The first sound card for the Raspberry Pi I encountered came from the Swiss company HiFiBerry. A lot has happened since and although the company focuses on high performance low price products, their recent introduction is a nudge up. This is the sound card. We audio files to use the term digital to analog converter, abbreviated to DAC. On its own it doesn't do anything, you do need to mount it on a Raspberry Pi small board computer and then it looks like this. If you want it to be more robust, you can build it into a housing like this from HiFiBerry that holds both the sound card and the Raspberry Pi. To get it working you also need a matching power supply and a microSD card that you need to put the operating system on. This makes the Raspberry Pi function as a streamer or network bridge. After you have selected an operating system, on which later on more, you connect the analog outputs to the line inputs of an amplifier, for instance on aux or cd. The network connector in the Pi is to be connected to your router unless you want to use wireless LAN. But then you want to use an acrylic housing rather than a metal one. Over the network connection the Pi gets the music from a shared volume on your computer or from a music play and program suited for sending music to a network bridge depending on what operating system you have copied on the microSD card. In most cases you control the player from a tablet or smartphone. Of course you can build your own housing for the Pi plus DAC combination or use another type by HiFiBerry. But I show you here the white metal case that only fits the DAC plus Raspberry Pi 4B. It measures 110 by 90 by 70mm which is only a few mils more than the naked setup. On one side we see the USB-C power input, two HDMI outputs, the Pi's own low quality analog audio output and the high quality analog outputs of the Raspberry Pi board. On the top side we see two USB-2 sockets, two USB-3 sockets and the internet socket. Out of sight on the opposite side there is the microSD card slot. Like all boards for the Raspberry Pi, the DAC2HD has the 40 pin connector on the underside. But the HiFiBerry has duplicated the pins of the Raspberry Pi on top of the board so you can stack a second board on it, like the HiFiBerry DSP board, which by the way I have no plans to review. A second connector is for use with the DSP board too. This third connector provides analog out and power for custom setup. Then there is a connector that can be used to connect the power supply to if you want to have it enter here and then send to the Raspberry Pi, that might offer a better sound quality. A comprehensive power regulation and filtering is found here within the middle of Texas Instruments DC-DC converter that on the secondary side offers a very stable DC voltage. The DAC chip is the 8x oversampling Burr-Brown PCM 1796 and has the clock crystal very nicely closed by. 35532 op-amps convert the balanced output of the DAC chip to a single ended line level signal. You might wonder why this DAC2HD board costs so much more than for instance their DAC Plus. So let's place them side by side. The power input is in the same position but since the DAC Plus on the right came without a connector, I soldered one on and while doing that reversed it to keep it in the housing. Now let's compare how the incoming 5V DC is handled. The DAC2HD on the left has the DC-DC converter with comprehensive filtering followed up by a voltage regulator, while the DAC Plus only has a single capacitor and a voltage regulator. While the DAC2HD has one single CSC crystal, the DAC Plus has two crystals, I'll get back to that. The DAC chip in the DAC2HD is followed up by three op-amps while the DAC chip on the DAC Plus has to drive the outputs directly. So only based on the component count, the DAC2HD must be more expensive. But does that lead to a better sound quality? I can only confirm that the sound quality of the DAC2HD is clearly higher than that of the DAC Plus. This is already rather audible in my setup 3 but becomes even more obvious in my setup 2. It offers clearly higher resolution especially in the mids and the highs. The lows are also good but especially the mids and highs are clearly better. That is already the case with the regular Raspberry Pi power supply but it really pays off to spend more on a better power supply. Already the 59 euro iFi iPower 5 volts makes a clear difference and the SBooster BOTW PMP Eco brings it yet to another nut shop. It then also performs great reproducing sibilants and ranks in the low end of my reference setup too. I mentioned that the DAC Plus has two clock crystals while the DAC2HD has only one. But that must be simply of better quality given the sound quality. Also funny is that the DAC chip on the DAC Plus can do 384 kHz while the DAC chip on the DAC2HD can only do 192 kHz. Yet I would clearly choose the DAC2HD so be careful when trying to interpret specifications. As I've said before trust your ears young viewer, your ears your trust. Some last remarks. Depending on the software or operating system you can set the volume from the control software on your smartphone or tablet since it uses the Linux ALSAM mixer and almost all music player software for the Pi is Linux based. I use Volumio when I want the Pi to function as a network player, Rupee when I want the Pi to function as a Roon endpoint or Rupee XL when I want it to function as a DLNA renderer. You have to use special software to copy this so called image to a microSD card. This is not difficult, just follow the instructions you find on the site you get the software from. You then stick the microSD card in the slot on the Pi and connect it to the audio equipment and power supply. Depending on the software chosen, you then might have to do some settings to actually get it working. The Volumio donation software uses a setup sequence that asks you questions. Rupee does it all automatically and is also donation software. There are also free DLNA server programs and players to be used with Rupee XL. To use it with Roon, you need a paid Roon subscription. If you have no affinity with computers, you may prefer to stay away from Pi projects unless you have the proverbial handy cousin. Setting up Raspberry Pi for audio reproduction might even confront the more experienced computer buff with Riddles. Riddles he will absolutely solve after doing some investigations but that is where the computer illiterate will get lost. And there are also equally good ready to use solutions costing about the same of only slightly more. A simple setup with metal housing and Pi power supply will set you back about €175. With the iFi iPower you will have to shell out €225 while the same setup with an sBooster power supply will add up to €475. And yes, I find it word every penny. But stating that with a Raspberry Pi you can have a quality streamer for €39 is rather far from the truth. The 3.5mm audio output on the Pi sounds horrible. What is nice is the flexibility of the Pi. You can start out with a Pi, a €27 DAC board like the DAC Plus and a €10 power supply and upgrade over time. You can also try out all kinds of software since most of them are donation ware. So when you find your favorite, you send the makers some money, like many of you also send me money as a token of appreciation. Which brings me to the end of this video. I love to see you back next Friday at 5pm central european time in a new video. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. Many thanks to all of you that grant me donations. It makes it easier to invest in gear to make even higher quality reviews and background videos. If you have not supported my work already, the links are in the comments below this video on YouTube. It is much appreciated. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.


Russians are in panic in Militopol. New units of the occupation army, including Kalirovites, are arriving in the temporarily occupied Militopol. Mayor of Militopol Ivan Fedorov said this on the air of the National Telethon United News. New units of the occupation army are entering the city. On April the 26th, new units of Kalirovites arrive at the Militopol Hotel, which is in the very centre of the city, and we're checking in. There is also a constant movement of equipment going to the Zaporizia Frontline, Fedorov said. According to him, Russians are in panic, but continue to prepare defensive structures and minefields in the towns of Enorodar, Kamianets, Niprovsky, Tokmak, Molochansk, Vasilivka. Filtration measures have also been intensified. Since April the 26th, they have stopped letting people who do not have a residence permit in these settlements into some villages. Filtration has been intensified throughout the occupied part of Zaporizia region. It intensified about 2.5 to 3 weeks ago, the mayor said. In addition, Russians have intensified propaganda among children. Recently, another organisation called Volunteers of Victory has appeared, which is engaged in brainwashing children. Ivan Fedorov said that a traitor policeman, Alexander Mishchenko, was blown up by Ukrainian partisan underground in Militopol. 42-year-old Alexander Mishchenko, who was the deputy head of an occupational police department, and was guarding the occupation administrator of the city of Galina, Danilchenko. The policeman lived in the 5th entrance of house number 67 on Heroyv, Ukrainian street, where his car exploded. During the explosion, the second collaborator, police officer Yuri, was also injured as per Russian Telegram channel.


