Wine Spill In Russian River Probably Won’t Affect Fish
Earlier this week, more than 97,000 gallons of cabernet sauvignon spilled from a tank at the Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg and eventually leaked into the Russian River. https://t.co/NNfx1oxVID
— KQED News (@KQEDnews) January 24, 2020
From the only in wine country department: almost 100,000 gallons of wine entered Sonoma County’s Russian River after an accident. Here’s the Santa Rosa Press Democrat with more and the potential impact on fish:
Charles Reed, a water board supervisor, said the higher river water level from recent rain likely helped dilute the wine that could have been attractive to smaller organisms fish use for food. …
While it’s early in the investigation, it’s technically a code violation to release any substance into the water that could harm fish, said Eric Laughlin, spokesman for fish and wildlife agency’s office of spill and prevention response.
And a little more from the Sacramento Bee on the fish not mixing well with the reds:
Dealing with a spilled liquid such as wine (at least when it’s mixed with water) is much different than dealing with a spill of something such as oil, Laughlin said.
“With something like oil or gasoline or diesel — something that floats on the surface — it would be a worse scenario because the birds would land in the oil that’s floating on the river,” Laughlin said.
“With wine, it dilutes pretty quickly; we could see a change in pH levels or dissolved oxygen that could kill fish, but we believe heavy rains helped with the dilution.”