Water conservation improves dramatically

The Sonoma County Water Agency is inching closer to a state mandate to reduce by 15 percent the amount of water it is taking from the Russian River, officials said Friday.

From July 1 through Wednesday, the last time a reading was taken, the Water Agency took 13.1 percent less water than for the same period in 2004.

It was welcome news for the Water Agency, which had not been seeing the necessary conservation during the first several days of July.

"Early in the week I mentioned we were seeing an upward trend," said Pam Jeane, the Water Agency's deputy director of operations. "Fortunately for us, we were not misreading it; we have been seeing it continuing to climb."

Jeane attributed the improvement to cooler weather and midweek rain. In early July, she cited the hot weather as a key reason for the slow start on conservation efforts.

The Water Agency was ordered in mid-June to reduce water diversions from the Russian River by 15 percent from July 1 to Oct. 28, compared to the same period of 2004.

The water will be saved in Lake Mendocino for later release into the Russian River for the fall salmon run.

The conservation order was passed on to the Water Agency's major contractors, the cities of Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma and Sonoma and the Valley of the Moon, North Marin and Marin municipal water districts.

"It is pretty incredible and pretty close to the 15 percent," said Glen Wright, Santa Rosa's deputy director of water resources. "We go out and hang tags and talk to people about their water. The effects take a few days and weeks until people repair their irrigation systems. There is a lag in time."

The Water Agency has scheduled a meeting Monday with its contractors to discuss the conservation mandates.

The agency was going to present contractors with an allocation plan setting the amount of water each would get through October, but the contractors have exercised their contractual right to try to come up with their own plan first.

Specific allocations would give the contractors a firm target and let them tailor their conservation plans accordingly, Jeane said.

A committee of contractors' staff will meet Monday to come up with an allocation plan, said Krishna Kumar, general manager of the Valley of the Moon Water District.

Jeane said a plan will be in place early next month.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.