It's been a rocky start to the season for both the BSU men's and women's basketball teams. The men were three and five, while the women were three and four, heading into Saturday matchups with MSU Moorhead. The men played the late game Saturday night, hosting the Dragons, first half Beavers put in work. Ben Best cleans up the Christian Picariq, miss three, for two of his 19 to put BSU up two. Men just a great individual effort from Will Harvey, finding Sharif Black from the seat of his pants for three of his 12. And then it's Black making plays again, driving here and kicking out to Javion Green for three. He put up 17 of his 19 in the first half to help give BSU a seven point lead into the break. But MSU Moorhead would come back in that second half and take down the Bverse 90, 84. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


Yeah, you thought you'd get out of this Well, I am hoping that Our internet will handle three zoom sessions because I've got kids in zoom class So I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed I'm gonna try to log back in I can't hear anybody else speaking. So let me let me try this again Am I shown or you can't tell Okay, you couldn't figure that part out was a head crew Chair and the voices of body Jack we hear you Jack. Thank you Thank you. You're welcome You're a nice nice little square Thank you We're still waiting for a few folks, right Gina and Easter. I don't Yes, we currently have Hear anybody so I'm gonna try to call in I guess Okay Through joins again, we'll have Northburn Water District City of Santa Rosa City of Petaluma City of Sonoma Town of Windsor Valley of the moon. That's for tack and then for whack So far we have Tom Schwad home So city of Santa Rosa City of Katari City of Petaluma Northburn Water District We also have Willie from Warner Park. It looks like Yes, good morning. Good morning Willie Looks like folks are running a little late today. I guess folks at the Internal Sonoma Water Agency are having a problem with the load. It's Giving an error message. So I think it might be delaying some water agency folks And Drew is having a hard time with sound so He's gonna use the telephone and that video Drew, is that you? Yeah We have someone under Yolanda Gibson. I just want to confirm if that's Jack Gibson Drew, did you turn your sound off on your computer? Yeah, let me figure out how to do that. Yeah, because you're Echoing I think if you just turn the little sound thing off I don't hear the echo anymore Drew. Oh, but now you have to control it on your phone And if you're calling in and your phone number ends in 6131 if you can please state your first and last name And we can rename you if you're able to rename yourself, please Thank you Do Easter do we have enough to start? This is Jim Downey, Fengrove Water Great, thank you Thank you Did you get that Easter and Gina? Was that the number ending in 6131 was that Jim Downey? Yes. Thank you Just be just a couple moments, please. Yeah I'm just gonna check the participants list one more time and so far we have eight WAC members and six TAC members So I guess we have a quorum So Gina and Easter do you think we can start? We're just trying to clarify The Yolanda Gibson if that's a public attendee or if that is a member I just popped in I came in on a visitor link, but I'm a member. Thank you We still haven't heard from Yolanda Gibson, right? That is correct. Oh, I see her hand raised here Who's raising there? Oh Yolanda's raising their hand. Okay. Can you let Can you hear me? Yes, who is this is Jack Jack. I'm sorry. That's okay. So it is Jack. Yeah, I'm having trouble. I'm not seeing my That's okay She can fix that Perfect. You are all you're set in there. Thank you so much All right, so all right Gina and Easter you guys are all set I'm just gonna confirm Drew was able to join back on Drew. Are you there? He was here. It looks like his audio is still on see his number on there, but I don't know if he can hear us Well, he was oh, you know what he was dialing back in so he's on twice. That's probably why we need to find out what his Telephone number is so you can promote him, right? Because he he couldn't get the um audio to work on his computer Perfect. We'll let him in and just confirm. We're in just one moment here. Thanks for your patience My guess would be that he's the 415 number, but I could be wrong Drew, we should have allowed you to unmute and um speak if you don't mind just confirming. I believe your number's a 4133 And Easter it looks like Sam joined too. We need to move him over Sam salmon Thank you And we can't get Drew to unmute. Thank you Drew if you want to try star nine If you can hear us He's raising his hand Just unbelievable Yeah, and the kids are doing fine That's what cracks me up. Yeah. Oh, there you go. Drew. Is that you? I don't know if you can hear me. Yes. So it is the 4133 that you can move him over We'll get it. We're very flexible Okay, so it looks like everyone that had joined that is a member is in the panelist So we are set Tina and Easter. Thank you so much for helping with that So I will call to order the water advisory committee and technical advisory committee for february 1st 2021 and This will be a zoom call with the option for live public comment WAC and tech members will be visible on the zoom call as well as requested staff Paul Piazza, Kimberley Zunino, Don Seymour, Grant Davis, Pam Jean, Jay Jaskers and Steve Hancock The public will have their phones and microphones enabled during the public comment sections and with that If each of the WAC and tech members could also state their agency and full name for the roll call and Easter will you be doing that? Yes Then you may begin. Thank you so much So for WAC, City of Cotati Susan Harvey, City of Cotati City of Petaluma Mike Healy, City of Petaluma City of Verna Park Willie Lunaris, City of Verna Park City of Santa Rosa Pongfuenam, City of San Rosa City of Sonoma Northburn Water District Town of Windsor Sam Salmon, Town of Windsor Valley of the Moon Water District Don Foreman, Valley of the Moon Marin Municipal Water District Jack Gibson, Marin Municipal Water District And TAC, we have City of Cotati Greg Scott, City of Cotati City of Petaluma Ken Carruthers, City of Petaluma City of Verna Park Mary Grace Pawson, City of Verna Park City of Santa Rosa Jennifer Burke, Santa Rosa Water City of Sonoma Alene Ferguson, City of Sonoma Northburn Water District Drew McIntyre, Northburn Water District Town of Windsor Vistina Goulart, Town of Windsor Valley of the Moon Water District Matt Poehler, Valley of the Moon Water District Marin Municipal Water District Jack Gibson, Paul Sellea, Marin Municipal Paul Sellea, Marin Municipal Thank you and just one moment I will share staff and public attendees You have Easter Ledezma, Gina Perez Don Seymour Grant Davis Kimberly Zunino Pam Jean, Paul Piazza Steven Hancock Jim Downing, Barry Dugan Bob Anderson, Brad Sherwood Collin Close David Keller, David Manning Jamie Neary, Lynn Roselli Margaret DiGenova, Mark Maughan Jay Jaspers Mike Thompson, Peter Martin Sandy Potter and Tony Williams This is Drew Yes And your roll call for the WAC members I believe I know from Northburn Water District I see Jack Baker I didn't believe that we captured him on the roll call and then also with I just want to make sure nobody's on with the city of Sonoma from the WAC Director Baker, can you unmute yourself so you can Yeah, I did check in I believe I just wanted to double check Thank you This is Colleen Ferguson City of Sonoma I am checking on our WAC representative It's the first meeting for new representatives to the WAC so there may have been some confusion Thank you Colleen Okay Are we ready to move on? Next item is public comments We're now taking public comments on non-agenda items If you wish to make a comment via Zoom please raise your hand If you are dialing in via telephone please dial star 9 to raise your hand I will ask Secretary Perez if there are any live comments And then we will have Drew read or play any comments that were left via voicemail or emailed So Secretary Perez I do not see any raised hands for public comments I do not see any either Okay Then Drew, do we have any emailed or voicemail comments? Madam Chair, we did not receive either Okay, thank you so much for that Then we will move on to item three which is the appointment of a 2021 WAC Vice Chair In your pockets there was a memo The WAC Chair and Vice Chair are two year appointments And the current leadership is at the halfway mark Unfortunately, David King City of Petaluma is no longer able to fulfill his role So that position needs to be filled This meeting we need to elect a new Vice Chair for the 2021 two year term per section 5.3D of the restructured agreement of the water supply We would like to request a Vice Chair I would like to have the committee consider Mykeely who is very familiar and is also from Petaluma Any other discussion on this? Madam Chair This is Jack Baker I would like to nominate Mr. Healy Thank you We have a motion All second And we have a second Did you get those Easter? I did not get who was the second Apologies Thank you Thank you John Is there any public comment on this item? I see no raised hands at this point I see no hands either Okay So we have a motion and a second So Secretary Ledesma Could you please take a roll call vote I guess I should ask Mike Are you willing to accept this responsibility? Yes Thank you And I'll just be elected So I'll be here for the The rest of the rotation Thank you That's an important aspect So Secretary Ledesma Yes City of Cotadi Yes City of Petaluma Yes City of Burnett Park Yes District Yes Town of Windsor Yes Valley of the Moonwater District Yes Well there we have it Congratulations Mike And welcome back With that we will On to the WAC Tech meeting schedule And the WAC members Alternates list draft Is that out here Are there any issues That anyone has with the schedule No hands And do we have Any updates to the WAC members and their alternates I think Drew did a very good job Of trying to Tract out all the new folks So thank you for that Drew Sure Madam Chair We want to mention it's my understanding That there could be another change And that's with Valley of the Moonwater District I believe tomorrow Okay Is when that board is supposed to finalize Their appointment Okay So there might be some changes Yes that is correct However currently The draft Is still with Director Forman As the WAC representative Have a new board member Who may come in For the alternate Great thank you for that Okay Do we have any public comments On this item I am seeing no hands raised Aye as well No hands Okay Then this is not An action item So we do not have to vote on this Correct Correct Then we will move on New WAC member Orientation Drew did you want to speak on this I would Thank you Madam Chair As Madam Chair It indicated we have some new Members and alternates I just want to welcome everybody I'd like to particularly thank Melissa James With Sonoma County water Each year when she gets The list Of new members and alternates She does a great job Of putting together material Orientation Material essentially So hopefully everybody That's new Has already heard from Melissa Has received an email And this attachment here Just indicates what sort of information Is in the binder If you have not received an email From Melissa You can make outreach to me or to Easter And we'll be sure