Heavy rains have Sonoma Valley’s streams going strong right now, and much of that water rushes right past our communities on its way to the Bay. In fact, according to stream gauges, Wednesday’s powerful storms sent 1.6 billion gallons of water rushing by in just 24 hours!

By our calculations, assuming a total annual water use of about 6 billion gallons in Sonoma Valley (taken from Sonoma Water’s most recent available data), that means well over a quarter of our Valley’s annual demand went out to sea in a single day.

Finding ways to slow down, capture and store all that water is a challenge Sonoma Valley will have to address in the coming years. Doing so benefits us all, and the environment as well.