FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 31, 2022

Media Contacts:

Barry Dugan, Principal Program Specialist, Sonoma Water

Barry.dugan@scwa.ca.gov

(707) 547-1930 or (707) 331-2040

Ted Appel, Communications Specialist, County of Sonoma

publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org

(707) 565-3040

575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A

Santa Rosa, CA 95403

SANTA ROSA, CA – Sonoma Water will issue an update on the drought emergency and its impacts on Sonoma County during a virtual town hall meeting at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, 2022, part of a new series of monthly public forums on the drought.

A panel of experts will report on current drought conditions, local water conservation measures and guidelines for well water users.

Register in advance to view the town hall live on Zoom and pose written questions to panelists during the briefing. Questions may also be submitted in advance to publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org.

The briefing also will be streamed live on the County of Sonoma Facebook page. Live translation in Spanish can be viewed on the County of Sonoma YouTube channel.

Who: Supervisor David Rabbitt; Don Seymour, water resources manager, Sonoma Water; Jennifer Burke, director of Santa Rosa Water and member of the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership; Christopher Watt, senior engineering geologist, North Coast Regional Water Board 

What: Update on the drought situation in Sonoma County

Where: The virtual town hall will be streamed to the public in English on Zoom and the County of Sonoma Facebook page and in Spanish on the County of Sonoma YouTube channel.

When: Thursday, June 2, 4 p.m. The County of Sonoma and Sonoma Water will host a virtual town hall each month through the fall, tentatively on the first Thursday of each month, to inform the public about the drought emergency and its impacts on Sonoma County.

The Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency due to drought conditions on April 27, 2021. Since then, a third consecutive year of below-average rainfall in the Russian River watershed has left the region’s two primary water storage reservoirs, Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino, at historic lows. The first four months of 2022 have been the driest in Sonoma County in 128 years, with rainfall 19.81 inches below normal. Sonoma Water is a wholesale water supplier to nine cities and water districts that serve more than 600,000 residents in Sonoma and Marin counties. Visit sonomawater.org/drought to learn more about the drought.