to get you connected To make sure if you're a new member Alternate If you want this information She can make that available for you And then obviously You know pre-COVID We were making those available as binders Right now Melissa is sending that information out Hopefully but she will work with Each individual should need To have a hard copy as well And then The last thing I just want to mention Is Grant And the water contractors Definitely value the The opportunity for the new members To tour the various agencies And so we want to We want to continue and encourage that We normally would schedule a tour In the spring As you can imagine now We're going to have to delay that But I don't want to lessen the importance of When the opportunity is available That the agency will Will work on trying to find that Opportunity time And get another tour of The key facilities Long dry creek in the reservoirs Lake Sonoma, etc And we'll want to encourage Especially all the new members To attend So that's really all I wanted To mention Madam Chair Unless there's some other questions The material is a lot of Materials So you'll have reading material for Quite a bit to keep you interested And I do highly recommend When there are tours Of the different facilities It's really pretty incredible to see All of the different infrastructures That we have And I highly recommend that When time Will allow us to do that So I will take public comment on this item Are there any public comments On this item? I am seeing no hands I do not see any raised hands either Okay, thank you so much And this was not an action item So we will move on to the next item So Everyone has in their packet The November 2nd WAC Tech meeting Minutes And are there any questions or comments On those minutes? Seeing no questions or comments Are there any public comments On this item? November 2nd meeting minutes I do not see any raised hands Nor do I So that's good So Are there Oh, there are no comments So Could I have a motion on this item? I move that we From November The minutes from November, yeah I move that we approve them Thank you, John I'll provide a second Donna Winsor Thank you, Sam Did you get that secretary press? We did, thank you Okay, then Could we have a roll call, please? So for WAC members, City of Cattadee Yes City of Petaluma Yes City of Brenner Park Yes City of Santa Rosa I'll be abstaining, I didn't see the video of it And I wasn't present, so I'll be abstaining City of Sonoma Baltimore and Water District Approved Donna Winsor Aye Valley of the Moon Water District Yes That's unanimously approved with one abstention Thank you so much for that So, Drew Your turn Okay, thank you Same format here for the TAC We have the meeting minutes For the January 4th 2021 meeting Any questions from the TAC On the meeting minutes as presented See any Any questions or comments from the public I don't see any raised hands For that, Drew Or do I Alright, thank you Okay, if there are no questions Or comments Looking for a motion to approve So Jennifer Go ahead, Craig Craig Scott, City of Cattadee Move to approve All second Thank you It's been in motion and seconded To approve the met as presented Easter, can you provide a roll call Please of the TAC City of Cattadee Yes Yes City of Brunner Park Yes City of Santa Rosa City of Sonoma Yes North Moran Water District Yes Town of Windsor Yes Valley of the Moon Water District That's unanimously approved Easter So we will move on to the water supply Coordination Council We met on January 20th And you have this Agenda before you based upon that meeting So Are there any questions or comments Seeing none Are there any public questions Or comments on this item I do not see any raise hands Great, nor do I, thank you Alright Then this is not an action item So we will move on to the water supply Conditions and temporary Urgency change order And I believe Don that you are going to Take this item Yeah Thank you Good morning Madam Chair And other members of the LAC So currently I'm in the CNOW Just over $28,000 With this in perspective The water supply pool at this time of year Is $68,400 So this puts us About 41% Of the water supply pool Lake Sonoma is currently Just under $157,000 And that's about And again In perspective, the top of the water supply pool For Lake Sonoma is $245,000 With this This puts the water supply pool at about 64% And then Of additional interest, Lake Pillsbury Is currently just under $20,000 And it's about 36% Of the water supply pool So these are all very very low Storage conditions For this time of year As you can imagine Thermal water is concerned about this In addition California Unibatter Board Casting Is unfortunately downgraded This upcoming storm event And we're hoping to see 5-10,000 acre feet of inflow Over the next week or so But that's been downgraded Just a couple thousand acre feet This kind of leads into 3 conditions, the normal water Filed back in January This was really Not done because of these low storage levels In addition, on January 1 The water supply condition Is assessed for the 2021 hard year And that assessment Is based on cumulative inflow In Lake Pillsbury starting October 1 of the previous year And that Assessment put the system Of the normal water supply conditions This was really Misaligned with The actual hydrologic conditions In the watershed and the storage levels In the reservoir And that's why in our The request of the board To make a change that The water supply condition really should be assessed Temporarily based on Storage thresholds in Lake Medesino And not cumulative inflow In Lake Pillsbury We're anticipating that water Spend some time this week And based on Storage thresholds that we requested That would actually move The water supply condition in the critical condition In the critical And so what that means to flows In the Russian river So under normal water supply conditions The minimum inflow on the upper Russian river Was the entire reach From the confluence of the east and west port Down to Dry Creek There's 150 CFS In the dry conditions That minimum inflow requirement Is now 75 CFS And Once we receive approval Of our temporary change condition Under critical conditions It drop forms 25 CFS So an opportunity to have flexibility In managing the flows and releases From Lake Medesino to Start preserving storage In the reservoir Finally We have an update on The major deviation That's back in early fall By the Lake Medesino Orchestral Forum Reservoir Operations Steering Committee We anticipate that That it's going to be approved By the core sometime this week Or next week Do you need an Easter for sharing That screen there? Every month we provide updates On just water usage And so I'm going to just Go over that. This is the actual amount Of water delivered by the various Contractors. So you can see here Table one It's just a single month And then table two Actually in this report you see the results For an entire calendar year Or 2020 And you can see the aggregate there That the partner is the Sonoma Marin Saving Water Partnership The water use is down 9% Relative to What we've been using Which is a 2013 benchmark That 2013 benchmark Was The deliveries just prior to The 2013-14 Dry year period So we've been reporting that As one of the benchmarks And you can see The graphs there The bar charts and chart two Kind of showing how the comparison Blue is the current year Gray was Back in 2013 And then chart two Shows the actual water Use in gallons Per day per capita Per person Since the late 1990s And you can see there that Water use has Been decreasing pretty dramatically Even well before 2013 So I just want to Re-emphasize that 2013 Is just one Benchmark but if you look at it In a bigger period Going back about 20 years You can see our actual Water use per person Is declined about 37% Back in 2009 the state Passed new legislation requiring A 20% reduction Per capita water use By 2020 And this graph and previous Communications Have shown that we've Well exceeded that And as I mentioned before We have a partnership This 37% reduction Versus the state's Target of 20% So this hasn't Come automatically I just want to Emphasize again that the agency And the partners Cooperatively for decades now And trying To Implement state of the art Water conservation programs As well as major Improvements in the Delivery of other local Supply projects most importantly Recycle water And you can see the end result With this dramatic decline In actual water use By our customers And the last thing I just want to mention Is just in terms of Looking at actual water deliveries From The agency, the water deliveries Since the early 2000s Now This budget year we're looking at 46,000 acre feet In the early 2000s It was 62,000 acre feet So it's about 27% Lower now even though You can see the population Kind of faint graph Over the population has been Increasing over time So the water contractors Continue to Emphasize Different things on water conservation You can hear Paul Piazza talk about that Next And a lot of the water contractors Have also Done just some stellar projects On recycle water And Petaluma Has a real big Advancement in recycle water They're trying to push forward Right now as well So I wanted to go over that Any questions from the WAC On this item This is agenda item 10a Drew, how come There's such a huge number In Healdsburg Was that just a different reporting Are you looking at Yeah, was it just Late reporting or Yeah, it could be Again Variations In any given month Can have a lot to do with Maybe meter reading issues And other things I tend to Again drive looking at The year to year type Of numbers Right, it looks Yeah, it looks more normal In the year one Correct There could be a lot of variability In that Actual snapshot in a month In any given month Any questions Somehow lost my Easter Are you seeing any, I'm not seeing Any Any public comment on this item Whoops, I see a hand Let's see Dave Keller Yes, let me allow you to Unmute Thank you, Gina Alright, thank you very much Good morning Could you, could somebody explain A little bit about a note That I see this morning On California legislation Requiring An indoor water use standard Of 55 gallons per person For 100 days starting November 2023 With potential penalties If not met But apparently not In a regulatory fashion Could somebody explain what that means And what the implications are For our water use in the county Yeah David, I can and then Jennifer, Paul just Don't have to take a backstop me If I go sideways So David, there are There was new legislation passed In 2018 By the state that has a whole Different Methodology for dealing With Efficient use of water moving forward And so they're looking at a lot of different metrics The one that you mentioned is just One of many They've been looking at Some allocation for Actual Water loss in utilities Pipelines and coming up with An allocation of What is a reasonable amount of water That could be lost in the pipes And coming up with standardizing That and giving all the agencies A water use allocation Based upon that And then in that Toolbox, if you will, they have another Allocation to all the agencies On indoor water use And they're starting off at 55 gallons per Person per day And that's by the agency They're not going out to the individual We're not going out to the individual customers So it's By our entire agency So there's an allocation On indoor water use starting off