August 9, 2025 - GUERNEVILLE, CA – On Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 3 p.m., a group of west Sonoma County residents will meet virtually to continue discussing opportunities for regional wastewater treatment.

At its fourth meeting, the West County Water Quality and Recycled Water Supply Feasibility Study Stakeholder Committee will review west county neighborhoods that are not currently served by sewer systems and discuss regionalization opportunities for serving these communities. The meeting is open to the public. To register, go to https://csus.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsceCsqDgpEtIi8WMBctvfUYBxeWNeHhnz.

“Many small communities in West Sonoma County rely on septic systems to deal with their wastewater. As state rules evolve, homeowners are under increasing regulatory pressure to upgrade their septic systems, which in some cases may be prohibitively expensive or infeasible due to site constraints,” said Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and a Sonoma Water County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) director. “This study evaluates the long-term possibility of adding some or all of these communities to possible future regionalized wastewater treatment systems.”

The study is being conducted by Sonoma Water on behalf of the Russian River County Sanitation District as part of a settlement with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in response to three sewer overflows that occurred in the Guerneville area during 2019 floods. Sonoma Water operates the district.

The study, which began in 2024, is considering the concept of “regionalization.” Regionalization could include connections between smaller systems (such as the Occidental County Sanitation District to Graton Community Service District Wastewater Transfer Pipeline) or consolidation of multiple smaller systems to create a larger customer base. This could create greater efficiency and lead to more standardized wastewater treatment throughout the project area.

Sonoma Water created the stakeholder committee to better understand community concerns associated with waste management and treatment in western Sonoma County and to help chart the course forward. The stakeholder committee meetings take place virtually and are open to the public.

For more information about the project and to watch past stakeholder meetings, to https://www.sonomawater.org/westcountystudy.

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Media contact
 Andrea Rodriguez
 707-291-9887
Andrea.Rodriguez@scwa.ca.gov