Claire Nordlie, City of Santa Rosa Sustainability Coordinator - Water Conservation in Santa Rosa
Our speaker for August 25, 2022, was Claire Nordlie, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Santa Rosa. Claire has a degree in Environmental Science from SSU and a master of science degree from the University of Denver in Environmental Policy and Management. She is a Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper, Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor, and a Certified Climate Change Professional. She manages of team of 8 water conservation members who assist customers with indoor and outdoor water use efficiency projects. Claire told us that the City of Santa Rosa has about 175,000 customers with a $150 million dollar budget. The City’s regional wastewater treatment plant serves 213,000 customers. The City has 1,200 miles of water and sewage pipes! The City reuses 17mm gallons of water daily. The Geysers injection well system, supplied by wastewater from the treatment plant, is the largest reinjection plant in the world! Keeping the water/sewage system operating is a herculean task due in part to the ancient pipes often used and the consequent water/sewage pipe breaks, maintenance, and constant replacement.
The majority of Sonoma County’s water comes from wells along the Russian River. Only a small amount of recycled water is used as potable water. Santa Rose produces 6.6 billion gallons of recycled water annually and 100% of that water is reused in normal/dry years, either for Geysers recharge or for urban use or irrigation. Santa Rosa water users have had 30 amazing years of water conservation!
The City also has a strong water shortage contingency plan, coordinated with our regional partners, for current and future drought conditions. In fact, on June 29, 2021, the City implemented stage 3 of that plan due to a 16 – 20% supply shortage caused by 3 straight years of drought, including 2 of the driest years in over 100 years of record keeping. The stage 3 prohibitions are mandatory and are implemented by outreach to customers, water waste patrols, automatic metering, and variances for certain necessary activities. The City also provides strong support to users, including a website that discusses indoor and outdoor rebates for such items as efficient clothes washers, showerheads, aerators, toilet flappers, hose nozzles, irrigation efficiency, rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, and pool removal rebates. See https://www.srcity.org/834/Rebates-Services.
Thank you, Claire, for all of your team’s hard work and success in helping to alleviate the consequences of our drought conditions (and for speaking with us). You are doing great work!
Click HERE to view the recording of Claire's presentation. Available for a short time only.
