Our September meeting was the first in-person meeting since we went dark in March of 2020.  We had a moderate turnout of attendees probably because folks are still being cautious about venturing out – which is okay, but we would like to see a larger crowd in the future.

The speaker for the meeting was Tony Firenzi.  As the Director of Strategic affairs at Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), Tony looks at the big, long-term picture of the state of water supply in the region, and it was evident from his presentation.  In his presentation, Tony talked about the effect of climate change andthe resulting loss of Sierra snowpack; which in turn stressesthe water supply systems, especially in the American River basin, increases water temperature (critical for salmon and other aquatic lives), and also increases demand on groundwater.  Some of the data that he presented on Sierra snowpack (or lack of it) and year-to-year unpredictability of water supply will make anyone living in the area concerned.  He discussed several initiatives that PCWA is considering.  He described the idea of the planned Sacramento Regional Water Bank which would intertie local water agencies and balance surface water and groundwater demands.  He also talked about the River Arc project which is one piece of the puzzle in the regional water supply system that would relieve the already stressed American River watershed and maintain future water supply in the region.