Openly gay country music stars have existed ever since Seattle singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty formed Lavender Country in 1972. Yet in the traditionally conservative country scene, LGBTQ voices have largely remained on the fringe of the genre.
In the Bay Area, queer voices are gaining ground, and Sonoma County-based group Country Queer is taking the bull by the horns with an online magazine and lifestyle brand celebrating those voices. This month, Country Queer gets into the live music arena with a free concert on Nov. 15 featuring Lavender Country and others at the Starling Bar in Sonoma.
“We have a mission to change the culture of country music,” says Country Queer founder Dale Geist.
Five years ago Geist was working for music magazine No Depression and says he noticed the way artists could present themselves in the Americana world had limits. “I felt like that didn’t reflect the reality of queer people,” he says.
Earlier this year, Geist decided to do something about it, lending his journalism and website design skills towards the goal of increasing the visibility of queer people in country and Americana. He began with the online magazine Country Queer, and soon made and sold merchandise.
“I think the merch is an important part of the visibility because it’s a way for people to say, “I’m a real country fan and I’m queer,'” Geist says.
Geist knew live shows were the next step in lifting up LGBTQ voices; though he didn’t expect it to happen so soon. It just happened that Haggerty reached out to Geist about booking a Lavender Country gig in the North Bay, and Geist jumped at the chance to bring the iconic figure to town.
“As soon as you research the history of queer country music, you are slapped in the face with the album Lavender Country that came out in 1973, which was billed as the first gay country album and in some ways maybe still is the only one,” says Geist. “It certainly was the prototype; and it’s a very foundational record for anyone who is LGBTQ and is playing country music.”
For the Sonoma concert, Bay Area band Secret Emchy Society, fronted by Country Queer editorial director Cindy Emch, and transgender singer-songwriter Mya Byrne join Lavender Country for an eclectic night of roots-rock.
“This show is an important step for us,” says Geist. “We are looking to use this to start the momentum flowing.”
Country Queer presents Lavender Country on Friday, Nov. 15, at Starling Bar, 19380 Hwy 12, Sonoma. 8pm. Free. countryqueer.com.
RAISE UP Local group pushes for minimum wage increases across North Bay as fires cause uncertainty.
Two weeks ago, while thousands of Sonoma County residents fled south in the largest evacuation in the county’s history, hundreds of workers stayed behind harvesting grapes in smoky fields near Healdsburg.
Legally, the workers were not required to work, but, according to several news reports, the workers could not afford to take unpaid time off, especially during the grape harvest. A similar situation unfolded in Napa County during the October 2017 fires, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
The scene highlights an unfortunate reality in the North Bay. With a minimum wage of just $12 an hour in unincorporated Sonoma County coupled with soaring housing prices, many workers are too poor to skip work even if they’re working in an evacuation zone and the air is clogged with smoke.
Under state labor law, businesses are not required to pay nonexempt hourly workers for missed hours due to formal evacuation orders, a gas or electricity shut off, or any other “Act of God,” according to the California Chamber of Commerce.
The events of late October arguably fell into all three categories for large swaths of Sonoma County. PG&E shut off electricity to reduce wildfire risk and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office issued mandatory evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents and businesses across large swaths of the county.
From one perspective, the current law makes sense. After all, employers cannot predict “Acts of God”—or acts of PG&E for that matter—so they should not be required to pay for missed work. Then again, workers are no better equipped to predict disasters or power shutoffs.
The state’s Employment Development Department does offer unemployment insurance in such cases but the check takes several weeks to come through even when the normal one-week wait period is waived during disasters.
As of Nov. 7, 1,233 people had applied for state unemployment benefits due to the impacts of the Kincade wildfire, according to Barry White, a spokesman for the state Employment Development Department. Statewide, only 88 individuals have applied for insurance due to PG&E’s widespread power shutoffs.
Immigrant workers without proper paperwork are not able to collect any unemployment insurance for lost wages at all.
“Individuals who are not U.S. Citizens or Nationals must be able to show that they have authorization to work in the United States both while earning the wages on which their claims are based, as well as while they are collecting benefits,” White told the Bohemian.
