Groundwater users who own property in the Santa Rosa Plain area now have an opportunity to review and update their water use information, according to an announcement Monday by the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
The opportunity is part of a new program—the Groundwater User Information Data Exchange—to improve understanding of how groundwater is used as well as the number and types of water wells in the Santa Rosa Plain basin.
The information gathered will also be used to help calculate future fees—approved in 2019 —that groundwater users do not currently pay, according to the agency’s announcement.
The program involves 8,369 parcel property owners who are assumed to get their water from a groundwater well and who live in the rural Santa Rosa Plain basin, the largest groundwater basin in the county stretching north to south from Windsor to Cotati and west to east from Sebastopol to eastern Santa Rosa.
According to agency figures, about 32,000 people and more than 11,000 acres of agriculture in the basin are reliant on groundwater for drinking and for irrigating landscapes and crops.
“The information gathered through the GUIDE program will help our local efforts to ensure that we have groundwater available now and for future generations,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedhelm, who chairs the water agency board. “We need to better understand who has wells, and if they are using water for their home, farm, commercial business—or all three.”
Groundwater users can go online to verify information regarding their property and water use. Property owners can also call (707) 243-8555.
