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Sonoma Valley Groundwater Management Program

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Groundwater resources have long played a significant role in the development, growth and sustainability of the Sonoma Valley, with more than half the water demand in a given year met by local groundwater resources. With continuing and increasing demand on finite local groundwater supplies, overall groundwater storage in the Sonoma Valley has been and will continue to be depleted without appropriate actions in the near future.

In response, a collaborative group of twenty stakeholders, representing varied groundwater interests, has developed a groundwater management plan for the Sonoma Valley. The group, called the Basin Advisory Panel, has representatives from local agriculture, dairies, government, business, and environmental interests and started meeting in August 2006. The Panel developed and recommended the non-regulatory Groundwater Management Plan (Plan) for adoption. The Sonoma County Water Agency, City of Sonoma, Valley of the Moon Water District, and the Sonoma Valley County Sanitation District adopted the plan in late 2007.

This Plan identifies a range of voluntary water management actions to sustain resources for future generations. The Plan area, referred to as the Sonoma Valley, is the Sonoma Creek Watershed. The Sonoma Valley is approximately 166 square-miles in size, and is bounded by Sonoma Mountain to the west, the Mayacamas Mountains and Mount Hood to the east and north, and San Pablo Bay to the south.

The Plan goal is to locally manage, protect, and enhance groundwater resources for all beneficial uses, in a sustainable, environmentally sound, economical, and equitable manner for generations to come.

The Plan is being put to action making it a Groundwater Management Program. The Sonoma County Water Agency with Basin Advisory Panel guidance is implementing the program. To date, the program has:

  • Obtained an AB303 Grant from the California Department of Water Resources for $250,000 for installation of two multi-depth groundwater monitoring wells and a groundwater recharge study.
  • Conducted coordinated groundwater level measurements in the valley in the spring.
  • Developed voluntary groundwater level monitoring information and fact sheets.
  • Conducted quarterly Basin Advisory Panel meetings.
  • Conducted monthly Technical Advisory Committee meetings.

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