THE LOCAL DAILIES have heralded the September 20th hearings in Sacramento on the State Water Board’s proposed Frost Protection regs. The regulations are supposed to reduce, or at least coordinate sudden draws by vineyard owners on public streams for frost protection. These draws have caused large-scale fish kills. The proposal, as applied locally, says that from March 15 to May 15 “any diversion of water (except for diversion upstream of Coyote Dam or Warm Springs Dam) from the Russian River stream system, including the pumping of hydraulically connected groundwater, for purposes of frost protection shall be diverted in accordance with a board-approved water demand management program… At a minimum the WDMP shall include: an inventory of the frost diversion systems, a stream stage monitoring program, an assessment of the potential risk of stranding mortality, the identification and timelines for implementation of any corrective actions necessary to prevent stranding mortality, and annual reporting of program data, activities and results.”
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