Stagnant Wages
Mara Ventura, executive director of North Bay Jobs with Justice, has witnessed the chaos that disasters can wreak on low-wage workers several times over the past two years, as Sonoma County becomes an epicenter of climate change–fueled natural disasters.
During the Kincade Fire and PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs, Ventura volunteered at a Marin County emergency shelter. Some of the recipients lived on such shoestring budgets before the fires that they needed gas money to get back to their homes, Ventura says.
This financial vulnerability is born out in a report published by the Federal Reserve this May. The report concludes that nearly 40 percent of Americans would have to skip bills or borrow money if they were faced with an unexpected $400 expense.
With the track record of natural disasters over the past few years and PG&E’s CEO Bill Johnson acknowledging last month that widespread Public Safety Power Shutoffs may persist for the next 10 years, temporary unemployment due to emergencies may become increasingly common. That’s bad news for low wage workers in the North Bay.
The current minimum wage in unincorporated Sonoma County, where many of the farming operations are located, is just $12 an hour. A 2017 publication by the California Budget and Policy Center estimated the living wage—what it would take to live comfortably—at approximately $21.70 an hour for two parents raising two children in Sonoma County. Of course, housing prices have increased since then.
For years, North Bay Jobs With Justice has pushed for an accelerated increase in the minimum wage across the North Bay to help workers cope with the conditions. Under state law, the minimum wage is set to increase to $15 by Jan. 1, 2023. In its current campaign, NBBJ is pushing for a $15 minimum rate at least two years sooner.
The proposal made some progress in the past year. Santa Rosa, the City of Sonoma and Petaluma have all passed laws speeding up the increase in the minimum wage.
Cotati and Sebastopol are expected to consider similar proposals in the coming months, according to Ventura. After that, the group may take the proposal to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Ventura says that, while Sebastopol and Cotati are smaller than other cities, the impacts of the minimum wage are generally the same as in the other North Bay cities that have considered the issue this year.
An October 2018 study of the possible impacts of a $15 minimum wage by the University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center found that small businesses would face slight impacts compared to the benefits to workers and their families.
After extensive outreach to the business community by city staff, the Santa Rosa City Council passed the increase unanimously on Oct. 1.
Several council members acknowledged that even a $15 wage is not enough to live on comfortably in a city where housing prices spiked in the wake of the October 2017 fires.
“I’m keenly aware that $15 doesn’t feel like enough,” Santa Rosa Council Member Julie Combs said before the vote.
Even John Sawyer, a longtime council member and business owner who opposed previous efforts to increase the minimum wage, supported the increase this time around.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a teenager or someone in their early 20s trying to make a go of it in Santa Rosa given how expensive it is to live here,” Sawyer said.
Whether it’s Crane melons, Lagunitas IPA or the North Bay Bohemian, it’s about branding a distinct product. Now, California cannabis farmers want to brand their marijuana. If all goes according to plan, a grower in Fresno will not be legally allowed to sell weed under the “Sonoma” label, but someone in Kenwood or Petaluma will. “Go local” will translate into money.
Former Bohemian editor, Gretchen Giles, jumped on the cannabis-branding bandwagon earlier this year by volunteering with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to develop guidelines for cannabis appellations. She helped move the process along at meetings of the Sonoma Valley Cannabis Enthusiasts, an organization that wants Sonoma Valley weed to be as well-known globally as Sonoma Valley wine.
Giles says appellations are legislatively mandated to be part of the cannabis picture as early as 2021, and that “the state of California is ‘looking forward to the day cannabis is legal nationally and sold internationally.'” She adds, “Italy protects Parmigiano Reggiano and France protects Champagne. California will do the same for Sonoma County and Emerald Triangle weed.”
The label “Grown in Sonoma” will greatly help farmers who cultivate weed in direct sun and good soil, without chemical herbicides and pesticides, and who allow crops to reach maturity.
The Sonoma label will also mean something to consumers such as Paul G. in New York who enjoy Sonoma weed and wine.
“When I smoke marijuana from Sonoma Valley, I think of the landscape, the climate and the farmers—the terroir, as the French call it,” he says. “It’s not from anywhere, but from a specific place I feel connected to.”