At 55 gallons per capita per day And then they're looking at rashing that down To 50 gallons Out of per day In later years And then they're also working on An allocation for outdoor irrigation And that's another Complicated Methodology that they're working on So when you roll all these different Things together over the next I guess we're almost in the second year It's about a five-year program We're in year two When it's all over We're done with There will be new allocations To all the retail Water agencies Based upon these different components As far as What is What you need to meet In terms of efficient water use So that's kind of an overview And I don't know Jennifer or Paul if there's anything else You wanted to add I think you summarized that quite well David As Drew mentioned There was legislation more Commonly known as The water conservation Or making California a water conservation Way of life Yeah, I think I said it right And there's a number of work groups That Staff from the various agencies around here Have been participating in Providing input following how Those requirements Come into play I would say the good news is This region has done an excellent job In water conservation and water use Efficiency implementation as you can see From the handout Showing the savings that we've done And so we're following this closely And we'll be working to Ensure that as individual entities And as a region we'll be making Any requirements that come out in the future Thank you very much Appreciate it At one point I saw Colin's Hand go up I'm not sure if he put it down Or Colin Doesn't look like his hands raised at this time And he was and then it wasn't I am sorry I was on mute for a moment there I was just being prepared in case I could add additional information To this item I just wanted to add one small thing And I think it was already clarified The goal is community wide from the state perspective We're looking at individual Use by residents So the onus is up To each individual water supply To make sure their overall aggregated Gallons per capita per day meets the goals But How that gets accomplished really will be up To the water provider and then working closely With their own constituents The constituents are not subject to those state fines Thank you for that Colin I am not Seeing any more public raised Hands So Drew does that mean that Ultimately this chart which is awesome That we've come as far as we've Come That We'll have to break it down Between indoor and outdoor In order to kind of Know where we're at I don't really What it does me Madam Chair Is ultimately once these New regulations come out We'll have a different way of presenting How the partnership is Is Performing based upon those new regulations And I don't know that We'll be breaking everything out individually But it will result In a different overall presentation What everybody is Seeing now is related to that 2009 legislation That I talked about earlier It's called SBX7-7 It's a reduction by 2020 And so we will be Transitioning In the years moving forward Once we have more specificity From the state But we'll continue this reporting right now In the interim until We have more details coming out from the state Okay great because If we don't know what it is That we're being measured by It's kind of hard to change policy To match what it is At some point we're going to have to I guess Get our arms around that So any other comments By anyone? I'm not seeing any hands raised So I believe That item 10B That Paul is going to take that Reporting Madam Chair Paul Piazzo, Sonoma Water Watering Insufficiency And I will wait for Easter or Gina to Hopefully I'm sure they will do that for you And if they can't I do have a copy open on my desktop That I can share Oh there it goes There you go Paul Next slide please So for those in the audience I just want to remind everybody That the Sonoma Marin Savings Water Partnership Has been around for over 10 years now It's currently In Sonoma Marin counties That recognize that there Is an economy of scale Of partnering together To provide a unified conservation Message and to collaborate On programs effectively And cost effectively One of the Updates to the MOU That occurred in 2018 Did allow for New partner agencies to join The partnership So in 2019 We did welcome Hillsburg and California American Water and Larkfield wiki up to the partnership And we are continuing to Outreach to utilities in the area As we move forward To see if there are others That would be interested in joining Next slide please So back in late November Sonoma Waters Water Use Efficiency And Community and Government Affairs Began a conversation about The Low rainfall and low storage Year to discuss Whether we might Need to undertake a somewhat unusual Wintertime outreach campaign Subsequent to that We gave a brief presentation At the December And subsequently the January Attack meetings About those efforts We were able to put together An initial outreach campaign That was going to focus on Social media outreach And that Initial campaign was brought To the Water Conservation subcommittee staff Which is made Of technical staff at each of the Utility partner agencies That meeting occurred on December 28th And we were Meeting to receive input To the outreach campaign Subsequent to that input We made a few adjustments We provided a brief update At the attack meeting In January And subsequent To that presentation To the attack Received some additional input And went back to the Water Conservation subcommittee For additional Decisions on the final Campaign And we've come To that point where we are rolling That out. So next slide please We'll go through some of what we've put together. So again The focus of the outreach campaign This winter is just to bring awareness That it's a dry year And to provide a call to action To our communities that We're in a bit of an unusual Situation where normally we've got Significant rain falling at this time And conservation tends to Be More of a summer outreach process Nonetheless We wanted this campaign to draw attention To the current Low rainfall storage And also to provide some actionable tips Easy to Implement tips for our constituents To put in practice as ways To join with us In saving water. Next slide please There's a Very different social media ads Were created for the partner's use They obviously focus On indoor and outdoor water savings Next slide please And they also In addition to providing Easy to implement tips Bring some focus To the various programs That are offered through the partnership Both in terms of rebate incentives For Efficient clothes washers For removal of High water use lawns For low water use landscapes We have additional programming That identifies Low water use plants throughout Nurseries in Sonoma and Marin County So always looking to bring attention Not only to our programs But just providing practical tips to save Next slide please The advertising campaign Was formatted Particularly with The ability of utilities To co-brand these ads And Amplify the message Through the various social media platforms That the partners maintain So as an example On the left you'll see one of the Social media campaigns that just singly Branded with the partnership logo And the one to the right In this particular example Utilizing The seal from In the next slide please And then when we do Outreach campaigns although the Predominant focuses on water savings We recognize that The Campaigns also touch on the benefits Of water saving practices to Our other program goals So in this case There is water to be saved By not using your toilet as A trash can and there are consequent Benefits to our wastewater Treatment facilities when People are not adding To the waste stream Non-fleshable items such as wipes We also want to recognize That we have A stormwater programs that we're All participating in and that Our water savings goals also Contribute to benefits for those Programs in this case through the Layer of mulch and the benefit Of reduction in erosion As well as the reduction In evaporative loss from the soil Which is where the water savings Is gained. Next slide please All of our outreach campaigns Are bilingual and English and Spanish and the Campaign was designed To be used across a variety of Different platforms. I think You're familiar with Facebook Obviously but depending On your age group there's A lot of outreach That we do on other social Platforms such as Instagram And Twitter The ad campaign is also Something that can be embedded In all of our agencies e-news Outreach newsletters As well as our websites And there is a link To the partnership website and Each of the ads that will Enable people to access Additional program information And a little bit more in-depth Information on the current Outreach campaigns that's Driving the Winter outreach campaign. Next slide please. And with that I mentioned that All of our outreach campaigns Are meant to be amplified by All of our partners in The partnership and I think At this time it would be nice If we would like to go around And maybe a couple of partner Agencies can add to What they're doing In addition to the Winter Outreach that's been displayed here. Madam chair this is Drew I'd like to follow up after Paul. Okay. Thanks Paul. Paul before just Having any other Contractors that wants to Add more comments as far As what's being done locally Before we do that For the benefit of the new WAC members You know one of the things that I Wanted to just quickly touch on Is that the Sonoma Merit Tago Water Partnership Program Is really A robust Program for many years Has been well recognized in The industry and can you just Touch again on Some of the awards that have been Received from EPA as part Of the water sense? Yeah Back too far to recall all of them But We were just recently The recipient of Two EPA water sense awards For 2020 An excellence award For co-branding Of water sense programs And then Partnered year of the award for One of our outstanding programs Which is the Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper Program But We've received Water sense awards Typically more than one Each year going back for Almost the last six or eight Years Again I've kind of lost count Of the actual number of years And then I would like to bring Attention too to Our garden sense program this year For 2020 Which is a collaborative partnership To provide In-house Residential site visits to Customers that are looking At ways to transition their Landscapes to low water use but Need a little bit of additional Expertise The Master Gardener program Received a 2020 Outstanding Outreach Award from the Irrigation Association how to Rest in Virginia this year So we're very excited that We're going to be doing this Consultants that do such a great Job to help that program Success Thanks Paul And again we're not Just recognizing the time that We're not going to go through all The water contractors individually But any water contractor want to Just add on What's being done locally In addition to what Paul has Reported For raising your hand Thanks Drew So thank you Paul for The update and the information I thought it would be helpful if We shared the activities that we Have been taking in Santa Rosa You know we've Been through this before When we've had dry years and so We really were doing everything We could to be prepared so In addition to reviewing Our water