Page 3 - Sonoma County Gazette - October 2017

Human Waste Pathogen Problems in our River
One idea raised by the public was: wouldn’t some sort of tiered system be better in allocating “guilt”; some sort of “guy & his family come up from SF 1-2days a month” is very different than a “non-resident landlord VBRO’s to parties of eight every week”. By another scale, tourist dollars, the VBRO-guy is our economy savior, and the retired, fire- fighter week-ender is a drag on the [real estate] market.
Septic Systems, Redwood Boxes, and Cesspools [the unmentionable names] Comments about the recent presentation by State Water Board.
Unfortunately, there’s no mention in the PD of this recent “event”.
Lynda Hopkins was there, a lone bright light in the West County; but where was PRMD, a sister organization if ever there was one on septic compliance along the River.
Playing the scientist for a second, it might seem the higher above- riverbank, the more guaranteed the impact [Newton’s gravity and all that]; and conversely, the less high especially at 600 feet, the lesser the impact.
The State came in, ineptly and inexcusably unprepared to TELL the ~200 West County residents in attendance at the Guerneville Vets Hall, what the State was planning to do over the ensuing eighteen months to eradicate E-coli from the Russian River.
The State says, -- solutions are to be locally County-driven. This means that our merry band of engineers can pontificate about what should be done, but have provided no means to enforce compliance, in fact, when asked the question said, “Tell us your system works fine and you will get a PASS!”
A laudable goal, but that is where the two groups parted ways: science, methods, and corrections were all in question. Inept as the State group was, they did succeed in framing the discussion such that eradicating R/R e-coli was an agreed, worthwhile
Peter Andrews, Monte Rio
public goal. They were short on numbers, but if 1200 parcels each invest $40,000, we’re talking about close to $50-million. Are there better things to do with that much money?
Please do not take the Homeless Task Force name in vain. This organization did plenty for homelessness; homeless court and sober Sonoma to name a few.
Another question about the goal is, “After spending the $50 million, will the BOS, or anyone else, be happy to drink a glass of water from the River?” I think not. $50 Million is a lot, but their plan doesn’t address the agricultural run-off (and cows), urban spills and storm run-off, and the homeless contribution, especially after a flood. The direct input of 150 homeless people in Monte Rio is far more than a factor of ten to the load of 1500 residents with septic systems. Further, after spending the $50 million, who will know the difference, besides the septic engineers. You can buy many compostable toilets for $50 million. You could sign a ten-year service-lease to install 1,000 portable toilets up and down the River. Monte Rio Park & Rec bought a monster aboveground water treatment system for $250,000 rated to be able to service 100 people. We could buy 100 of these systems, scattering them up the River and have an equal amount of money left over for maintenance.
What your task force sounded like, if I discern from the article accurately, (River Community Advocates 9/17) was more like the Downtown Vigilantes. I gather that there were no homeless persons represented in this meeting. How dare you call yourself “a community with solutions”.
Hate cannot drive out Hate
Supervisor Hopkins heard from this Municipal Advisory Council with 16 groups , none of which represented the homeless. And was this survey given to anyone who had the experience of homelessness?
I commend the funding to prevent homelessness by low income workers, but this funding is offered for the homeless. Seems like the hospitality industry ought to be raising wages; what this looks like is using taxpayers money to line their pockets.
I work with the homeless here in Santa Rosa. The problem at the river is exacerbated by unrelenting sweeps here in Santa Rosa, Homeless Hill and 6th St. undercrossing. Where are they to go? It is obvious that we are not
LETTERS cont’d on page 4
10/17 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3