Governor Newsom helped overcome some hurdles last month when he signed SB 185, a bill drafted by Senator Mike McGuire who is looking out for some of his own constituents in the Emerald Triangle.
“Customers have come to expect truth in labeling in wine,” McGuire said in a press release. “This bill ensures that manufacturers market products that meet similar appellation requirements with cannabis.”
The California State Association of Counties, the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and the California Cannabis Industry Association have all endorsed McGuire’s bill. “Sonoma Weed” here we come.
Jonah Raskin is the author of “Dark Day, Dark Night: A Marijuana
Murder Mystery.”
Back in the ’90s, in my early newsroom days, the editors would let us cub reporters stray from our beats into a journalistic DMZ dubbed the “Reporter’s Notebook.” This was where we could write in the first-person, hone our voices and basically indemnify the paper from any of our outré opinions.
Such columns were a sanctuary for those of us, like me, who were generalists and fancied ourselves more “writer” than “reporter.” Sigh. Can your career be summed up by a Kinks’ lyric? Here’s mine: “And now we’re back where we started / Here we go ’round again!” I write that with gratitude, which I’m paying forward by injecting the Reporters Notebook ethos into these pages. Why? Because I still believe in alt-weeklies and the pack of lone wolves who howl their truth at the paper moon to make them.
Yokels like myself hesitate to proceed in this regard without first nodding to Santa Rosa’s own Robert Ripley of Ripley’s Believe It or Not fame, whose column of cultural curios first dropped 90 years ago this month. That was long before the TV series and the tourist attractions that came to bear the same title—also before he hired Norbert Pearlroth, a Polish-born polyglot, as the sole researcher, qua writer, for
the endeavor.
Pearlroth worked 10 hours a day, six days a week scouring the New York Public Library’s Main Reading Room for the bits that comprised the one-panel strip. Ever hear of him?
Believe it or not, Ripley was neither the first nor the last employer to exploit immigrant labor—but he was the first to do it in print and at scale. By the 1940s, the feature boasted 80 million readers worldwide. Pearlroth went largely unknown and underpaid for 52 years—thus spake Wikipedia. When, a couple of decades hence, this column has 80 million readers worldwide, you can bet every word of it was written by me, or at least an algorithm based on me.
By the time he filed his last edition of three-dot journalism, the Chronicle’s Herb Caen wrote 14,133,000 words worth of columns on his loyal Royal typewriter. I wrote this with my thumbs on a phone. I don’t even know how to type Caen’s trio of bullets without incurring the kind of sprain that would end my thumb-wrestling career. It’s bad enough that autocorrect doesn’t know what the duck I’m writing half the time. Worse yet, when I attempt to dictate to the device, Siri just offers to call me an Uber so I can “go home and sleep it off.”
With or without technology, I’ll persist and “write doodads because it’s a doodad kind of town.” That’s a bit I picked up from Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle a quarter-century ago. Dorothy Parker wasn’t in Kansas any more than she was trapped in some Nietzschean eternal recurrence—the film’s title, of course, a reference to the Algonquin Round Table. But here we go ’round again: I can’t help but think this is a fresh start, not just for me but for you, Dear Reader. I’m no pillar of the community, but I make a decent column. Send doodads.
Don’t just evacuate and meditate, agitate, it’s nearly
too late,
As my hero, Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, says.
There is no before and no after, only implacable present.
No winners and no losers, only passengers on the arc called Earth,
crossing sea that’s rising, air that’s blackening, temperature that’s soaring.
Homo sapiens, us, created infernos
Hell born in Paradise; no Phoenix rose from the ashes that fell on 14,000 Butte houses, only 14 rebuilt, nor did Phoenix rise on farmers and field workers Sonoma 2019,
swarms of survivors from 2017 fires still suffering PTSD,
though Pollyannas say it’s all good. “Sonoma Strong,” bla bla bla,
insensitive to homeless suffering, and what of toxic air pollution in India now?
Maybe, despite tech, our savvy, humans not savvy survive future winds, fires, droughts, earthquakes, climate change, global warming.
