Preserving Groundwater

EDITOR: On Nov. 16, I was a citizen spokesperson at the winery/event center public meeting at the Glaser Center in Santa Rosa (“Sides spar over winery rules,” Nov. 17). Very few speakers addressed the issue of water conservation and sustainability of our groundwater. I am deeply concerned about the vast amount of water it takes to support our county’s wine production.

As it was stated in the film, “Russian River, All Rivers,” there is no way of measuring the amount of water in our aquifer. If it is drawn down to zero, the tragic news is the aquifer infrastructure will collapse, and that space will never be used to hold groundwater again.

So to allow thousands of gallons per day to be extracted for wine production could, theoretically, make this drought last indefinitely. For centuries, Europe wine growers didn’t irrigate their vines. This may be a possible solution to this very serious problem.

PAULA CUMMING PEARCE, Sebastopol