The extremely successful, March 24, 2023 Water Forum, hosted by Save Napa Valley and The MennenEnvironmental Foundation, can best be described as a rare opportunity for experts in hydrology, fish biology, groundwater/surface water and their interconnectivity, to join with local resource conservation leaders, state and local regulators and the leading research strategists from around the country to share and discuss new ideas concerning how to best manage Napa Valley’s water. Though Napa Register’s headline, “Forum looks at how nature, humans can thrive,” missed the mark, SNVF appreciated their coverage. Knowledge is the first step to change.

Letter Submitted to the Napa Register & San Francisco Chronicle
An out of state developer, David DiCesaris is pulling out all the stops to influence environmental groups that his deforestation project for vineyard in Angwin is good for the environment. He calls it a “zero-emissions” project. He’s going to use electric tractors!.The description sounds great at first. Why wouldn’t Napa want a zero-emission vineyard? But this catchy slogan requires a closer look and a deeper discussion.

The upcoming Napa Water Forum is the result of 3 years of work by Save Napa Valley Foundation. While creating a true collaboration of community, federal, state, and local regulators, SNVF’s goal has been to remediate over 60 barriers to assure clean, free flowing water in our rivers, creeks, and streams through a project named, Refugia.

Water Audit California wishes to comment on the Brent Randol article in the Napa Register highlighting “salmon making their way up Putah Creek,” which outlined the admirable success from Solano County efforts at reestablishing salmonid populations. A similar project is just about to make its much-needed public launch in Napa County.

Unprecedented has become the word of our times; unprecedented heat, drought, wildfires, winds, storms, and floods, not to mention tornados and hurricanes in other parts of the country and around the world. As these realities confirm the climate crisis, are we in Napa County stepping up to take unprecedented action?  Sadly, the answer remains no.

We see every day, with our own eyes, that water is in short supply. Water trucks crisscross the Valley making deliveries to customers with dry wells and empty reservoirs. The mainstem Napa River is more dry than wet above the tidal zone. Parts of it, like St. Helena at the Pope Street Bridge, are choked with algae. While we hope that the fishes found someplace to go, we know many of them did not.

As Napa Valley Subbasin groundwater resources stakeholders, we wish to bring the lack of management effectiveness by the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) to your attention. Since the submission of Napa’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) in early 2022, signs of groundwater scarcity have been evident and the drought has continued. Yet the Napa Valley Subbasin GSA has shown no indication that they intend to manage groundwater in a way that addresses the unprecedented conditions facing our community.

Thirteen waterways in Napa County once supported Central California Coast Steelhead at population densities of greater than one fish per square meter. Steelhead populations show evidence of decline in all thirteen waterways (Leidy et al 2005). In 1997, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed Central California Coast steelhead as a distinct evolutionary unit that is threatened with extinction.