Maybe species doomed like dinosaurs,
only big question now how to make Earth exit less painful not just for moneyed madmen but for all, from Delhi and Cotati to Ojai and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, do not go gently into the dying of the light
Rage, rage; don’t hesitate
Rage, rage against the coming of the night.
We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.
Thank you so much to Alastair Bland (“Saving Salmon,” Nov. 6) and Will Carruthers (“Petaluma
River Waste Deep,” Nov. 6). So appreciative of your investigative journalism on these important issues. Your paper is our watchdog on local resources being pressured by our negligence and a prayer for Jaren Huffman’s challenging dance around water stakeholders.
—Kathleen Needels
Santa Rosa
Dam’d if you Do
Regarding “Saving Salmon” (Nov. 6, 2019), Cape Horn Dam was completed in 1907, not in 1920 as the article states. Cape Horn Dam cut off about 100 miles of stream habitat and Scott Dam cut off about 29 miles of habitat.
The Potter Valley Project Diversion is a major focus of debate, as it provides recreational, agricultural and residential use to parts of South-Eastern Mendocino County and North-Western Sonoma County.
Fish habitat and biodiversity loss on the Eel River has had a negative impact on the environment and local indigenous people. Due to the construction of the Van Arsdale Dam and the Cape Horn Dam, salmon spawning grounds have been adversely affected, resulting in great harm to the biodiversity of the Eel River. Twenty-nine miles of the main stem of the Eel River is completely cut off from salmon habitat. This stream alteration severely damaged the once-thriving fish populations of the Eel River.
With less fish comes a less bio-diverse terrain and a shortage of traditional indigenous food sources. Throughout the past century, logging and ranching created erosion and water pollution issues along the Eel River. In Central Humboldt County, where the Mighty Eel flows into the Pacific Ocean, dairy ranching has replaced the natural landscape. The loss to the Eel River salmon runs are estimated to be “800,000 Chinook, 100,000 Steelhead and 100,000 Coho,” and the disappearance of vast numbers of fish and wildlife has become the norm.
Constructing new fish ladders around the dams or removal of both dams is the second chance this life-giving river needs. The Potter Valley aqueduct tunnel that diverts the river south was likely built before any considerations of the impact on the environment or indigenous people were taken into account. Now, over 100 years later, the liability of this project and the responsibilities of river stewardship are up for review, as the water rights and use permit are set to change hands. Verified historical reports claim a Clear Lake outlet to the Russian River once existed but was blocked by a landslide. The landslides prevented natural water flow from Clear Lake into the Russian River. Now, Clear Lake currently drains into the Sacramento River.
Everyone must have water but the long term health of our environment must take precedence. Ultimately, it is possible to build a new and environmentally friendly water system that satisfies the concerns of each group and helps to restore salmon. As we go forward in planning the future of this critical California waterway, we must work to cultivate a healthy environment that will benefit everyone—and “by way of a river,” as the salmon, whales, birds, wildlife, insects, plants, plankton, minerals and micro bacteria will span out to every natural thing on Earth. It is all connected!
Author Roald Dahl’s children’s stories usually feature an exceptional child living in an unexceptional world of abusive adults and oppressive institutions. Whether it’s James traveling in a giant peach or Charlie touring a chocolate factory, the young protagonists usually triumph with the help of a loving grown-up.
That formula is at work in Matilda the Musical, an adaptation of Dahl’s 1988 novel by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. A co-production of Napa’s Cafeteria Kids Theater and the Napa Valley College Theater Arts program, it’s running through Nov. 17 at the College’s Performing Arts Center.
It makes sense that the two entities would join forces, as it’s a humongous show with a cast of 55 performers—ages 7 and up—comprised of kids, college-age students and an adult guest artist. Several of the main roles are double-cast.
Matilda (Sophia Grace Passaris) is the neglected daughter of a shallow competitive-ballroom dancer (Courtney South) and an unscrupulous used-car salesman (Francisco Gutierrez). They mock Matilda’s intellect and encourage her to watch more television. She finds her escape in books and in trips to the library where she regales the librarian (Ashley Zaragoza) with her original stories. She also finds some relief in occasionally being naughty.
