The State - News from Feb. 15, 1985

An announcement by the city of Santa Rosa that it might begin dumping millions of gallons of sewage into the Russian River drew the ire of the state Water Quality Control Board. The board said that it would place a moratorium on new sewer connections in Santa Rosa should the city carry out its threat, thus halting construction in one of the Bay Area’s fastest growing cities. The proposed dumping comes in the wake of a 1.5-million gallon sewer spill last weekend. The spill caused thousands of water customers down river to either boil water or buy boiled water. The spill occurred when rain runoff and overloaded storage ponds at the Santa Rosa waste treatment plant caused a pipe to burst.