Close to Home: Taking the lead on water conservation

“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink”

- Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner

The Ancient Mariner found himself “as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” Neither we in Sonoma County nor our governor have been idle, nor does he nor do we find ourselves without a drop to drink. The doomsday scenarios predicted by many have not occurred here in our area. Why, one might ask? Because eight water contractors (Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Windsor, the Valley of the Moon Water District and the North Marin Water District) working cooperatively with the Sonoma County Water Agency have enabled this newspaper to report that the six largest cities posted conservation rates of over 30 percent, beating the average for both the state and the North Coast.

Furthermore, we in Rohnert Park found ourselves with Sonoma County’s lowest average water use rate of 52.4 gallons per capita per day, which continues through our hot dry summer.

Here’s Rohnert Park’s story, which parallels our water saving partners Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

From 1955 until 1997, Rohnert Park relied on local wells; each new development was required to drill new wells, 43 in all. There were no water meters. Utility bills featured a flat rate, no matter how much was used. As we worked on updating our general plan in 1998, we realized this approach wasn’t sustainable. Thus began an 18-year effort to reform our water policies.

These changes were aided by a pioneering effort started in 1988 as recycled water from Santa Rosa’s wastewater treatment plant was pumped to Rohnert Park’s landscaping, parks and both our municipal golf courses, as well as the grounds of the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District and Sonoma State University. Twenty percent of our water needs are met through this drought-proof mechanism. We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years.

Next, we replaced 10,000 inefficient toilets with low-water-use replacements. This was part of the overall effort to improve efficiency using approved best-management practices. At that time, Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa led the way in California in being the only jurisdictions in full compliance with these practices. Along with installing almost complete metering in the early 2000s, our conservation measures have led the way in Sonoma County, along with Petaluma and Santa Rosa, as validated by recent state reports.

Our analyses and neighbors’ concerns led to a major shift in our water sourcing after 2000. Around that time, we deliberately reduced our reliance on well water by 75 percent and increased our use of the Lake Sonoma water supply system. This reservoir is still at over 75 percent of capacity, currently storing 190,000 acre feet of water. Our utilization for all the contractors is less than 50,000 acre feet per year. Other parts of our state are less fortunate.

We also cooperatively funded, with our partners, a U.S. Geological Survey study of groundwater in the Santa Rosa Plain. The study reported on the success of our efforts in having a water table that is up close to the surface in Rohnert Park. Cities are now pumping less than 20 percent of the groundwater that is being extracted from this aquifer.

As we implement our general plan, environmentally friendly building standards require the highest level of water savings and greater use of recycled water.

California would be well advised to follow our example here in Sonoma County. This includes use of recycled water, better groundwater management and improved water use efficiencies. We have shown that with aggressive policy decisions and cooperative programs among cities, water districts and counties, we can develop a sustainable water system.

As the Ancient Mariner said, “And from my neck … the Albatross fell off … And when I awoke it rained.”

Jake Mackenzie is a member of the Rohnert Park City Council.