Matilda’s days are spent at Crunchem Hall, a school whose motto is “Bambinatum est Magitum” (“Children are Maggots”). It is run by the tyrannical Miss Trunchbull (an imposing Michael Conte in a role traditionally cast with a male). Matilda’s teacher, Miss Honey (Maeve Roberts), takes an interest in her and seeks to have her moved to the “top” class. Miss Truchbull will have none of it. She smells rebellion, and soon the children she calls revolting may do just that.
Kelly’s book and Minchin’s music honor the macabre spirit of Dahl’s writing, and co-directors Aimée Guillot and Olivia Cowell show firm hands in steering this massive show. A stronger hand is needed at the soundboard, though, as microphones were repeatedly brought in late—a real problem with a musical. Other technical work is strong with nice set design and shadow-screen work, and the kids look great in their school uniforms.
Eleven-year-old Miss Passaris is an absolute delight as the steadfast little girl coming into her own, and the rest of the youthful cast all get moments to shine.
It’s a fun family show, but parents might want to watch their hats.
Rating (out of 5): ★★★★
‘Matilda the Musical’ runs through Nov. 17 at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, 2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy, Napa. Fri., 7:00pm; Sat. & Sun., 2pm. $5–$25. 707.256.7500. performingartsnapavalley.org.
Surely the labors of countless vignerons in medieval Burgundy, centuries ago, were meant to produce a varietal wine that pairs particularly well with the most American of holidays as part of some divine plan? A topic for discussion.
Alloy Wine Works Central Coast Pinot Noir ($6.99): Meeting up with six-pack drinking kin? Toss them a 12-ounce aluminum can of, surprise, Pinot Noir. This gets cheap Pinot in just the right way for the Thanksgiving meal: bright strawberry fruit and a festive—but very slight—spritz (I’m told that canned wine benefits from a tiny addition of CO2—uh oh, did someone mention greenhouse gas?).
Gary Farrell 2016 Hallberg Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($55): This wine passes the cranberries right to your palate. The spice aromas are on the woody side of cinnamon, and the sweet cranberry preserve flavor is balanced with a puckery, cranberry crunch on the finish. Holiday-ready.
Dutcher Crossing 2017 Terra de Promissio Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($52): This should manifest a good Merlot-drinker conversion rate. Leaning on toasty wood and chocolate notes, it’s nuanced with clove oil spice and graham cracker, but delivers crowd-pleasing, raspberry-shake flavor.
LaRue 2017 Thorn Ridge Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($70): This real nice turkey wine still goes strong a few days after opening, for that turkey sandwich snack. Sandalwood incense, raspberry candy, chocolate liqueur, and cranberry liqueur tease the nose, and a tangy smack of acidity brightens a silky palate.
Masut 2016 Mendocino Pinot Noir ($40): From the brothers Fetzer, this savory, meaty Mendo Pinot, with smoky, Syrah-like qualities, is one for the barbecued-turkey club. How do wine writers find these notes of mixed berry jam, secchi salami, green peppercorn and garam masala in plain old wine? Discuss.
Clos Pegase 2018 Mitsuko’s Vineyard Carneros Pinot Noir ($40): Here’s a wine to please flying horse fans, architecture buffs and wine drinkers, alike. An alternative to some of the ponderous Pinots out there, this lighter-bodied wine is likely to match the holiday menu with wood-spice, coriander and dried-fennel aromas; and red-cherry flavor. The front label features Pegasus from winery-founder Jan Shrem’s art collection, while the back label reminds us that the facility was designed by postmodernist architect Michael Graves. Is it just me, or is anyone else fed up with the long date-expired, watered-down postmodernism that adorns every new strip mall with a useless, symbolic portico that doesn’t shelter from the rain? Also, a topic of discussion: If horses had wings, would we roast them for our holiday meal? Discuss.
The board charged with overseeing the water quality in the San Francisco Bay Area unanimously approved a plan requiring local businesses, residents and government agencies to reduce the amount of fecal bacteria they put into the Petaluma River watershed.
