Sonoma County Water Agency

Rotary Club of Windsor Meeting April 19th, 2022

Rotary Moment:

Pam – Grew up in a Rotary household with a sister, Terry, who is differently-abled. Both were raised the same and on last Friday’s social at Artisan Alley, it was a joy to see all the Rotarians treating Terry just the same.

All hail guest president Bill Arnone – for his presiding over last week’s meeting!

Guests of Rotarians:

Eric Keel – Water Agency

Emma Keel – Student of the month

Julie Keel – Long-time Sonoma resident

Mei Lee Purvis – STEM teacher at WHS

John Brito – Welding/Shop Teacher WHS

Marie Gannister – Culinary Teacher WHSRotarian of the Month for April – Doug Williams.

Announcements:

Susan Cole presents $33,000 to Windsor High School to revamp the Vasconi Welding Center
Many thanks to all the members that were panelists for Windsor BUILD academy
Windsor Day Parade is cancelled!
Still time to book tickets for District 5130 Conference in Fortuna
Pegi was in Hawaii and came back with a few gifts for the President
Passport: This week’s topic WRCF – Windsor Rotary Community Foundation. Learn the history and purpose of WCRF, the different funds and sources, and our current projects.

Student of the Month:

Melee is a new teacher in the STEM program, introducing Emma Keel who won Student of the Month for the STEM Core even programming robotic arms for our veterans!Guest speaker for today, Grant Davis is the General Manager for Sonoma County Water Agency – Sonoma Water.

Eric Keel, Emma’s father keeps our water flowing and his daughter highlights the hope for the future.

We are about to raise water rates, currently Sonoma County has the lowest rates in the Bay Area and possibly in the State. We are benefiting from the foresight of those before us, we now need the investment to continue to develop these programs. These rate increases are going to be consistent (3-6%) over time to bring us in line with our costs and allow for planning. We will also be improving efficiencies to reduce waste.

The last major drought was in 2008. We had to ask individuals to invest in efficiency gains in the midst of very hard economic times. We were able to get through that and will need to do that again in the coming years.

Lake Sonoma has about 3 years buffer but we need to ensure that is enough for us in combination with Dry Creek. We can get through this with continued support.

Final quote of the day:

April 24th is Earth Day…sometimes we forget that we are all united on one physical front… Remember:The Earth is what we all have in common…Wendell Berry

Thank you to:

Greeter: Laura Buhrer

Song: Bill Arnone

Scribe: Dev Sodagar

A/V set-up: Beth Smith

Zoom team: Brian Williams / Michael Juric