January/February 2018
Santa Rosa Water eNews
Providing up-to-date information on our water system, upcoming events, rebates, and offering useful tips.
srcity.org/water
Water Quality
Since the fires, Santa Rosa Water has increased water sampling
beyond that required by regulations to closely monitor the entire water system.
We have sampled
all neighborhoods in the City.
The post-fire water samples from one
neighborhood detected elevated levels of benzene. As a result, a Do-Not-Drink
and Do-Not-Boil advisory was issued for 13 homes in an isolated area of Fountaingrove on November
10, 2017 and remains in place. Read Full News Release Here.
All other
City neighborhoods, including areas impacted by the fires, show no change in
water quality. Santa Rosa Water has
taken many precautions to isolate the affected portion of the water system by
securing valves. This is to ensure that the contamination does not spread to
other neighborhoods in the City.
Please know
that our scientists and engineers are working hard to identify the source of contamination
and remove it. We are also collaborating
with national experts and the California Division of Drinking Water.
To remove the
contamination our team is actively
flushing, cleaning, inspecting, and replacing portions of the system. This
includes monitoring progress by collecting, on average, 50 water samples per
week and sending them to our State-certified environmental laboratory for
analysis.
For more information on the water quality advisory, please visit: www.srcity.org/wqadvisory.
Watershed Protection
The
City of Santa Rosa and the County of Sonoma are working together collaboratively
with state and federal agencies and with local environmental nonprofit groups,
to assess and reduce the risk of flooding and to prevent fire-related debris,
pollutants and sediment from being carried into storm drains, creeks and the
Russian River.
Immediately
following the wildfires, the City of Santa Rosa CCTV’d over 216,000 ft. (40.9 mi.)
of storm drain infrastructure in burned areas, where urgent storm drain issues
were identified and repaired. In addition, straw wattles and gravel bags were
installed at nearly 1,400 locations to protect the storm drain system and our
local creeks from fire related debris.
Other
watershed protection activities included: street sweeping, storm drain
cleaning, erosion control efforts including hydro-mulching, and the removal of
burned vehicles and debris.
The
mutual goal of these efforts is to protect human health, public safety, critical
infrastructure (bridges, roads, culverts, flood protection
facilities), wildlife, and the natural environment including streams and
waterways.
Please
be aware that creeks and streams within and downstream of burned areas have an elevated risk of flooding, mud flows, and debris flows
due to increased rain runoff. Residents interested in tips on erosion control
and flood prevention, please visit: www.sonomacountyrecovers.org/rain-ready/.
If you see evidence of flooding, mud and debris flows, or
sinkholes in your area, call 9-1-1.
On December 7, 2017, the Board of Public Utilities approved a Billing Adjustments for Fire Protection Water Use policy. The policy allows for a billing adjustment for properties that experienced increased use due to fire related water loss and activities during the month of October 2017. For all account types, water use must be higher than prior water use, compared to the same time last year. The amount of additional usage will be billed at the City’s FY 2017-18 wholesale rate per thousand gallons for potable water ($2.60) or recycled water ($0.82). The difference between the rate billed and the wholesale rate, per thousand gallons of excess use, will be reflected on a future bill as a credit.
Applying for Water Bill Relief
To request an adjustment to your bill for additional water use due to fire protection, please visit srcity.org/waterbillrelief and fill out the form by June 1, 2018. After submitting your request, please allow 8-12 weeks for the adjustment to be made.
If you have any questions regarding the water bill relief, please send an email to revenue@srcity.org.
CURRENT WATER STATISTICS:
-
RESERVOIR LEVELS: As of January 22, 2018 reservoir storage in Lake Sonoma is 82.9% of
capacity and Lake Mendocino is 89% of target water supply storage.
-
RAINFALL: Rainfall
this year to date (October 1, 2017- January 21, 2018) is 12.17 inches.
Average rainfall for the
same period is 16.17 inches.
Current water supply levels can be found on the Sonoma County Water Agency's website.
On Friday, November 17, representatives from the Santa Rosa Water’s Local Operations
division accepted the award for Large Collection System of the Year at the California
Water Environment Association’s
(CWEA) Redwood Empire Section
Annual Awards Banquet.
The CWEA awards program was established in 1929 and acknowledges outstanding achievement in more than 20 categories and honors exceptional
California water environment professionals, collection systems, and treatment plants.
The award is given in three categories: Small, Medium and
Large. The level for a Large Collection System is over 500 miles of sewer main – so, with nearly
590 miles, Santa Rosa just qualified as “large” and competed with other, much
larger agencies. The City of Santa Rosa
wastewater collection
system now qualifies to compete at the State level. (As an example, last year’s winner was LA Sanitation with a
system of 6,700 miles of sewers and 49 pumping plants.)
As stated by Ron Marincic, Utility System Superintendent, “Every inch
of our wastewater operation
and organization
was covered and inspected and this award brings recognition and validation to the efforts of all the Local Operations staff." He added that it’s an honor to receive this award from a widely recognized and
professional organization
such as CWEA.
Congratulations to the entire Local Water Operations team!
Colgan Creek Volunteer Days
Help the community of southwest Santa Rosa cleanup and care for the restored reach of Colgan Creek.
- Date: February 10, 2018
- Time: 9:30 AM – Noon
- Location: Elsie Allen High School
Clean River Alliance Creek Cleanups Join Clean River Alliance's volunteer cleanup of Santa Rosa Creek, on the 3rd Saturday of every month.
- Date: February 17, 2018
- Time: 10:00 AM – Noon
- Location: Olive Park
Flat Rock Park Volunteer Days Help
take care of the Brush Creek Restoration Area and Flat Rock Park.
- Date: February 24, 2018
- Time: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: www.srcity.org/creekstewardship 707-543-3845 • creeks@srcity.org
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SonomaCountyRecovers.org
Official recovery information for Sonoma County fires.
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Free Sandbags
To help prevent damage from flooding, sand is available for City residents.
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Water Quality FAQ's
Let us answer your drinking water quality questions.
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