At a meeting in Oakland on Wednesday, members of the San Francisco Bay RegionalWater Quality Control Board voted unanimously to implement the plan, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load.
As the Bohemian reported last week, the main stem Petaluma River has been considered ‘impaired’ due to excessive amounts of fecal bacteria since 1975. [Waste Deep, Nov. 6]
In tests conducted between 2015 and 2018, water board scientists found bacteria tied to humans, horses, cows and dogs throughout the Petaluma River and its tributaries.
While it is undeniable that river is polluted, letters submitted to the water board highlighted differing opinions about the water board’s plan.
In a letter to the water board, staff from San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental nonprofit, stated that the board’s proposal “broadly represents a status quo approach with little to no consequence for non-compliance.” Baykeeper’s letter critiques the water board for failing to identify how much different bacteria sources are contributing to the river’s problems.
Without identifying which sources are most prevalent it will be difficult for the water board to prioritize which problem to tackle first, Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney with Baykeeper, told the board Wednesday.
“The [current plan] simply says “everything is the problem,’” Eichenberg said.
In a written response to Baykeeper’s letter, water board staff repeatedly state that they “disagree” with the group’s assessment of their plan. Baykeeper’s Eichenberg told the board Wednesday that the board’s response had not solved any of Baykeeper’s concerns about the water board’s plan.
The board instructed staff to continue communicating with Baykeeper and other concerned groups but did not amend the plan before approving it.
In comment letters, several North Bay groups, including the North Bay Realtors Association and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, pushed in the other direction, asking the board to extend the amount of time the board allows various groups to comply with new rules.
“We agree there needs to be a way to monitor and improve water quality in the Petaluma River; however, the imposed action steps enacted to get to a level of acceptable water quality needs to be affordable, unencumbered by regulatory overreach and fair to all local agencies and property owners involved,” Jeff Carlton, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, wrote to the board on September 2.
In a separate letter, the North Bay Association of Realtors suggested that the board increase the time for compliance for homeowners with septic systems from ten to 15 years. The realtors group also suggested delaying the compliance requirement until a public source of funding for upgrades and test is available to homeowners.
In their response, board staff noted that they had extended the compliance timeline from ten to 12 years. While no public funding for septic tank inspections currently exists, water board staff say they are “exploring options for offering financial support to low-income property owners.”
Water board staff will test the bacteria levels across the entire Petaluma River Watershed once every five years to determine whether levels of bacteria have been sufficiently lowered. Local government agencies charged with making changes will test parts of the watershed more frequently, according to water board staff.
More information about the Petaluma River Bacteria TMDL is available here.
The river winding through downtown Petaluma might be the city’s single most defining feature. The city’s annual Rivertown Revival Festival features views of the river and, farther south, recreationists use the water for entertainment and exercise every day.
Yet, since 1975, the state has designated the water a contaminated water body due to excessive levels of bacteria tied to fecal matter. The river has also been included on the list for excessive amounts of pesticides, trash and sediment at other times.
Now, a state water oversight board may pass a plan laying out the steps to lower the levels of bacteria in the river and its watershed.
At a Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting in Oakland, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board will consider approving an amendment to the board’s water quality control plan for the region, a document known as a basin plan. The proposed amendment will set a cap on the amount of fecal indicator bacteria in the river’s watershed—the TMDL—and identify actions required to reach that goal.
The federal Clean Water Act requires the state to create the cap and cleanup plan, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load [TMDL].
Staff members working for the water board, one of nine similar regional bodies tasked with setting water quality rules in California, have been assembling the Petaluma River plan for several years, according to Farhad Ghodrati, an environmental scientist with the San Francisco Bay board.
Although there are over 100 potentially dangerous bacteria related to fecal matter, scientists generally only test for a few varieties. These “fecal indicator bacteria,” including E. Coli, are a sign that animal waste has contaminated the water body. If those levels are above the bar set by the water quality control board, they add the water body to a list of “impaired” waterways.
“High FIB levels indicate presence of pathogenic organisms that are found in warm-blooded animal (e.g., human, cow, horse, dog, etc.) waste and pose potential health risks to people who recreate in contaminated waters,” a report prepared by water board staff states.
