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Politics & Government

Sonoma Gets Greener: City Aims for 20 Percent Water Use Reduction by 2020

City Engineer Toni Bertolero announced plan at Monday's City Council meeting; Council also endorses a state bill to ban Styrofoam

After a vote to , several green initiatives were lost in the retail shuffle.

City Engineer Toni Bertolero delivered a wide-ranging presentation centered around the city's goals for water conservation and the importance of complying with state mandates around conservation to remain eligible for grant money. 

She said the city is aiming for a 20 percent drop in per capita water use by 2020 -- which means cutting the city's gallons per capita per day (GPCD) to 195 by 2015, and 173 by 2020.

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Bertolero said the issue of controlling city rates is complicated by the large presence of tourists, who skew the person to water ratio because they use lots of water but are not included in the population count.

“Visitors use water but are not part of the population, so they don't affect per capita,” she said. “The system works well for largely bedroom communities without much in terms of commercial industry.”

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Also on Monday, the Council held a symbolic vote unanimously supporting the California Senate vote to ban polystyrene ( Styrofoam) in restaurants and schools.  That bill, which calls for phasing out Styrofoam by 2014, has yet to be voted on in the State Assembly.

“The health hazards of reheating St have been found to be real,” said Councilman Tom Rouse. “There are still a couple restaurants in town that use (Styrofoam containers), but the number is dwindling. There is no reason in my opinion for Styrofoam.”

Styrofoam isn't just used in area restaurants, a number of schools in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District still use Styrofoam, as uncovered in a Patch .

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