Well water burdens?
Editor:
Is the proposed well water fee proposed by the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency legal? Water is sacred, without water we can’t live. Are we being charged a fee to subsidize big agriculture?
On April 11 the board at SRPGSA will be voting for this fee to be added to our property tax without a vote. It’s at 1 p.m. at their Utility Field Office, 35 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa. If this seems unfair call your supervisor.
Vineyards now comprise 60,000 acres of Sonoma County land and are making a profit on our public trust. In this plan they will not be metered and will continue to use as much of our water as they want.
After the January meeting when the public was invited to speak they were told that this would not go for a vote. Many were angry.
Some of us created Rural Homeowners Alliance and a petition against this. Email
ru*************@gm***.com
to get a copy.
The fee was created by guessing that each well owner uses approximately 456 gallons of water a day, times 8,450 well owners, comes to 25 percent of overall usage. We believe this figure to be inaccurate.
I use 30 gallons with five in our household. Compared to 35 percent for big agriculture. In their plan there will be no metering of vineyards and they will continue to use as much as they want to create their profits. On their board of directors there is no-one supporting the needs of our local food producers or rural homeowners. We need a equitable plan with protections built in for the minimal user, not a flat rate fee on our property tax.
Susan Bahl
Sebastopol
