Santa Rosa Wastewater Exchange

[weightforwardfilms]

Can anyone translate this? I've seen first hand the actions of Japan buying carbon credits in Australia, but this sounds worse. It sounds like a pre-paid ticket to dump wastewater into the Russian River?

What do you guys think?
Jeremy Quinlan

[Darian]

After reading the article in the Press Democrat, it looks like this is a standard offset idea with the newest object, water. The article frames it as the districts attempt to reach an acceptable level of discharge of treated water into Laguna (apparently a tributary to the russian River) during high water periods. The district says that they achieve zero releases during dry periods. Also, it sounds like the district is using treated water for ag and re-charge purposes.

In general, I'm not a fan of offset programs but this one sounds like it may be a way to get some funding for other projects that'll enhance the environment in that area including further reduction of releases to the Laguna.

Now, the devil is always in the details. So, we won't know what the final outcome of this is until the program is evaluated. :-|