Sebastopol Water Information Group [SWiG] – Water Information for Sonoma County

Click on the map for a more detailed view of this area.

SWiG monitors selected wells around Sebastopol and advocates for protecting clean and sustainable water supplies here and across Sonoma County.

SWiG can help you learn about your well, where well water (groundwater) comes from, how Sonoma County’s groundwater supplies are being managed now, and what the future holds.

SWiG is a project of the 501(c)(3) O.W.L. Foundation (Open-space, Water, and Land Protection) Foundation, and both groups are founding members of the Sonoma County Water Coalition (SCWC).

From 2010 to the present. SWiG members have represented Laguna-area well owners on panels for locally-directed groundwater management planning, making important contributions to the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Management Plan (GWMP) .

SWiG’s well monitoring function

Click here to view SWiG’s interactive well-monitoring map.

Currently we are monitoring and advising on the process for creating Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in Sonoma County, under California’s 2015 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Until formation of the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) as required by SGMA, SWiG representatives continue to represent SWiG and the SCWC at meetings of the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Management Panel and its Technical Advisory Committee.

Sebastopol’s parks connect with the internationally-recognized Laguna de Santa Rosa savannah and wetland, which drains north toward the Russian River.

Water Woman’s book teaches children about conservation.

Walter the waterdrop

Water Woman, also known as Paula Pearce, became seriously concerned about water conservation at a community meeting where she heard that some small area wells had dried up because of area-wide groundwater lowering. She also saw the film “Suzuki Speaks,” in which the award-winning environmental scientist, Dr. David Suzuki, “pointed out the fragile balance of nature,” and noted that clean fresh water is one of the Earth’s threatened resources.

Paula writes children’s books, and knows so well the impact of appealing characters on children’s thinking. So she responded to these messages with the story of Saving Walter, featuring a little water drop. Her book teaches children to conserve water as Walter experiences all the forms that water can take, above and beneath the earth’s surface.

Paula now has a Saving Walter website, and we invite you to visit it. Paula also becomes Water Woman to present Walter’s story for grade school classes in Sebastopol, CA. To access her site, click the water drop button.