Groundwater is the cornerstone of our economy. It makes possible rural and city development, serves industry of all types, and is responsible for the very existence of Sonoma County’s diversified agricultural base.

Sonoma County has mapped its entire region into four Groundwater Availability Classifications:

1) Major Groundwater Basin
2) Major Natural Recharge Area
3) Marginal Groundwater Availability Area
4) Areas With Low or High Variable Water Yield

Much of Sonoma County has been identified as either a Class 3 or Class 4 area.

There are four major groundwater basins in Sonoma County. They are the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Basin, Petaluma Valley Basin, Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Basin, and the Alexander Valley Groundwater Basin.

The largest groundwater basin in the County is the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Basin. It is fourteen miles long and stretches from Penngrove to Windsor. The Sonoma County Water Agency has established seven groundwater wells along the banks of the Russian River, and drilled emergency wells on Todd Road, Sebastopol Road, and Occidental Road. During peak demand, these wells pump approximately 103 million gallons per day (mgd), the water is piped to Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, core area Penngrove, Petaluma, Sonoma, Novato, Ignacio, San Rafael, Corte Madera, and Sausalito.

Exports of Sonoma County groundwater to Marin County represent about six billion gallons per year. Marin Municipal Water District paid $6.3 million dollars for another 5,000 acre feet per year in 2005 – the additional water has yet to be delivered. Marin County has not developed its own water supplies and gave up water it imported from the city of Richmond.

In 1996, the well on my ranch, located on Adobe Road, went dry as area groundwater levels continued to drop. In 1999 I began following Rohnert Park’s General Plan Update process.

During the General Plan Update I learned Rohnert Park wants to build 5,000 homes and develop five million square feet of commercial and industrial space. Rohnert Park admitted that the area’s water table had dropped 150 feet over the past 25 years from pumping so much water.

I collected about 9,000 pages of documentation and filed it with Rohnert Park believing the City Council would not move forward with its General Plan based on the fact that it was undisputable that groundwater supplies are in decline. I was wrong. In July of 2000 the City Council voted 4-1 and approved the new General Plan.

I filed a lawsuit against Rohnert Park for its failure to evaluate impacts on increased groundwater pumping on rural areas outside its city limits. The cost of the lawsuit was paid for by 140 concerned families here in Sonoma County. Because of the lawsuit, in April 2002 Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Antolini found that the City of Rohnert Park—having the biggest Municipal Well field in the County with 32 active wells—was in serious trouble.

As a result, Rohnert Park cutback on groundwater pumping to no more than 2.3 mgd, it had to give up 180 acres of active farmlands that were targeted for development, and groundwater from anywhere in the Penngrove zip code of 94951 could not be imported into the city. This 20 year restrictive agreement was the first of its kind in Sonoma County and I am proud to have been the lead plaintiff. Everyone who supported the lawsuit got a 100% refund.

Despite successful litigation, sustainable groundwater supplies remain one of the top issues for the next 2nd District Supervisor. The battle over declining groundwater supplies in the Southern Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Basin isn’t over—it’s just beginning.

The Sonoma Valley Groundwater Basin is now experiencing saltwater intrusion from San Pablo Bay—the result of too much pumping for commercial, residential, and agricultural demands. People in Sonoma now rely on water from the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Basin, and those supplies are no longer sustainable with cumulative existing demand.

Petaluma relies heavily on the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Basin. If Petaluma decides to run its own well fields to meet water demands, it too runs the risk of saltwater intrusion. The Bodega area is also seeing saltwater intrusion showing up in fresh water supplies as a result of too much pumping near the Pacific Ocean.

Solutions to stabilizing groundwater supplies must include terminating groundwater exports into Marin County and developing aggressive membrane or reverse osmosis treatment of sewage plant wastewater. Both Sonoma and Marin Counties need to develop additional reservoirs to meet future needs.

Marin County must rebuild the pipeline that once provided East Bay Municipal Utility District water across the Richmond San Rafael Bridge to Marin County during the drought of the mid-1970’s.

Rural property owners in Sonoma County in both water-rich and water-scarce areas are seeing declining groundwater supplies. Rural property owners with wells are the “canaries in the coal mine,” and we can’t afford to ignore this issue any longer. Since Petaluma and Cotati’s water supplies also come from rural Sonoma County, the cities’ water supplies are no longer sustainable either.

Without sustainable water supplies our economy will be further jeopardized.

Signed,

John E. King