shortage plan that's Currently in place and activities That we might need to implement As well as working on our update To our shortage plan for The 2020 Urban water management plan We did go back and review all The activities that we did during The last drought Period And to make sure that we're Really getting the word out and Help supplement what's going out Through this number in partnership With a campaign And our campaign fits Nicely with the partnerships campaign The message is it's a dry year Do your part to be water smart And we're really driving home to Our customers different water smart Tips where they can get Information on free water Saving devices where they can get Our do-it-yourself water smart Checkup kit as well as rebates And resources. We've been Putting information out through Our media channels through Our website. We actually have City connections email distribution List that hits I believe 90,000 Accounts. So we're using That distribution Every I think week it goes out We're using that method as well We've recently launched some radio Ads so if you are Listening to local one country radio You might hear some of the radio Ads coming out from Santa Rosa We're putting information out through Our channels, our envelopes And our bill inserts In particular We're also updating our board Of public utilities, our city council And then we're working closely With a subset of our board To continue to look at additional Activities we might want to implement I think the most important thing That we want to continue to just emphasize Is we're here, we have tools We have resources, we can help you Eliminate water waste, we can help I think as the water You know Retailers in this region We're here to help And make sure that we get through this We've done this before, we know how to do it We know how to work together closely As partners and with this normal water To ensure that we are Efficient. So that's all the activities That we're helping supplement In Santa Rosa as well as pushing Out the messaging and the Campaign from the partnership Thanks Jennifer. Anybody else From any other tech members From any other water contractors Want to add on to that? One thing I do want to mention As you heard from Jennifer Just a very robust Program Locally I just want to Point out the benefits Of the partnership again as The different contractors are sending out Messaging that the messaging Is coordinated And common messaging Between all the water contractors Which is really important In our new shed and customers You know, working in one town And living in another that they're not hearing Different messages and stuff So I think that's a really strong Benefit of the partnership and the Good work that Paul has coordinated In working With the water conservation Subcommittee of the water Contractors as well At Northburn Water District just Real briefly similar to All the other contractors as far as Pushing out these Different message Posts That Paul has already Posted or reviewed Doing that in social media We've already done a newsletter Around websites and similar To Santa Rosa we're pushing this Out via an email Distribution list. Northburn Water District has all of our Accounts now on AMI So it allows us when we When we did that allows us to We have a much more Expansive email list For making outreach to our customers And we're also looking at Developing a newsletter That will be mailed out to All the customers and give them An update on water conditions This year as well So Okay, any other Susan, I get to turn this back Over to you if you wanted to see if there Any other questions and comments from The public. Perfect. I just wanted to thank Paul I really do like the Simplisticness of the message It's something that people Can really get their arms Around you know it's a dry year Saved with us and it's short And sweet so So I think that people can kind of Remember that and having that At the top of all the ideas I think is really Helpful because it kind of Reminds people in simple terms And I see Eastern Gina I see One raised hand I want to attend Margaret DeGenova I will go ahead and allow her to speak Thank you Please go ahead Hi, thank you this is Margaret DeGenova from California American Water and along With the items that were mentioned I also wanted to mention One thing that we're doing And that is we are still Having a A water audit that we do For our customers although We do not go into customers Homes at this point we do it as A virtual water audit Where we go in and Check to see what devices they Are in the house or if Certain things need to be updated Their toilets Possibly your washing machine And just we work with The customer individually but it's all Pretty much virtual So that was just one thing I just Wanted to point out thank you Thank you Margaret And I am seeing no other Public hands raised Madam chair Paul if I may add Another comment to end Margaret brings up a great Point which is that during COVID times there's been a lot Of effort by the partners to Shift programming to be able To ensure that our customers Still have the same level of Services during stay At home orders so Our water smart home program Is being offered in a virtual Realm I know Santa Rosa has done Other work there's been A huge number Of public workshops offered Over the last several months And last summer which normally Are in person but have been offered Through zoom and the Participation has been really Really good similarly with The quell program we were Quickly able to pivot and Get all of that training Available for online classes Including remote proctoring To meet the epa water sense Requirements and a virtual Irrigation audit as one of the Requirements for that program as well The Sonoma waters Education energy and Education program I want to highlight Ryan Pedrati staff's work to Very quickly transition all of Their programming for public schools To offer both synchronous And asynchronous lessons That match up what All of the school districts Are having to adhere To in terms of the current COVID And then lastly just want to Give a shout out to Our community and government Affairs staff for all their help And assistance and providing Input on the outreach campaign Thank you for that Paul and thank you To everyone for all the work That's being done Sam did you have a question Just a comment when it's time Sure you now is the time Okay From Windsor I just Wanted to this may not be the time To raise it but when we were going Through our rate process Setting rates for water Through our consultant We had to eliminate our life line Or conservation the first year Because of a fear of litigation And I Didn't quite understand it I argued But consultants With their expertise Tend to take the day so in other Words if you have too low A tier the idea is That other customers are subsidizing That tier but I Didn't quite understand because Everyone gets that first amount Of water at the lowest rate so That's something I think we should look at 110 gallons Of water a day per capita That's pretty outrageous for Me I can be down to 20 As low as 10 I do have An odor maybe to my body But It's something that people can do And then the other thing is I'm wondering if the town of Windsor Could work with Paul to get maybe something on Our electronic board just some flashes To tell people where we're at That tends to be in Windsor Somewhat important So thank you. Thank you Sam. Mike did you have a question Or a comment? Or was that just your hand moving? Okay. Any other questions or comments From the Wacker attack? I'm seeing no hands. So thank you again Paul It was a great presentation and We're all in this together. Drew did you Have something? I did not. We will move on to item 11 Which is the tax finance subcommittee Update for 2021-22 Draft budget Something exciting that everybody loves So I believe Kimberly Zanino is going To take care of this. I am. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Good morning Madam Chair and members Of the Wack and Tack. I'm just going To give you a short update on the budget Recommendation process for the Sonoma Subcommittee. This is a submission budget for fiscal Year 21-22. The technical advisory budget subcommittee Is currently working with Sonoma Water to review and work towards a Recommendation for the budget. The subcommittee members include Representatives from Sonoma Water, Windsor, Katadi, Santa Rosa, North Marin, Marin Municipal, Valley of the Moon and Sonoma. So far we have held two meetings. We will possibly have one more Meeting but we may be able to Complete our work electronically as In the last meeting we had most of Our questions and comments addressed But if we need to we'll schedule one more And we expect to have Completed our work within the next couple Of weeks and be prepared for a Recommendation. And that is My short update for today but I'm Happy to answer any questions if Anybody has any. Thank you. Does anybody on the Wack Or Tack have any questions? Mike? Yeah, I was just hoping that we could Get a preview of what you're expecting That Recommendation to look like. We started Higher than I think others wanted or all Of the contractors wanted to see But we have worked with Sonoma Water And reduced and we are all now Making decisions on our capital Contribution For each year to determine where the Final numbers sit. There are A couple of questions Still coming to Lynn that are More contractor specific But for Santa Rosa anyway It looks like it will be Slightly under 4%. Thank you. Any other Wack Or Tack questions? I think while we've got If I can Madam Chair. This is Grant. Mike, thanks for asking that question. I get mainly for the benefit of the Wack members if they haven't been Through this before putting this in Context that this subcommittee has Been working diligently as it's Been reported. There has been a longstanding Commitment to stick With a long range financial plan That has Prescribed rates between a range Of anywhere from 3% to 6% And that's what's allowing to keep Our good bond rating. A lot of the Tack members Are working hard to make sure that We're considering COVID and I want to assure the Wack Members that we have been and that Is something we've heard is what's Resulted in an Agreement to reduce some of the Capital that would have been Used for key projects and that's Sort of I think how I characterize This but I want you to know that Your members on the finance Committee have been Very diligently making sure that The current challenges that folks Are experiencing and I wanted Wack members to know we've done that And that's why we're at that range Right now is we've heard them And made adjustments and it's Been a very good process. Thank you for that Grant. I have to say again for the new Members having Been Associated with the Wack for quite Some time I can remember In the early days when this wasn't Such a pleasant conversation And under Grant's leadership It's really been a lot more collaborative And there really is They work really very hard to keep It within that three to six percent So that we as Contractors can have A little bit of stability in Setting our rates for our constituents Because we all know that we're The ones that have to Face them when they're not The rate increases so Thank you for that Grant because I know you and your group Has worked really hard to work with Us on that and that was not always The case. So any other Questions