.Sewage Spills Into Russian River

During the stormy weather last weekend, more than a quarter million gallons of sewage escaped from Sonoma County’s wastewater treatment plant just downriver from Guerneville, according to county government officials — an unknown amount of which then leaked into the Russian River. The plant is operated by Sonoma Water, the county’s water agency, and is situated at the end of Neeley Road near the Northwood Golf Club. A power failure overnight at the plant on Friday, March 1, reportedly caused “flows to build up between the second and third treatment phases until the basin overflowed” into the “wet and boggy” land surrounding the plant. It then “traversed approximately a third of a mile through a forested area before reaching the mainstem of the Russian River,” the county says. In interviews with the press, higher-ups from Sonoma Water make it seem like we shouldn’t be that worried about what happened — especially since the river was rushing so fast due the storm that night. Pam Jeane, an assistant general manager at the agency, tells the San Francisco Chronicle: “We are not sure how much of the partially treated wastewater made it to the river. Fortunately the spill happened in the middle of the night when there was nobody out in the river. By the time people were up on Saturday morning the water had already passed through the community.” In addition, a press release issued by Sonoma Water stressed that “environmental specialists” who were “dispatched to the site to assess impacts” found “no effect on aquatic or terrestrial life.” The press release also makes the case that the sewage wasn’t all that sewage-y when it spilled: “Secondary treated effluent has had the large, inorganic material removed, and much of the organic material has been biologically neutralized. Secondary effluent has flowed through clarifiers to remove solids, but some suspended solids can remain that would be removed in the third, and final stage of the wastewater treatment process.” For what it’s worth, though, that same lady from Sonoma Water does add in an interview with the Press Democrat: “It’s still not OK. It’s still not supposed to happen.” (Source: Sonoma County Government & Press Democrat & SF Chronicle; paywall)