Sonoma County dairy farmer laments rising cost of recycled water
Back in the 1980s, when Santa Rosa was paying ranchers to use recycled wastewater for irrigation, dairyman Doug Beretta considered it a sweet deal. … Beretta is one of the 61 ranchers who last year received 788 million gallons of recycled water from the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant to irrigate 6,400 acres that produce milk, hay, grapes and vegetables. The agricultural water system, with 26 miles of pipe, stretches from Rohnert Park nearly to the county airport south of Windsor.