Sonoma Water briefs Rohnert Park on booster-station, tank and well projects, and seismic resilience

Kent Gily, Sonoma Water’s director of engineering, told the Rohnert Park City Council on Feb. 10 that the agency’s 2025 work on the regional transmission system has largely advanced on schedule while exposing supply-chain and seismic‑resilience challenges. The presentation covered finished and active construction, aquifer‑storage recovery pilot tests and a 20‑year master plan for transmission needs.

The update described several near‑term completions and active contracts. Gily said recently delivered electrical switchgear allowed the Eli booster pump station project to move toward energizing its equipment this month, part of a FEMA‑funded resiliency upgrade to protect electrical gear from flood risk. He described completed recoating and structural repairs on tanks at the terminal end of the Petaluma Aqueduct that together provide about 18 million gallons of storage, and ongoing foundation widening to address seismic vulnerabilities.

Sonoma Water also reviewed well rehabilitation and aquifer‑storage recovery (ASR) work intended in part to increase drought resilience. “Two of these three wells … were substantially funded with a $6.9 million state drought resiliency grant,” Gily said, and the agency is conducting pilot testing that includes two cycles of injection, storage and recovery with water‑quality and groundwater‑level monitoring.

The presentation noted schedule and procurement constraints. Gily said large electrical gear for the Eli booster arrived three-and-a-half years after the contract award, a delay that he called “somewhat exceptional” but illustrative of broader lead‑time challenges for large equipment. He told the council the Eli switchgear is scheduled to be energized this month and that Wilford booster‑station upgrades will continue through 2027.

David Royal, Sonoma Water’s assistant general manager for operations and maintenance, described a newly implemented computerized maintenance-management system, NextGen, that the agency is using to track assets and preventative‑maintenance work orders. Royal said the system enables real‑time field reporting and was populated with staff input during a year of implementation.

Council members pressed staff on local impacts and coordination. Topics included the potential for “water wheeling” — temporary interconnections through hydrants or valves to keep water flowing if a transmission segment is out of service — and earthquake contingency planning. Gily said staff are coordinating with water contractors on pre‑planned responses for aqueduct breaks and assessing tie‑in opportunities that could help Rohnert Park keep supplies flowing during prolonged outages.

What happens next: Sonoma Water is continuing ASR pilot testing this year, completing outstanding tank work and advancing a phase‑2 cathodic‑protection contract into design and permitting. Council members invited tours of Sonoma Water facilities and expected further updates ahead of upcoming budget discussions.

Source: Presentation to the Rohnert Park City Council on Feb. 10, 2026, by Kent Gily and David Royal, Sonoma Water.