on this I will open this up For public comment On this item I am not seeing any hands Eastern Gina Do you see any? I don't see any raised hands Great, thank you We will move on Thank you, Kimberly For that presentation and good luck I know you guys will get there We will move on to the Biological opinion Update. Pam I believe you're going to do this today I am, thank you Madam Chair Thank you We'll just put the update up Thank you for putting that up There is There was along with the Agenda and the Many other handouts to go along With this meeting The update that you see in front of you Has a nice photo down below Chinook salmon captured on our cameras At our Maribel inflatable dam And also a nice photo Of the estuary so hopefully Everybody will get a chance to take a look at that I am going to Briefly go through this and then Open it up for questions I also want to put Gina and Easter on notice That at the end David Manning Is going to sort of wrap up This information With the very last item That's at the end so if you could Make it so that he could speak That would be great So I'm just going to Give you a synopsis by Subject matter here The fish flow Habitat and water rights project Of course we continue to work On a draft environmental impact Report which we hope to have Recirculated in 2021 And hopefully Everybody will Be able to see that this year We're doing a lot of work To get this done and If we get to have our Public policy facilitating Committee this year which I think we will I got cancelled last year due to COVID hopefully you'll get an update On some additional Work that's being done for public Outreach associated with that project So some additional videos That have been completed Hopefully everybody will get to view those As part of that Public policy facilitating committee meeting So as far as dry creek habitat enhancement Goes A lot of work got done this last Summer including Completion Of Some work out there that was Required to be completed in 2021 by hamford There's two more pieces To the remaining part of phase Three that are planned to be constructed In 2021 During the normal construction season And hamford also Completed some maintenance work For us this last summer I think I reported on that before to the WAC So We've been busy conducting a lot of Physical and biological surveys On the sites that have Have been Created and or maintained As part of this project And Involves things like Surveying topography, the symmetry In the creek, velocity And depth of water And looking at the structure That has been installed Log jams, pools, riffles Those types of things So on several occasions When they've been out there doing the Sport they have seen Observed fish Spawning in those locations All three species So that's really good news To know that Those enhanced Habitats are being Needed Our work with the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers is proceeding Really well We are looking At beginning construction Of the phase four projects Next summer So phase four through six projects Are part of the work that we're doing With the Corps of Engineers And we do expect To be out there next summer Constructing that phase four work Which is really exciting We're working with the Corps To review the 99% design documents At this point And finish off some of the right-of-way Work that needs to be done for that There Is a big package That will go out pretty soon And That will Possibly contain All of this work that'll be completed In 2021 and 22 We're also In the process Of procuring logs And large wood material for that Construction next summer And that work Of obtaining those materials And purchasing those materials Will count towards our local match For this project The 35% local match That we have With the Corps of Engineers So that works proceeding right now The other thing that is going on Is they do continue And this is all associated with the phase four through six Projects with the Corps Is they do continue to work on right-of-way For the phase five work And they expect Phase five to begin in 2022 So Down to where the fish picture is We have Had some challenges Dealing with COVID And getting all the fish monitoring work Required under the biological Community completed But we've managed to do it There was a little bit of work Down in the estuary, some sainting work That didn't get done Because it couldn't be carried out safely But all of the rest of the objectives For monitoring were Met during 2020 And there's a lot of numbers In this update right here In total they sampled Fish populations in 66 tributaries They captured And observed over 82,000 individual fish Of which almost 70,000 were salmon or steelhead And they assisted the Corps of Engineers in tagging 30,000 Hatchery Cocoa Destined for release out in the tributaries And again, as I said before We have witnessed or Observed Chinook and Cocoa's Descending in our Newly created habitats in Dry Creek The next item Is the Russian River Estuary Management Project There's been a lot of closures And openings In the estuary, there were Eight closures In 2020 And So two of those were during The estuary management season Which is from May 15th to October 15th We artificially Reach the barrier beach Four times all outside The lagoon management season And so far this year The river mouth is closed Four times And it's currently Unless something changed In the last two days that I'm not aware of I believe it's currently open The beach Is open at this point We do expect to Submit our draft 2021 Adaptive management plan To the resource agencies as required By the biological opinion by April 1st So we continue To meet with the resource Agencies monthly to talk about The adaptive management Not necessarily the plan itself But findings and such And we'll work towards that Adaptive management plan Submitted on April As far as interim flow changes Go As Don stated earlier Our order from last year That was issued on July 20th Only 20 expired in December And Don gave a really good update On what's going on In terms of water supply Condition and the order Sorry, the petition that we filed In early January So I'm not going to go through that But we're happy to answer questions When we get to the end of this And again We are hoping to see an order From the state water board very soon To give us more Even more flexibility than we have Right now in terms of operating Lake Mendocino specifically Which is the reservoir that we are The most concerned about And here at the bottom Is some fish data So if David Manning could Jump in here Wanted to have him cover this For the state water board That was issued last July And the monitoring And the coordination That was required under that order So David, if you can Speak at this point, your turn Great, hi Pam Everybody hear me? Yep, yeah Perfect So one of the terms In the orders you can bring there Was for us to coordinate With the resource agencies Particularly around flows To facilitate the migration Of the spawning of Mainly Chinook salmon But because it was dry for so long Also Coho salmon and steel head So the table that you see there With the totals represents Essentially the season total For Chinook salmon Which is a record low unfortunately For us The Coho salmon count is Still migrating in the river and the steel head Really just beginning to migrate And you can see Through the end of the year That seasonality, that pattern To the movement of the fish And on that same figure You'll see those gray bar areas Are enclosures during that time Of the river mouth That Pam described That definitely affected The timing Of the migration as did The really dry conditions So seeing these first fish Begin to arrive towards the end of October It's very late For the timing that we typically see In the river And we waited In consultation with the resource agencies Until we had seen what looked like The beginning of a push Of migrating fish and open estuary Conditions to raise the flow To a minimum level That our studies in the past have found Allows fish to move through the lower river So In these eight meetings with the resource agencies They're very aware of the need for us To try to conserve water In the reservoir And use some of that conserved water To revive for the spawning conditions To fish in need So you see that orange line Represents the flow in the lower river And hops into bridge when the flow Is above about 130 You would see per second And then that darker line with the flow At Healdsburg when the flow there Is above 100 CFS It allows fish to move into the upper river So the resource agencies are very pleased Through our consultation with them They're very able to breathe the needs of the fish And And wait and use the water that we had available As fugitiously As we could to provide those conditions Unfortunately The run of fish was rather small There are some reasons for that If we look back That Webney's fish Were hatched Emerged from the gravel as young fry Back in 2017 and 2018 I feel recall that was a winter That had extended periods of very high stream flow And it appears from our Counts of young fish That spring Of 2018 That we had a lot of Issues with fish Eggs and fry Surviving those high flows As is common in a lot of coastal rivers When the flow gets really high like that It scours those nests out of the stream bed And we see the consequences of that Three years later When the adult fish from that Year class return to the river And that's in fact what we've seen This year. We've also heard that That's a trend that's been mirrored Coast wide. A lot of other rivers Suffered that same fate That flows and it depressed the number Of young fish We're hoping to see a rebound In future years for reference Our high point in the returning number Of Chinook salmon was in 2012 At almost 7,000 returning fish So this is quite a dramatically low number And we hope that trend does not continue So we all can One of the terms of the order Moving forward that Don mentioned Should be approved by the state board This week to continue these frequent Relations with the resource agencies Around now providing Flow for coast salmon steelhead But also considering the needs Of those fry As they emerge from the gravel And some of those yearling And two-year-old fish That need to get out to the ocean To complete their life cycle So the focus changes a little bit To different age classes of fish And different species But it's still a concern for us To allow the survival of these threatened Endangered fish That's all I have Pam Great, thank you David I think that's all we have Madam chair I don't know if there are any questions Well thank you so much David And Pam I am Looking to see if there are any Hands waving And or hands put up Questions on this item What a thorough report It seems like there's like a Sweet spot for the fish Not too much not too They kind of like it right in the middle We can't seem to get the weather To cooperate in the middle for us That Goldilocks thing We can't seem to nail it Exactly, exactly So I will open this up for public comment Anyone from the public have Any comments on this I Am not seeing Any hands raised I don't have any hands raised Thank you so much For that Then thank you again Pam and David For all of your wonderful information And we will move on To item 13 The PVP Relicensing update This one too Yeah and I'm going to apologize Right off the bat Somebody's leaf blower Just started