35 percent in Cotati and soared to 20 percent in the Valley of the Moon.
For those cities, the Water Agency's aqueduct system feeds Russian River water into reservoirs where it mingles with water being pumped from municipal wells. Petaluma, for example, has six wells delivering water to nine reservoirs dotting the city.
The county's three other cities — Healdsburg, Sebastopol and Cloverdale — draw all of their water from municipal wells.
With the exception of Windsor, residents in every one of the Sonoma and Marin county cities and districts that contract with the Water Agency used less
water overall in 2009 than they did in 2004. That cutback demonstrates the effectiveness of measures such as reducing daily water consumption, pulling out lawns and installing weather-smart watering systems.
But the trend toward conserving Russian River water by pumping more groundwater has provoked questions from activists on water issues.
"Instead of taking the opportunity to get customers to reduce demand, all of the water contractors started pumping more out of wells, independent of any information whether their groundwater was actually sustainable," said David Keller, former Petaluma councilman and leader in the Friends of the Eel River group. "The intent should be to reduce water demand, not shift it to another source."
Keller and others who monitor water issues say they are awaiting results of a large scale study of the Santa Rosa Plain groundwater system, which many expect to spark a debate over groundwater levels similar to that provoked by an earlier study in the Sonoma Valley. The study of the plain's drainage system, basically the central swath of the county from Windsor to the Marin County line, is expected to be completed in 2011.
"It may be reasonable to assume that levels at which we are drafting groundwater out of the Santa Rosa Plain are not sustainable, but we don't have numbers on what water is being drawn out," Keller said.
Because they compile most of the county's water demand statistics, Water Agency officials are very aware that residents are becoming dependent on municipal well water. But given restrictions on Russian River water usage and flow, there's not likely to change in the near future.
The cities have "a greater variety of water resources in their water portfolios," said Brad Sherwood, the Water Agency's public affairs director. "This provides greater reliability during periods when one source may be experiencing impairment."
But with those opportunities for flexibility come financial challenges.
"From an administrative perspective, if you can make groundwater work, it is less political and less complicated than dealing with river water," said Healdsburg's senior civil engineer, Jim Flugum. "However, this is not free water. You have to maintain all those wells and that's a financial pain in the budget."
Healdsburg takes nothing from the Water Agency, instead relying on a dozen wells in three fields, two on the Russian River and one on Dry Creek. Even though Healdsburg residents are using less water than in 2004, the cost of maintaining the city's well fields keeps rising to the point where ratepayers may be asked to pay up.
"It has become a fact of life that when you have lower water use, the cost of your water may have to go up," Flugum said. "We haven't had a rate increase in six years, but there are no plans to ask for one because nobody likes to be told that water conservation may cost them more money."
Healdsburg is the largest of a half dozen entities in Sonoma County where residents are almost solely reliant on well-pumping operations. Residents of Sebastopol, Cloverdale, the Sweetwater Springs District in the west county and the communities served by Russian River Utility rely almost exclusively on these wells.
Sebastopol residents rely on water from five wells, all of them close to Highway 116, south of Highway 12.
The Russian River Utility provides water to about 2,520 customers across 15 different public, private and commercial systems, mostly in rural, northwestern Sonoma County. They include Jenner, Freestone, Salmon Creek, Occidental and Fitch Mountain. Using 10 groundwater wells, the company churned out about 555 acre feet of water for its geographically disparate set of customers in 2009.
Further toward the coast, about 3,800 homes and businesses in Guerneville, Rio Nido and Monte Rio communities get their water from the Sweetwater Springs Water District, which uses three wells in Guerneville and two in Monte Rio to meet demand.
There, residents are dealing with the cost of replacement of aging main lines throughout the system, which the district deemed unacceptably leaky. The district's water management report in 2008 estimated that from 15 to 20 percent of water being pumped from its wells never reached customers "due to leaking pipes in the system."
"We are right next to the river. It is pretty uncomplicated here as to where our water comes from," said Steve Mack, Sweetwater's general manager.
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