Monday, November 26, 2007

Ding Dong, the Sewer's (Officially) Dead

According to an article in the Sonoma West Times & News, the Monte Rio Sewer project has officially croaked. Unfortunately, Monte Rio still faces huge problems, including:

  1. Ongoing water contamination (according to the above mentioned article, the Lower Russian River's water quality is officially "impaired" by Federal Clean Water Act standards);
  2. Property owners' inability to upgrade their septic systems to modern standards because many of the lots are too small & too close to the river;
  3. Burnt-out buildings downtown which cannot be rebuilt;
  4. A moratorium which prevents property owners from building or remodeling due to the chronic septic problems;
  5. I also can't help but wonder what younger folks are going to do when their families are growing & their septic systems' capacities are frozen?
There's some talk about hooking up to the Guerneville Sewer. Why didn't they pursue this to begin with? I'm sure there are reasons buried in the dusty pages of long-forgotten meeting minutes & feasibility studies ... if anyone knows anything about this, please share your information!

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