Court decision slams the brakes on Sonoma County groundwater extraction

There have been concerns for years about well extraction of groundwater in Sonoma Valley.

Studies from twenty five years ago documented the expansion of salty brine from the Bay seeping miles northward, a result it was speculated, of brine filling the negative pressure within aquifers caused by well pumping.

Now a judge in the Sonoma Superior Court has rung the bell on Sonoma County, calling its management of surface and underground water a violation of both the California Environmental Quality Act and the Public Trust Doctrine. The County of Sonoma, the court insists, must impose better controls on groundwater pumping to safeguard fisheries and public resources.

This is not the first time the county has been subject to criticism over its lax well pumping policies. Several years ago it responded to concerns by instituting voluntary practices to conserve water, but it has never mandated practices like well water metering by private landowners or full environmental studies prior to allowing well development.

In some parts of Sonoma Valley the underground water tables have dropped. While in the past a well driven one-hundred or two hundred feet deep was sufficient, today wells often reach 500 or six hundred feet before striking potable water. The flow from above ground creeks and tributaries has dropped in part due to vineyard owners in the valley using unmonitored wells for irrigation.

With this court decision, all this might change. For now, it is expected that a moratorium on new wells will be put in place until regulations satisfactory to the court are developed and implemented.

The decision was a response to a lawsuit filed by two organizations, The California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA) and Russian Riverkeeper. Water rights in Sonoma County have long granted property owners mostly unfettered rights to water extraction on their land, but at the expense of the area’s ecological health, argued the two organizations.

A previous court of appeals decision in 2018 established that groundwater extraction that affects a navigable waterway must comply with the public trust doctrine. That decision set the stage for this recent ruling.

Extraction of water during the dry season will likely be regulated or curtailed for agricultural uses. This comes at a time that the wine industry is undergoing other problems. Wine consumption has fallen, and some wineries are closing; this new ruling will add additional stress to an industry already seeing signs of change. Climate change challenges are also looming and adding the cost of environmental studies prior to issuance of a will permit might be excessive. Well drilling is expensive, and can cost upwards of $50-80,000 to reach depths of 500 or 600 feet.

This decision has a direct effect on the Russian River and its tributaries, the direct source of drinking water to Sonoma Valley and the City of Sonoma.