No moratorium on new water hook-ups

A moratorium on new water hook-ups will not be part of the City of Sonoma’s strategy to manage a water supply that may be unable to meet all demands as early as 2012.
The city council held a preliminary discussion of the topic Wednesday and was told by the city attorney that it had broad powers to impose a moratorium. The resulting halt in new construction would, council members said, wreck the local economy. “The economic effect would be devastating,” said Councilor Steve Barbose.
Councilor August Sebastiani said a moratorium “Would have an obvious impact, not just on builders and contractors, but a ripple effect” through banks, mortgage brokers and related businesses.
Water conservation and management, not a ban on hook-ups, is the answer, several council members said. “We need to concentrate on fixing supply-side issues, not demand-side issues,” Sebastiani said.
As to supply, City Engineer Toni Bertolero reported, “We have enough water to get through 2011.”
Bertolero said a recent decision by the Sonoma County Water Agency, the city’s vendor, not to pursue increased access to Russian River water would amount to a 25 percent reduction for Sonoma. “If we cut 25 percent we will have supply to accommodate the building plan through 2011,” she said.
Bertolero stressed that the projections were rough and based on incomplete data. The city’s own 25 percent water conservation effort, for example, is not yet factored in. “We may see per capita use going down,” she said.
The city’s wells, which provide up to 10 percent of the water supply, are producing reliable levels of high-quality water, according to Bertolero. Wells in the southern part of the Valley, which are prone to salt-water intrusion, are being abandoned in favor of safer, more reliable wells to the north.
Steve Barbose has advocated becoming as independent as possible from the county supplier. “We have just begun to manage our water,” he said.
Councilors Laurie Gallian and Joanne Sanders also opposed the moratorium, but Mayor Ken Brown stood slightly apart from the consensus. “We are in a water emergency,” he said. “The reality is, to support those businesses, you have to have water.”
The agenda item was for discussion only – there was no vote – and is unlikely to be revisited any time soon.