It's like right next door So I apologize if you have background noise Between that My dog it's always zoom It's always an adventure It's okay I have grandkids on zoom So they're running back I can hear them running up and down the hall So they're late Okay as far as the power valley project Relicensing goes I think It's the last time this group met The WAC met We filed a really important filing With Burke in mid December And that filing was a response To the comments that were made By all of the stakeholders Including the resource agencies Those comments were due in November We had a month to respond To them To file any differences that we had With them So that filing happened in mid December Which was a big milestone for us It was a lot of work to get through it And get it done Partners should be pretty proud Of getting that done and completed The schedule That we're on Was included after that Filing the next thing that was Supposed to happen was in mid January The Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Burke Was supposed to release A study plan determination So they were supposed to take everybody's Comments into consideration Including our responses to those Comments and finalize A study plan So we haven't seen that study Plan determination yet It's a couple weeks late at this point But we again were expecting it In mid January So we're not sure when we're going To see it. We know they're working on it They actually have Burke As an outside consultant putting that Together for them But we're not sure when we're going to see it At this point So we're waiting for that We did have a meeting Of Congressman Huffman's Ad hoc committee Last Friday And Drew participated in that meeting I don't know if he wants to say anything Or not But we tended to Sort of be a A go over of that study plan Determination which we didn't have So we didn't talk about that so much But we did talk about A number of the items that we're working Really hard on The stakeholders and their partners Are working really hard on And that is we know that There's a lot of work to be done Once the study plan determination Is issued A lot of studies specifically To be done and they're pricey And so we're working really hard To find funding To get those studies done And in order So that we can implement those studies Once we do have a study Plan determination from Burke So we're kind of In a holding pattern right now But we are working really hard on Some of these Not specific To the studies but things related To including Looking at again What this group is going to look like In the future Looking at how we're going to fund The studies and very sort of Ancillary items that need to be Part of the work that Partners that we are one Of are doing So with that There's any questions I'd be Happy to answer them So if you want to say anything about The ad hoc meeting feel free Pam You pretty much Captured what I had of the notes That the meeting wasn't Wasn't too long And it was focused a lot On funding And congressmen Huffman talked There was discussion about the omnibus bill And other avenues Of funding so I think as all of it Recognize This next Waiting for FERC to respond Back on the proposed studies That once that response Is Been made And obviously there's What I think the common term Is 8 to 12 million dollars Worth of studies Over what's currently Proposed as a two year period And that's not a lot of time And that's certainly an awful lot Of money that still needs To be found so that's The one thing that The group Huffman ad hoc group is They are scheduling another meeting In about 30 days so I would Expect that funding will be First and foremost On any future meetings In the future So That's all I wanted to have Thank you Drew and Pam Any questions from the Wacker Tack On this Seeing no hands Public comment On this item Any of the attendees Have any questions on this I'm seeing no hands I see no hands Okay we agree So that's great thank you so much And hopefully you'll get Information back soon And we'll find a pot of gold Somewhere maybe St. Patrick's day or something I don't know Because that's not A small sum of money To get those studies done So thank you for that So now we'll move on to the Emergency Training Coordination Subcommittee update And Stephen Hancock I believe that you're going to take this item Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. And good morning members of the WAC and TAC. Happy 2021, hopefully one full of fresh opportunity. My name is Stephen Hancock. I am the emergency preparedness and response manager with Sonoma Water. One of the tasks that I had the fortunate opportunity to be a part of last year was helping establish the emergency training and coordination subcommittee. The initial efforts of that subcommittee were really kind of determining what were the areas that we want to focus on? What were the priorities that we can develop or flesh out that really enhance our ability to support and work with each other during emergency disaster events? Unfortunately, this area has no shortage of those types of events. So it's fresh in everybody's mind. And there was plenty of opportunities for us to focus on. One of the two items I have in front of you were really the two areas that rose to the top as far as kind of key cornerstone areas for us to put into place first to really enhance our interagency coordination as well as our interoperability. So I'm just gonna present to you on these two items. These are just presentations for information only. There's no action coming at this point. And what I wanna focus on, I'm gonna focus on one, the Mutual Aid and Assistance Program which is item B in the agenda. The Mutual Aid and Assistance Program, most of you are very familiar with law and fire and EMS and in the robust refined mutual aid system, they utilize, we see it day in and day out. Anytime there's a structure fire and agencies are immediately responding from neighboring jurisdictions to help each other. That is, it's an amazing system. It's one that can provide quick and real-time resources to agencies who otherwise would not have the resources needed to mitigate that incident. Unfortunately, the water and wastewater systems typically do not have similar type of systems. So if we run into issues where we have developing or escalating incidents, and if we don't have the immediate resources available, it's a little bit more complex and cumbersome to try and bring in mutual assistance or neighboring agencies or contract work to support it. So what we're working on creating is what we're calling a Mutual Aid and Assistance Program. This is modeled off the California statewide agreement, but one that's gonna position the Sonoma Water Agency along with all the prime water contractors in a mutual assistance program. So if we have developing or escalating incidents, we can quickly and in real time reach out to our neighboring partners and bring in additional resources to support it. Having this agreement in place allows us kind of a little bit more of a timely access to these resources without having to go through some of the administrative challenges or hurdles we might otherwise have to go through, including compensation, reimbursement, management, use, workers' compensation, all those types of things. Those will be worked out as we develop and flesh out this Mutual Aid and Assistance Program. A draft of the program is currently under review by members of the Emergency Trading and Sort of Coordination Subcommittee. As soon as we get that review complete, we'll create this next draft, which will then go back to each of the agency's legal entity for review. Ideally, we wanna get it back for the WAC intact for approval and consideration prior to June 30, 2021. And once we can get agreement there, we do wanna get it back to the governing boards of each of the participating agencies for their formal adoption. Once we get that formal adoption in place, assuming we can get that, then we'll actually build out and kind of flesh out what are the policies and procedures and things we need to really enable us to quickly and efficiently help each other, whether that's through combined training efforts, Mutual Aid and Sharing Systems, policies, procedures, can really handle even sometimes, not wouldn't say basic, but your baseline complex type incident, having the ability to reach across to our political boundaries, to our neighbors who have skilled professionals who might be able to come assist us or for us to be able to go assist you, it really provides a great resource to not only the agency, but the community to really reconstitute operations in a quick and safe way. So hopefully there'll be more to come on that. Just wanted to give you an update. Once we can get this established, then it really kind of opens up the door for lots of other opportunities where we can continue to build and share resources that could ultimately be a result of this Mutual Aid Assistance Program. The second item, which is a Gen Item A, is the Emergency Alert and Notification System. One of the other takeaways from our initial conversations with the Emergency Training and Coordination Subcommittee were having timely communications and the ability to get real-time or current information effectively from Sonoma water to the prime water contractors. So we did some exploring, we did some system reviews and we have implemented a system which we are calling Sonoma Water Alert Notification System, ideally with the intent of providing us real-time, quick and accurate communication systems. So it's an enhancement to our communications. Many of you have similar type systems in your local agencies. The county uses it, do the Department of Emergency Management. I know the city of Santa Rosa uses the same system. Really what it does, it provides us the opportunity to establish predefined groups. And this could be for, if we have a water system impact and we need to talk to our water operators immediately, if there's an estuary closure and we need to provide notifications to all the stakeholder agencies in a timely way, we can have these predefined groups activate that group and we can push out information almost simultaneously to everybody within minutes and then pulling them into a conference bridge, putting them in a, yes, I can respond or no, I cannot. So how we can, we have the ability to customize that. It does provide us some limited mapping capability in some of our areas if we need to provide notifications to people within a geographic boundary, we have that functionality as well. Really the critical part of this for us, along with our water contractors is for us to push out timely information. This would have been, this was highlighted through recent events we have experience where we need to pull, whether it's for the fires, whether it's even COVID-19, we wanted to convene the groups and typically we've relied on email to convene the groups and we recognize one, it can get buried in email quickly and two, not everybody checks their email all the time. So having the ability to send them a text message, send a call, send them an email, all simultaneously directing them to a conference bridge or a Zoom call provides us a little bit more of an efficient and effective way to communicate critical and necessary information. So we do have this system, we've brought it online, we are working on the training and some groups established. We are gonna be working with the Emergency Training and Coordination Subcommittee to identify what types of groups and who would be a part of them from an operational level up to an administrative or an executive level if needed. We're looking to have this system online by March 15th and then we'll continue to build out and provide notifications groups and then test and exercises the system as we move along. That's the end of our report for those two items and I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any. Thank you so much, Stephen. I do have one question in the Mutual Aid Assistance Program. You had said that you would like to have it approved by the TAC and the WAC by June 30th and so based upon scheduling our next meeting after our special meeting is May 4th, would it be ready at that point for us to address that? That's my hope. Okay. Well, we'll play it accordingly. That will be my target. Okay. That will be my target. If we need to adjust that, we'll certainly know that soon enough. It'll be dependent upon the ability to get through each of the participating agencies and legal review. Because I understand that can be a timely process too. So that's a target. We will certainly communicate back to this group if that pushes out. Okay, because then other than that, our next opportunity wouldn't be till August. Okay, understood. Okay. Questions? Jennifer. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Stephen, for the presentation. I think this is great. The more we continue to coordinate and work on our emergency response, because as you noted, there's no shortage that seems to be occurring or what we might be experiencing in the future. I did have a couple of questions and maybe they're just things to bring back to the subcommittee, I'm not sure. But one, just in terms of the mutual aid, I think that's really a great idea. And I'm also curious how that works with those of us that are already part of the CalWarn mutual aid system. Are we, does this coordinate well and supplement? Are we duplicating efforts? Just wanna understand that a little bit better. And again, maybe that's something you need to bring back and discuss with the subcommittee and then bring that back in the future, I'm not sure. And then the second question I had is, we have very well-defined protocols and roll-ups of how we implement and activate in the event of an emergency. And I'm guessing other cities may be similar in that we are just a department in our overall emergency operations response in our EOC. So are you also rolling up and coordinating through Sonoma County's EOC because that's typically where our interactions occur as a city with the county and then we coordinate internally. So just wanna make sure all those pieces are thought through. The more we can coordinate and share information, I think it's gonna be great, but I also just wanna make sure that everything understands sort of rules and responsibilities so we're not stepping on each other's toes in some way during an emergency. Those are excellent questions, both of those. And I can answer them to your first question, how this relates to the California Water Systems Response Network, CalWARN Mutual Aid Agreement, which is a federal program. CalWARN is the statewide version. I spoke directly to the CalWARN State Chair or State President about this and what this really is is that enhancement or an augmentation to that, it doesn't replace it. So having the ability right now if we needed to receive assistance from the city of Petaluma to the city of Windsor or Sonoma, you'd need to go to the California Office of Emergency Services, specifically the California Utilities Emergency Association who would then contact CalWARN President. The CalWARN network, it would get pushed out across the state and whoever was available would then respond directly to the requesting agency. This is really an effort to kind of refine our geographic area and put us in a position to have direct communication. So if we had a local incident where it's a little bit more isolated and just one jurisdiction's impacted, then it provides us a much more efficient and effective way to get some resources from neighboring jurisdictions in a much more timely way. Obviously, if this is a regional impact and we're all suffering for resources, then we would all turn to that CalWARN agreement and then we would bring in resources from across the state or even outside the state at that point. So it is in conjunction the agreement that's being reviewed by the committee at this point is actually built off the CalWARN agreement, one of which the president has noted has been provided to agencies in Los Angeles County and Orange County where they have also developed local agency agreements directly. The second part of that is yes, we do coordinate. We work with County Department of Emergency Management. I talked with Jeff DuVall probably a couple of times every week and really I know it's a very tricky situation because we have kind of a dotted line, solid line coordination with our water contractors because of the interdependencies we have, but from an emergency management functional system, you do work within your cities and towns for those of you that are not districts and you have to follow that EOC to the off area EOC. So what we're trying to do is really kind of integrate this mutual aid system into that off area wide system. There's some inherent challenges with that as we are limiting it to Sonoma Water Agency along with the prime water contractors at this point. It's not representative of every water district or agency in the operational area. So there are some things we need to fine tune but County DEM is absolutely at the table and supporting this process. Thank you, I appreciate that information. That's very helpful. Thank you for the questions. Any other questions from the WAC or TAC members? Gina or Susan? Yes. This is Drew. I just wanna, especially for the new WAC members, I wanna reemphasize, you know, Stevens and thanks, Stephen for his report. This engineering training and coordination subcommittee that has been formed, that Steven is the chair right now really directly addresses the Sonoma County grand jury report that was two years ago now, I believe that was entitled, Will there be water after an earthquake? And talk, it had different recommendations and one of them was just related to improving communication between the agency and the water contractors. And this is definitely through this coordination subcommittee and the reports that you're hearing right now are some of the elements of just doing that with improving communication. So again, wanna thank Steven and the subcommittee for these various efforts that will benefit all of us. Thank you, Drew. Any other questions from the WAC or TAC? I'm not seeing any hands. Public comment on this item, I am not seeing any hands raised. Gina, do you see any? I do not. Okay, Steven, thank you so much for this report. We, as Jennifer pointed out, we are not shy of having emergencies. So this is something that's really important. I think it's really just really goes to show how in Sonoma County we all work together to make sure that our county and all of its cities have what they need in order to move forward. So anything we can do to do that, that's wonderful. So then we will move on to items for the next agenda. What I thought I heard is the possibility of having this mutual aid assistance program. So we will kind of pencil that in. Any other items from anyone on the WAC or TAC? Not seeing any hands. I want to remind folks that on April 5th, we will have a special WAC-TAC meeting to approve the budget for 2021-22. And then our next regular meeting with items on it will be May 4th, 2021. So I'm not seeing any hands raised. Drew, did you have something to add to that? I do not. You do not. And do we have any public comment on this item? I am not seeing any. There are no raised hands. Thank you so much, Nina. And I want to know, Grant, so how did you get out of speaking this time? Usually we have quite a few items for you. Somehow you lucked out this meeting. I never get a chance to say, but we've got the most remarkable staff. I know you all have great staff too, but time and time again, everybody's putting their expertise and I can sit back and only chime in if I'm asked. But I do want to thank the new members of the WAC for agreeing to take on this assignment. And Mike Haley, welcome back. As the vice chair, you've been a stalwart of this. And Susan, I just appreciate you continuing to carry on your leadership. So let's hope we have a productive year and make gainful improvements. Thank you, Grant. Yes, welcome to all the new members. You have lots of reading material to study up on. I'm sure you'll be there. And thank you again, Mike, for agreeing to fulfill David's spot. And with that, if there are no other pressing issues, I will adjourn this meeting actually eight minutes early. So take care, everyone, and be safe. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye. Thank you, bye. Bye.


Hello, this is a short video on how to send email in GeoSci 10 through Canvas. This is a little bit different than other courses because it is essential that you send email to all of the teachers and all of the TAs every single time. So I'm going to walk through this. You'll see here I am in Canvas. I clicked on the inbox and I selected GeoSci 10 National Park. So you can see you can select various courses. I'm going to select the course. Then I'm going to create a new message. I'm going to hit the little folder or person icon here, select teachers, Richard.  Now depending on the semester that you're viewing this, the TAs names will be different. But all of those names that are under teacher need to be put into the two section right here. I'm going to do a descriptive subject line and the body and then hit send. Now again, so if you have an email that you've received from one of the TAs, you're going to have to do the same thing. So you're going to, again, you're going to hit reply instead of compose new message. But I don't have anything to reply to at this time. I'm going to do the same thing, click two teachers and select each of these. This is essential that you do this in order to receive a timely response. There are 1,200 of you and only four of us and it's very, very important that we all have an opportunity to see it and respond to your email. So please be very fastidious about sending all of your emails to all of the teachers. Thank you.


There was a fantastic mix of entries from all across it was very very fair and the best part was the selection of jury because there were people from all walks of life. The jury is I think one of the most diverse juries that I have ever seen in any awards and I think that's that's what really gives this whole awards that the strength. I'm looking forward to a whole day of going through news clippings and giving my vote for who's the best anchor, the best program, the best news channel so on and so forth. The biggest thing about the jury is that they are from every field. They have not taken any specific area, they have kept all of them together. So everyone has their own vision and because of which this award is completely unexpected and it can be done in a very good way. The experience has been tough to put it in in short the entries have been fabulous and one finds it really difficult to choose the winners.