Page 32 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

This word “sustainable” that is bandied about so readily is really not about the environment at all. It has to do with whether an industry can make a pro t while publicizing its commitment to the soil, water and sun that make growing grapes possible. Indeed, that PR adds to the industry’s sustainability, because millennials, they know, will pay more for products that care for the future of the earth.
A major factor in sanitary sewer over ows is what is known as “in ow and in ltration” as stormwater enters the sewer collection system. In ow from aging sewer mains and private sewer laterals contribute to these over ows.
Board Approves Private Sewer Ordinance in Sonoma Valley
Sonoma County Winegrowers just put out a “Sustainability Report 2017” distributed free in your local paper that speaks glowingly (and somewhat repetitiously) about the commitment to sustainability of Sonoma County viticulturalists, but I did not see any reference to climate change.
The Sonoma Valley County Sanitation District (District) approved a sewer lateral ordinance aimed at preventing sewer over ows that occur during heavy rains. The ordinance will require property owners of homes and businesses that are 30 years or older to have private sewer laterals inspected and repaired, if necessary, in order to prevent sewer over ows that contribute to pollution and result in costly nes to the District. An estimated two-thirds of the sewer laterals in Sonoma Valley are at least 30 years old and likely in need of repair.
And Sonoma’s new mayor, Rachel Hundley, in an interview with the Sonoma Index-Tribune, lauded the wine and tourism industries as primary contributors to Sonoma’s affluent lifestyle, well-worth the inconvenience of a little extra tra c through town, saying Sonoma needs “sustainable tourism.” But she also failed to connect the dots between tourism and climate change.
The three-member District board, which includes Sonoma County supervisors Susan Gorin and Shirlee Zane and Sonoma Mayor Rachel Hundley, approved the ordinance unanimously at its January 10, 2017 meeting.
Whether the Sonoma County winegrowers really do employ environmentally supportive policies is ultimately not clear from this 24-page insert that environmentalists instantly label “greenwashing”. But it’s pretty obvious that the industry is not making any sacri ces to prevent climate change.
Even the USDA-NRCS and CDFA Summit (!!) – all big meetings are now called “summits” – “Building Partnerships on Healthy Soil,” which brought together government representatives, farmers, ranchers, scientists and business in Sacramento to encourage state agriculturalists to buy into the recently funded Healthy Soils program initiated by Governor Brown (and radically underfunded by the legislature; Brown had asked for $20 million, the legislature gave it $7.5 mil) did not address climate change. Instead, the emphasis was on how pro table it will be for farmers to employ the healthy soil practices for which, by the way, they can receive grants from the state.
Apparently we don’t feel it’s e ective to appeal to people’s will to survive – their devotion to future generations, their love of the earth, their awareness of what unchecked climate change will wreak – instead, we must assure them that good practices will be pro table.
“The District is taking steps to nd a solution to this problem, and this is a good start,” said Water Agency Director Susan Gorin, who also serves as a sanitation district director in her role as county supervisor in the Third District. “We are committed to investing in the needed improvements to our sewer collection system. Repairing private sewer laterals plays a crucial role in the overall e ort to prevent sewer over ows.”
Well, we are all human and we have to support ourselves. But strangely enough, in wartime we were able to rally, to make sacri ces, to work together to support our troops and so forth; but facing the greatest threat humanity has ever encountered, we feel compelled to downplay the reality because, thanks to Exxon, it’s “controversial.”
During large storms, sewer over ows often go into creeks that ow into San Pablo Bay. As a result of a series of over ows between 2010 and 2014, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board last year ned the district $732,000 and mandated the district to consider an ordinance that would result in sewer laterals being repaired or replaced.
Agreement amongst 97 percent of climate scientists does not look like controversy to me.
The election of Donald Trump, on the other hand, is beyond controversial. Put simply, it’s a scandal.
Under the ordinance, the District will o er free inspections of private sewer laterals to property owners, and for a limited time will o er rebates of up to $1,000 for repairs. A low-interest loan program is also being considered that would allow quali ed property owners to pay for repairs over a period of several years. The program is expected to get under way during the summer of 2017. Property owners will be noti ed when inspections are planned for their neighborhoods.
One way to resist his agenda for deportations and registries: sign the petition “It Won’t Happen Here” at
change.org/p/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors-it-won-t-happen-here- sonoma-county-resistance-to-the-trump-agenda
For more information about the SVCSD, go to sonomacountywater.org/svcsd.
32 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 2/17