SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Sonoma County is embarking on a new effort to keep residents up to date on drought restrictions as they change.
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Officials are holding town halls in order to provide residents a chance to ask questions about how exactly the county is preparing for the ongoing drought and how residents should be using water at home. It also allows experts a forum to give conservation tips.
"Water your lawn and garden in two short cycles, rather than one long one. This will allow water to penetrate deeper and encourage healthier roots," Jennifer Burke, director of Santa Rosa Water and a member of the Sonoma Marin Saving Water Partnership, shared during the initial gathering. "Also use mulch to reduce evaporative loss."
Burke added that the county has not yet placed any restrictions on filling or building pools, a topic they received many questions about.
"In the meantime what we are doing is encouraging people to be as efficient as possible," she said. "We have just launched a new pool cover rebate, so by installing a pool cover you help reduce evaporated loss quite a bit. We have also put out a new pool removal rebate."
Experts also answered questions about reservoir levels and meeting minimum river flow requirements on the Russian River.
Chris Watt, senior engineering geologist with the North Coast Regional Water Board, urged Sonoma County residents who use a well to make sure it stays safe as the water levels drop. "We encourage private well owners to regularly test their wells for things like minerals, things like arsenic and nitrate can be in those wells," Watt said. "If you don't test your wells you wouldn't know that."
In addition, Don Seymour, water resources manager for Sonoma Water, said that they're working to reduce the flow level on the Russian River they are legally required to meet, by releasing water from reservoirs.
"Making releases from Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma to meet these higher minimum stream flows would severely deplete storage in both the reservoirs, risking the water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people and threatening the endangered species that depend on the Russian River," Seymour explained.
Some water levels were increased after last October's huge rain storm, but Seymour said they need to be lowered again after how dry this year has been. The forums, which are held on the county's Facebook page, will continue through the summer and into the fall.
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