Sonoma Water outlines transmission system projects; Santa Rosa asked for local cost and program details

Kent Guilfie, director of engineering for Sonoma Water, briefed the Santa Rosa City Council during its Jan. 7, 2025 meeting on a broad slate of capital projects and system maintenance to improve water transmission reliability and seismic resilience.

What Sonoma Water presented: Guilfie said the agency is pursuing multiple construction and design projects across wells, storage tanks and aqueducts. Key items include: rehabilitation of three Santa Rosa plain collector wells (including a Todd Road well returned to production during the recent drought and Occidental Road and Sebastopol Road well work underway), a 10-year, $80 million tank rehabilitation program addressing coatings and cathodic protection, the Cotati 3 18-million-gallon tank recoating and foundation retrofit, and a multi-phase upgrade to aqueduct cathodic protection systems. He also described regional booster station upgrades (Wilford and ELI booster stations) and a new emergency inventory storage yard (Waller Damuth) to allow faster recovery after major hazard events.

Sonoma Water said some construction was delayed by an unplanned aqueduct shutdown after a damaged valve and that the ELI booster project experienced a long lead time for electrical equipment; the electrical gear was expected in spring 2025. Guilfie noted supply-chain constraints for electrical gear have affected multiple projects.

Engineering and resiliency work: Sonoma Water is advancing a range of seismic and operational studies: a Bennett Valley fault crossing project (30% design, with FEMA funding being pursued), a water treatment modernization program to convert from chlorine gas to hypochlorite at river pumping facilities and to improve electrical redundancy, and a comprehensive transmission master plan scheduled for completion in fiscal 2026-27. The agency has completed over 50 geotechnical cone-penetration tests for seismic planning and said the master plan will prioritize projects across the system.

Inspection results and coordination: Guilfie reported that the State Department of Drinking Water performed a comprehensive sanitary survey in late September, and Sonoma Water ‘‘received no deficiency findings in areas of pumps, system management and operation, monitoring and reporting, or operator compliance with state requirements," with only minor items to address. He thanked city staff for assistance with easements and permitting related to the aquifer storage and recovery pilot work and said Sonoma Water will continue to coordinate right-of-way and construction permits with local agencies.

Council questions and requests: Council members asked how Sonoma Water's recent wholesale rate increases (about 20.44% over two years, as one council member observed) translate into dollars for Santa Rosa ratepayers and requested a clearer five-year capital-improvement plan and budget-to-actual reporting for projects that affect the city directly. Guilfie said Sonoma Water provides an annual long-range financial plan and budget-to-actuals to contractors and that more detailed master-plan-level project identification is expected as the transmission master plan matures.

Ending: Sonoma Water presented a long list of upgrades and studies to improve reliability and seismic resilience. The city requested clearer line-item connections showing how wholesale increases and Sonoma Water projects affect Santa Rosa ratepayers, and city and Sonoma Water staff agreed to continue coordination on right-of-way, easements and funding requests.