Seeing water waste? Report it!
Thangaraj Kumaravel, CC BY 2.0)
Amidst the worst drought in California history, many locals have been at a loss on how to report water wasters.
The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership has made it super easy to anonymously report water wasters in Sonoma and the Valley of the Moon Water District (and the rest of Sonoma County and entirety of Marin County). Simply fill out this form on their website and they will anonymously forward it to the proper folks at the appropriate water district who will then handle the complaint.
Wasting waste can be anything that violates recent state water use policies that have been developed in lieu of the drought. Water waste can include:
- restaurants that serve water without their customers requesting it
- using drinking water to water ornamental turf on public street medians
- using drinking water to wash sidewalks and driveways
- runoff when irrigating with drinking water
- failing to use hoses without shutoff nozzles to wash cars
- using drinking water in fountains or other decorative features that does not recirculate
- watering outdoors during and within 48 hours of significant rainfall
Note, drinking water is any type of water, that, well, you or animals can drink safely without threat of disease or heavy metals. So, the water from your inside faucet or from your outdoor faucets. This also includes water from fire hydrants.
So get it Sonoma Valley – let’s save water and make sure no one gets away with wasting it.
If you discover a water waster and your water district hasn’t taken care of your repeated reporting, contact us at [email protected].
The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership’s mission is to “establish the financial obligation for the nine local water utilities, Marin Municipal Water District and Sonoma County Water Agency, identify and recommend implementation of water conservation projects and to maximize the cost-effective projects for the Partnership.” savingwaterpartnership.org
