Sonoma Water, formerly known as the Sonoma County Water Agency, maintains a water transmission system that provides naturally filtered Russian River water to more than 600,000 residents in portions of

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendoci ...

and

Marin County, California Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

. The Water Agency is a water wholesaler that sells potable water to nine cities and

special districts Special districts (also known as special service districts, special district governments, limited purpose entities, or special-purpose districts) are independent, special-purpose governmental units that exist separately from local governments such ...

that in turn sell drinking water to their residents. These cities and special districts are: the City of Santa Rosa,

Rohnert Park Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in ...

, Cotati, Petaluma, Sonoma, the

Town of Windsor The Town of Windsor is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in northern Brisbane. History On 11 February 1887, a portion of the Ithaca Division was proclaimed a municipality to be known as the Shire of Windsor. O ...

, Valley of the Moon Water District,

Marin Municipal Water District The Marin Municipal Water District (or MMWD) is the government agency that provides drinking water to southern and central Marin County, California. Chartered in 1912, it became California's first municipal water district. It serves 191,000 custom ...

, and North Marin Water District.

Mission

The mission of the Sonoma Water is to, "effectively manage the water resources in our care for the benefit of people and the environment through resource and environmental stewardship, technical innovation, and responsible fiscal management."

Board of directors

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors acts as the Sonoma Water's Board of Directors. The Water Agency is a separate legal entity created by State law, having specific limited purposes and powers, and separate sources of funding. The Water Agency is thus different from County departments, which are created by the Board of Supervisors for administrative purposes, but are not separate legal entities.

Flood control

Sonoma Water was created as a special district in 1949 by the California Legislature to provide flood protection and water supply services. Providing flood protection is an important role in this community. The Water Agency has partnered with federal agencies to help build and manage a variety of flood protection projects, including Warm Springs Dam, Spring Lake, Coyote Valley Dam, Matanzas Creek Reservoir, Piner Creek Reservoir, Brush Creek Middle Fork Reservoir, and Spring Creek Reservoir. The Water Agency also manages a proactive stream maintenance program that maintains more than 80 miles of creeks throughout the area.

Sanitation

In 1995, legislation made the Water Agency responsible for managing the county sanitation zones and districts, which provide wastewater collection and treatment, and recycled water distribution and disposal services for approximately 22,000 residences and businesses. The zones include Airport/Larkfield/Wikiup, Geyserville, Penngrove, and Sea Ranch. The sanitation districts include the Occidental, Russian River, Sonoma Valley, and South Park County Sanitation Districts

Fisheries research and the Biological Opinion

The Russian River and its major tributaries is home to three species of fish that are threatened or endangered. These species are the Chinook salmon, the steelhead trout, and the coho salmon. Water Agency staff conducts fisheries research and monitoring activities to support ongoing Agency operations and Endangered Species Act compliance. The Russian River Biological Opinion is a federally mandated 15-year blueprint to help save endangered fish and ensure our water supply.

Groundwater

The Water Agency is involved in a number of programs and initiatives to study the groundwater resources of the region through the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Program, the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Program, the Stormwater/Groundwater Recharge Program, and the Salt and Nutrient Management Plans.

Water supply system

The Russian River begins in central Mendocino County, about 15 miles north of Ukiah. It drains 1,485 square miles watershed and it stretches 110 miles long. It reaches the Pacific Ocean at the town Jenner, which is located approximately 20 miles west of Santa Rosa. It flows southward until Mirabel Park where the direction changes to westward as it crosses part of the Coast Range. There are five principal tributaries: the East Fork of the Russian River, Big Sulphur Creek, Mark West Creek, Maacama Creek, and Dry Creek. Three major reservoir projects provide water supply for the Russian River watershed: Lake Pillsbury on the Eel River, Lake Mendocino on the East Fork of the Russian River, and Lake Sonoma on Dry Creek. Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma provide water for agriculture, municipal and industrial uses, in addition to maintaining the minimum stream flows required by Agency water rights permits. These minimum stream flows provide recreation and fish passage for salmon and steelhead. Most of the streamflow in the Russian River during the summer is provided by water imported from the Eel River. Streamflows are augmented by releases from Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma.

Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury

Scott Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Eel River captures a drainage area of 298 square miles and forms Lake Pillsbury. Lake Pillsbury has a storage capacity of 86,388 acre-feet. Since 1923, the lake stored water for diversion to PG&E's Potter Valley Hydroelectric powerhouse through a tunnel constructed through a mountain ridge. Outflow from the powerhouse flows into the East Fork of the Russian River

Coyote Valley Dam and Lake Mendocino

Located on the East Fork of the Russian River, Coyote Dam is a rolled earth embankment dam that forms Lake Mendocino. Lake Mendocino is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project that began storing water in 1959. It captures a drainage area of about 105 square miles, and provides a total storage capacity of 118,000 acre-feet with a water supply pool of 70,000 acre-feet.

Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASonoma_Lake_aerial_view.jpg Located about 14 miles northwest of Healdsburg, Warm Springs Dam is a rolled earth embankment dam that forms Lake Sonoma. The Sonoma County Water Agency generates electricity at Warm Springs Dam through a hydroelectric turbine. Located at the confluence of Warm Springs Creek and Dry Creek, this lake began storing water in 1984 and has a total storage capacity of 381,000 acre-feet with a water supply pool of 212,000 acre-feet. Warm Springs Dam is a multi-purpose reservoir serves as a

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

, water supply and recreational facility. The Water Agency is the local cost-sharing partner for Warm Springs Dam, and determines the amount of water to be released when the lake level is in the water supply pool, and the US Army Corps of Engineers manages flood control releases.

Transport

* Russian River * Dry Creek * Santa Rosa Aqueduct - completed in 1959, long * Petaluma Aqueduct - completed in 1962 * Forestville Aqueduct - completed in 1962 *

Sonoma Aqueduct Sonoma may refer to: * ''Sonoma'' (beetle), a genus of beetles * Sonoma County, California, a county in northern California in the United States ** Sonoma, California, the city for which the county is named ** Sonoma Valley, the region in Sonoma ...

- completed in 1965 * Oakmont Pipeline

Customers

Sonoma Water is a water wholesaler that primarily sells potable water to nine municipalities and water districts in two counties: * Cotati * North Marin Water District (serving

Novato Novato ( Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

and environs) *

(serving southern Marin County) * Petaluma *

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

* City of Sonoma
Valley of the Moon Water District
*

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Additionally, there are several smaller water companies and districts in Sonoma County that also receive water from the Agency. These include: * Forestville Water District * Cal-Am Water Company - Larkfield/Wikiup * Penngrove Water Company * Kenwood Village Water Company * Lawndale Mutual Water Company

Organization

Formed on October 1, 1949 by Chapter 994 of the California Statues of 1949, the Agency was originally called the Sonoma County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. It has grown with the region it serves and now has an annual budget of over $170 million and employs 197

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

s. Although its

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

is identical to the county's

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agen ...

, the Agency is a separate legal entity with its own funding. Since 1961, its board has had the right to sell bonds without voter approval. Its administrative offices are located at 404 Aviation Boulevard in Santa Rosa: .

Awards

In 2009 the Sonoma County Water Agency was honored with the California Sustainability Alliance's Sustainability Showcase Award. The award commended the Water Agency for their commitment to Carbon-Free Water by 2015 and for their use in innovative sustainability practices, programs, technologies and policies.California Sustainability Alliance, Sonoma County Water Agency
Received October 28th, 2010

References

External links

* {{Authority control Government of Sonoma County, California Water management authorities in California County government agencies in California 1949 establishments in California Government agencies established in 1949