A water district is a form of local landowner governed special district authorized under California Statutes (Water Code section 34000 et seq.). Historically, water districts have been formed in agricultural areas to provide irrigation water for agricultural purposes, tapping federal and State canal and reservoir projects and groundwater sources, selling water to individual users and/or managing groundwater resources. 

1) provide an essential source of financing (through local taxes, assessments, or fees) for funding regional local water supply and conservation projects;

2) represent Alexander Valley agricultural, residential, and commercial users in inter-governmental and regional efforts to sustain and conserve water supply; and

3) locally establish a Russian River Water Sharing Program that builds off of the 2022 Water Sharing Program originally established under the State Water Board’s Drought Emergency Curtailment Regulation, and 

4) pursuing projects and programs that increase local water storage through enhanced groundwater recharge and other conservation measures.

These new programs will allow Alexander Valley landowners to reliably manage and ensure the sustainability of their common water supply, Russian River and its interconnected groundwater, which has become unreliable and at risk due to increasingly frequent droughts and the drastic reduction in the importation of Eel River water to the East Fork Russian River from the Potter Valley Project hydropower facilities. 

Significant regulatory decisions affecting the availability and cost of water in Alexander Valley are being considered now by federal, state, and local agencies that do not represent the Alexander Valley.

Alexander Valley is facing a real risk that water rights and supply will be impaired. A new water district representing Alexander Valley is the only assurance that we will have a voice in the decision making.

No. The AVWD will focus on water supply and conservation as a means of securing and conserving water in the Alexander Valley. 

The district will be formed and governed by the landowners in Alexander Valley. There are four significant steps to initiate the district:

Step 1 is the petition process for LAFCO review that requires the owners of 50.1% of the acres within the boundary to sign petitions requesting an election to form the District.

Step 2 is an election by mail to form the District. The ballot will be sent to all landowners within the district boundary District and the District will be formed if a majority of acres voting support formation.

Step 3  is the election of the five-member Board of Directors that will be held by mail concurrently with the formation election and elected by a majority of the acres voting. Eligible directors include landowners and their legal representatives. Interested persons must submit nominations to be included on the ballot.

Step 4 is a Prop 218 Assessment that will be initiated by the new Board of Directors. An assessment is not approved if protested by owners of a majority of the land value.

 A water diversion and use methodology is a method for determining the actual or net impact on surface waters and groundwaters from the diversion and use of water within the district.  Total water use and water use by sector in Alexander Valley are known through State Water Resources Control Board drinking water and surface water databases (eAR and eWRIMS) and California Department of Water Resources land use and groundwater estimates. Water used by water source, however, is not well-understood. Surface water, shallow groundwater, deep groundwater and reclaimed water are used in Alexander Valley, and the volumes of water by source and timing of use have consequences for groundwater elevations and Russian River streamflow. A water meter records only the water that passes through a pipe, but not its source or return flow. Remote sensing evapotranspiration tools like LandIQ and other methodologies will be necessary.  (E.g., see State Water Resources Control Board Order 2024-0030, Designation of the Tule Groundwater Subbasin as Probationary Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act).