The results of the Petaluma River tests weren’t good.
Multiple tests for traces of E. Coli between winter 2015 and summer 2016 across 16 testing stations in the watershed revealed levels far in excess of water board requirements.
For instance, water quality rules allow for the discovery of excessive levels of E. Coli in less than 10 percent of samples, but tests in the Petaluma River watershed showed excessive levels in 65 to 100 percent of samples in a series of six rounds of tests conducted over 18 months.
“This result shows that the magnitude of impairment in the river is pretty significant, and some of the highest concentrations we have seen in the region,” Ghodrati said about the E. Coli results.
While many strains of E. Coli are harmless, others can cause health problems, including diarrhea and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If the water board passes the proposed amendment, San Antonio Creek, a creek running along the border between Sonoma and Marin counties, will also be added to the list of impaired water bodies for excessive levels of fecal bacteria.
“The testing we did as part of this TMDL development showed that the bacteria levels in all tributaries, including San Antonio Creek, were well above the impairment threshold level,” Ghodrati, the state scientist, told the Bohemian.
Because the Petaluma River has long been unhealthy, the news that state scientists have discovered excessive levels of bacteria, while concerning, was not all too surprising to one long-time river recreationist.
Susan Starbird, a coach for the River Town Racers, a kayak-racing group based in Petaluma, has been using the river since the 1980s.
While Starbird takes for granted that the urban rivers she uses around the Bay Area are somewhat contaminated, she still uses them with caution.
Although it is inevitable that kayak racers tip over in the river—”It’s part of the sport,” Songbird says—she makes sure her students rinse off completely before leaving each day.
Potential Sources
There are many potential sources for the excessive fecal indicator bacteria in the river. Agricultural uses and various human sources, including city and county sewer systems, private septic tanks, boats on the river and homeless encampments are among the sources named in the water board’s report. For each source, the water board recommends actions to reduce bacteria levels.
The water board has set a zero tolerance rule for human waste, because it presents the greatest risk to humans and is entirely preventable if one follows the proper procedures, according to the staff report.
“When operated properly and lawfully, sanitary sewer collection systems, [onsite wastewater treatment systems] and vessel marinas are designed to not discharge any human waste to waters,” the report states.
One source of bacteria may be the two public sewer collection systems within the watershed: the Sonoma County Water Agency’s small but aging sewer collection system serving Penngrove; and Petaluma’s larger city collection system.
“Sewer line backups, overflows and leaks occur, frequently during periods of wet weather, creating a potential source of bacteria on land surface that may be transported via urban runoff to the nearby water bodies,” according to the staff report.
Because recent tests by water board staff detected “fecal bacteria of human origin” throughout the watershed, “discharges from the sanitary sewer collection systems [are] a likely source,” the report states.
The county’s Penngrove sewer collection system, which serves 1,300 customers compared to the 62,000 served by the Petaluma collection system, is has been disproportionately prone to overflowing leaking, according to the report.
Between 2007 and 2017, Petaluma’s system overflowed 77 times, while the county’s Penngrove station spilled over just 17 times.
However, despite being a fraction of the size of the Petaluma system and leaking far fewer times, the Penngrove system poured 534,331 gallons of sewage into the watershed over the 10-year period, compared to the roughly 818,475 gallons of overflow tied to the Petaluma collection system.
Overall, the Penngrove system’s mainlines were over four times more likely to overflow than the average public sewage system in the state, according to the water board’s report. The Petaluma system’s overflow rates for mainlines are below the state average.
Overflows are generally caused by “aging infrastructure that needs maintenance or replacement,” according to the water board report.
Sonoma Water officials say that recent work on the Penngrove system – including redirecting some water into Petaluma’s system and cleaning the Penngrove system’s mainline – are expected to reduce the number of overflows at the Penngrove system.
Still, more repairs and upgrades are required, Pamela Jeane, an assistant general manager at the Water Agency, told the Bohemian. Some, such as maintenance work, are in process. Others are planned.
For instance, Sonoma Water plans to elevate the Penngrove pump station, which is located in a flood plain, so that the station can continue to operate during floods. The project will cost around $900,000 and be funded by local and FEMA dollars.
Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) within the watershed, such as septic tanks owned by homeowners in unincorporated areas, may also be a source of human fecal matter. Owners may have to make changes to their systems pending review by Sonoma or Marin county authorities.
Farming facilities with horses and cows within the watershed are another possible culprit. All told, there are approximately 16,000 grazed acres in the river’s watershed, and 149 grazing operations within the watershed which are larger than 50 acres. If those operations are not following water quality controls properly, animal waste may make its way into the rivers and creeks.
Water board staff will test the waters five years after passing the plan to give local governments and businesses time to fix potential problems, according to Ghodrati.
Once they have the results, the water board can revisit the Petaluma River’s listing on the list of impaired rivers. If the river is clean, they will remove it from the shit list.
[Editor’s Note: This article previously referred to the City of Petaluma’s wastewater treatment facility as a potential source of contamination. The facility, which is used to treat raw sewage to a high level, is not a potential source, according to the water board’s staff report. The sanitary sewer collection system, the pipes which carry sewage from the city to the treatment facility, is a potential source. The article has been updated to reflect the distinction.]
Openly gay country music stars have existed ever since Seattle singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty formed Lavender Country in 1972. Yet in the traditionally conservative country scene, LGBTQ voices have largely remained on the fringe of the genre.
In the Bay Area, queer voices are gaining ground, and Sonoma County-based group Country Queer is taking the bull by the horns with an...
RAISE UP Local group pushes for minimum wage increases across North Bay as fires cause uncertainty.
Two weeks ago, while thousands of Sonoma County residents fled south in the largest evacuation in the county's history, hundreds of workers stayed behind harvesting grapes in smoky fields near Healdsburg.
Legally, the workers were not required to work, but, according to several news reports,...
Whether it's Crane melons, Lagunitas IPA or the North Bay Bohemian, it's about branding a distinct product. Now, California cannabis farmers want to brand their marijuana. If all goes according to plan, a grower in Fresno will not be legally allowed to sell weed under the "Sonoma" label, but someone in Kenwood or Petaluma will. "Go local" will translate...
Don't just evacuate and meditate, agitate, it's nearly
too late,
As my hero, Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, says.
There is no before and no after, only implacable present.
No winners and no losers, only passengers on the arc called Earth,
crossing sea that's rising, air that's blackening, temperature that's soaring.
Homo sapiens, us, created infernos
Hell born in Paradise; no Phoenix rose from the ashes...
Thank you so much to Alastair Bland ("Saving Salmon," Nov. 6) and Will Carruthers ("Petaluma
River Waste Deep," Nov. 6). So appreciative of your investigative journalism on these important issues. Your paper is our watchdog on local resources being pressured by our negligence and a prayer for Jaren Huffman's challenging dance around water stakeholders.
—Kathleen Needels
Santa Rosa
Dam'd if you Do
Regarding "Saving...
Author Roald Dahl's children's stories usually feature an exceptional child living in an unexceptional world of abusive adults and oppressive institutions. Whether it's James traveling in a giant peach or Charlie touring a chocolate factory, the young protagonists usually triumph with the help of a loving grown-up.
That formula is at work in Matilda the Musical, an adaptation of Dahl's...
Surely the labors of countless vignerons in medieval Burgundy, centuries ago, were meant to produce a varietal wine that pairs particularly well with the most American of holidays as part of some divine plan? A topic for discussion.
Alloy Wine Works Central Coast Pinot Noir ($6.99): Meeting up with six-pack drinking kin? Toss them a 12-ounce aluminum can of, surprise,...
The board charged with overseeing the water quality in the San Francisco Bay Area unanimously approved a plan requiring local businesses, residents and government agencies to reduce the amount of fecal bacteria they put into the Petaluma River watershed.
At a meeting in Oakland on Wednesday, members of the...
The river winding through downtown Petaluma might be the city's single most defining feature. The city's annual Rivertown Revival Festival features views of the river and, farther south, recreationists use the water for entertainment and exercise every day.
Yet, since 1975, the state has designated the water a contaminated water body due to excessive levels...
