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.

Russian River water supply conditions changed to “critical” today under the Sonoma County Water Agency’s water rights permits and State Water Resource Control Board’s Decision 1610. This “critical” designation means the water agency is permitted to reduce Russian River flows to preserve water storage in Lake Mendocino so there is enough for all water users and for release in the fall to support migrating Russian River Chinook salmon, listed as threatened on the Federal Endangered Species List.

SONOMA AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES — The impact of proposed state rules controlling the use of Russian River basin water to protect winegrapes and other crops from frost damage could exceed $2.1 billion from lost business income, tax revenue, land values and 8,000-plus jobs in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, according to a new study by a Sonoma State University economist.

GEYSERVILLE — Winegrape growers that depend on water in the Russian River Basin to protect their vines from frost assert they have a better idea of how much water they’re using and how to limit such use, while wildlife regulators say they’re getting more precise information of water overuse and tools to curtail it.

SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution submitted by the Mark West Community Services Committee that will allow it to submit an application to the Sonoma Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO) to form a community services district (CSD).

This spotlight focuses on some of the North Bay people and companies that are creating new green technologies that are being put to work in the field daily. Know someone who should be here? Let us know. Listed alphabetically by innovator name.

NAPA — Civil engineering firm Riechers Spence & Associates and wastewater treatment systems integrator Heritage Systems, both of Napa, have pooled their resources in development and installation of a new water recycling system that helped Jackson Family Wines cut wash water use by 70 percent in a yearlong test.

On Jan. 12 the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency took an important step forward on a project to address groundwater issues in the Santa Rosa Plain. … The board’s action is the continuation of a process that began in 2005 when a study of the groundwater basin was initiated. The study, conducted by the United States Geological Survey, will be complete in December 2010 and published in the early 2011.

SONOMA COUNTY — Starting Friday, new or revised landscaping for commercial buildings and homes in the unincorporated areas of Sonoma County will need to comply with new rules on water efficiency adopted recently.

The Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, developed by a group of businesses and public agencies and adopted by the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 15, applies to users of public water systems and groundwater. It requires landscape plan checks and inspections for commercial and industrial buildings, wineries, apartment complexes, new homes and residences with additions larger than 400 square feet.

NORTH COAST – Three environmentalist groups say they will sue state and federal regulators next month if they don’t take action on use of Russian River Basin waterways for agricultural frost protection and irrigation, activities the groups claim is harming threatened and endangered fish. Loss of water for frost protection would deal a serious blow [...]

SANTA ROSA – A coalition of farming trade groups and major winegrape growers in Mendocino and Sonoma counties plans to demonstrate the state water regulators at a meeting Wednesday that growers have made significant recent progress toward protecting fish while protecting their vines from frost, despite a new letter from federal fish wardens to the contrary.

The Santa Rosa City Council voted 5-2 against a proposed Lowe’s Home Improvement store at an industrial site on Yolanda Avenue amid questions about the environmental impact of the project and the potential to hurt local business. At the Sept. 1 council hearing, several leaders of major businesses in the city advocated opposition to the proposal.

SANTA ROSA – Under a deadline this fall to cut irrigation by 50 percent, owners and operators of commercial properties around Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport have nearly reached that goal.

The future of urban growth and agriculture in Napa County will depend on managing existing surface and underground water as well as developing new resources to meet rising demands for endangered-species protection, according to a water-supply expert.

NORTH BAY – Landscapers and commercial property owners are making tough choices on how to maintain curb appeal while complying with new local rules for cutting irrigation by up to half this summer to avoid a state ban next year on watering.

Winegrape growers facing severe restrictions on how much frost-protection water they can tap from waterways key to spawning protected fish will have some federal funds to help build ponds to store winter rains or install water-saving equipment.

The 31 people selected here for the Business Journal’s first Who’s Who in Green Industries are widely recognized as being among the pioneers and visionaries in an industry that today includes many hundreds if not thousands of creative professionals.

SANTA ROSA – The prospect of having to spend thousands of dollars to comply with tighter water rationing couldn’t come at a worse time for commercial property owners who are dealing with shrinking revenue.

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.

ST. HELENA — Some wineries and rural homeowners are turning to the underground sibling of drip irrigation for a solution — albeit an expensive one — to conditions in which conventional or other alternative septic systems fail or are unusable.