North Bay Business Journal

NORTH BAY — Legislation has been introduced that could significantly help grape growers and other farmers in the region utilize an additional resource for securing water during the dry season.

Assembly Bill 1200, introduced by Mark Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency, would establish a pilot project that would permit the agency to study the impacts of using recycled rain water for use in watering crops.

WINDSOR — KriStar Enterprises first realized it needed a third production plant a year ago when it landed a huge rush order to install a newly designed and bulky system to collect and clean rainwater flowing off the expansive parking lots of the forthcoming 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, and now the Santa Rosa-based company is rushing to get a plant in Windsor on line by early next year to supply a large Caltrans contract.

AMERICAN CANYON — The garbage collector for Napa and unincorporated areas of southern Napa Valley is putting the finishing touches on a new master plan for its main recycling and composting facility at the end of Tower Road, adding reuse of water, conversion of waste to wattage and reduction of compost gas emissions.

The issue of how to manage stormwater for wineries likely brings to mind irrigation and drainage management.

CALIFORNIA – Engineers and contractors are scrambling to incorporate significant new changes to rules for managing storm water runoff during and after construction amid above-average rainfall this season.

Also: Napa architect Kelley completes green program; Nov. 18 meeting on air rules

The county of Sonoma Permit and Resource Management Department, or PRMD, is trying to figure out whether projects that reuse nontoxic, nonpathogenic wastewater from washing machines or single fixtures, such as showers and sinks, for underground irrigation can qualify for financing under the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program, or SCEIP, according to Bob Herr, liquid waste specialist for PRMD.

NORTH COAST – Regional regulations for control of rainwater-borne sediment and other listed pollutants from construction sites in the erosion-prone North Coast could be coming into closer alignment with state rules as both release new drafts of their governing policies.

SANTA ROSA — Water-quality regulators increasingly want property owners and builders to keep as much rainwater and sediment on site for as long as possible, and a longtime local manufacturer of stormwater- and erosion-management products is expanding and launching a new line of products to address the trend.