The City of Healdsburg discharged partially treated wastewater without a Clean Water Act permit to 60 acre abandoned gravel mine called Basalt Pond adjacent to the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.  The mine pit had become its own aquatic system with wetlands and shared fish and wildlife native to the Russian River that had developed over a 20 year period. There is a continuous underground connection between the two waterbodies and pollution from the discharge was going into the Russian River. In August, 2006 the 9th Circuit upheld the lower court decision finding that the gravel pit had become waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act and therefore Healdsburg was discharging without a permit.  This was the first appellate decision to apply the Supreme Court ruling in Rapanos v. United States (June, 2006). 

Attorney: Charlie Tebbutt