Office of the Mayor
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
February 7, 2023
The Honorable Christopher M. Ward
California State Assembly
1021 O Street, Suite 8320
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 30 (Ward) Atmospheric Rivers: Research, Mitigation, and Climate Forecasting Program – Support (As Introduced December 5, 2022)
Dear Assemblymember Ward:
The City of Santa Rosa is pleased to support AB 30, co-sponsored by Sonoma County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) , which would include Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) and integrate FIRO into the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) water supply operations and flood and hazard risk mitigation efforts. AB 30 updates and expands DWR's Atmospheric River Research and Forecast Improvement Program: Enabling Climate Adaption Throug h Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations and Hazard Resiliency Program (AR Program).
The City of Santa Rosa Water Department (Santa Rosa Water) provides affordable and essential water, wastewater, storm water and recycled water services to over 178,000 residents. Santa Rosa’s primary source of water is from the Russian River watershed supplied by Sonoma Water.
Two major reservoirs, Lake Mendocino on the Russian River and Lake Sonoma on Dry Creek, supply water to the Russian River watershed. Both Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino are dual- purpose reservoirs in that they provide flood protection, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and water supply storage, managed locally by Sonoma Water.
Approximately half of the major rainfall from the Russi an River watershed comes from atmospheric rivers, which greatly influence droughts and floods. Advancing observations and forecasts of atmospheric rivers amidst climate change and its impacts is critical to the successful adaptation of real-time water management and climate resilience. With the use of FIRO, Sonoma Water has worked closely with the USACE to determine how much water to hold behind the dam prior to impending atmospheric rivers to prevent flooding and to preserve water supply during times of extreme drought. Without the ability of forecasting weather events, USACE and Sonoma Water would have been required to release valuable water resources.
It is imperative that Sonoma Water’s proven successes with the FIRO program be built upon to ensure the resiliency of the water sector at the local and state level. This can be accomplished by expanding the AR program to incorporate FIRO.
Honorable Ward
For these reasons, the City of Santa Rosa supports AB 30. Should you have any questions please contact our legislative advocate, Sharon Gonsalves, with the Renne Public Policy Group, at (916) 974-9270.
Sincerely,
Natalie Rogers, Mayor
CC: Senator Mike McGuire
Assemblymember Jim Wood
Assemblymember Damon Connolly