Heavy overnight rainfall in Sonoma County has caused a spill of untreated wastewater into the Russian River in the Guerneville area, authorities said Tuesday.
Sonoma Water said in a press release that the Russian River Treatment Plant on Neeley Road was overwhelmed by the rainfall, causing it to reach capacity early Tuesday. Part of the discharge was traveling about a quarter-mile through a forested area before reaching the river downstream from Guerneville in the area of the Northwood community, the utility said.
Residents in the area were notified of the spill by an alert messaging system on Tuesday morning, according to Sonoma Water, while local regulatory agencies and environmental specialists were dispatched to the site to assess the spill’s impacts…