Forums seek to address groundwater imbalance

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

If the water beneath the Santa Rosa Plain were a corporate balance sheet, about 250,000 residents, as well as farms and businesses, would be in the red by about 1 billion gallons a year.

That’s the average annual difference over the last three decades between the water pumped from the ground in the 261-square mile plain and the amount replenished, primarily by rainfall, water officials say.

“Obviously, we don’t want that to continue,” said Ann DuBay of the Sonoma County Water Agency.

A group of 30 stakeholders and technical advisers — called the Santa Rosa Plain Basin Advisory Panel — is working on non-regulatory ways to balance the human drawdown and natural recharge of groundwater.

In a series of community forums starting Monday night in Sebastopol, the panel will introduce a brand new tool to assist in that effort: A groundwater model developed by the United States Geological Survey.

via ums seek to address groundwater imbalance | Watch Sonoma County.

The community forums on the groundwater plan are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on four dates:
May 12 — Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris St.
May 14 — Windsor Library Forum Hall, 9291 Old Redwood Highway.
May 21 — Rohnert Park City Council Chambers, 130 Avram Ave.
May 28 — Santa Rosa Utilities Field Office, 35 Stony Point Road.
For more information, go online to www.sonomacountywater.org/srgroundwater.

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