[Sosfbay-discuss] Santa Clara Valley Water District

[Andrea Dorey]

One of the things they need to do is get control of PRIVATE water  
companies that have less than five households that cannot be  
controlled regarding the use of water from their private wells  
(connected together to form a so-called water "company").  These are  
free to use as much water as they wish and are answerable only to  
their own membership, and to hell with everyone around them whose  
wells are going dry.
Andrea

On Jun 12, 2007, at 9:36 AM, Wes Rolley wrote:

> The Santa Clara Valley Water District seems to be walking a tight  
> rope.
> On Channel 2 today, I noted that most of the counties in the Bay Area
> have begun to request voluntary conservation measures for water due to
> the shut down of the pumps in Tracy. The total story is not getting  
> out
> to the public and it is not coming form the Water District.
>
> If you go to the Water District Web Site (http://www.valleywater.org/)
> you find that they are not saying much recently. Especially when  
> you go
> to the section of press releases, you note a May 31, 2007 release:  
> "The
> state shuts down Delta pumps. What does that mean for Santa Clara
> County’s water supply? We’re doubly threatened"  However, it looks  
> as if
> that press release has been pulled, since the link to the text is  
> broken.
>
> At the same time, the Morgan Hill Times today (and the Gilroy Dispatch
> last Saturday) reported that Valley Farmers would lose discounts
> <http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=216642>for water
> that they use in Agriculture.
>
> This appears to be moving faster than you can follow unless you are
> paying close attention.  However, I have noted several tendencies.
> - some will blame the California Endangered Species Act for the  
> problems
> now.   That was very clear in a KPIX (CBS5) report by Simon Perez  
> recently.
> - there will be calls for voluntary reductions couched in language  
> that
> makes this seem to be a temporary situation.
> - bureaucracies of all forms act in terms of self-preservation.  This
> came our when a State Depart of Water Resources scientist hinted that
> the problem was not the export of water from the delta, but rather an
> invasive species of clam that competed from food with the delta smelt.
> What the scientist did not say is that this species of clam is  
> oceanic,
> likes salt water rather than fresh, and if they are competing with the
> smelt for food it is only because the delta is becoming increasingly
> saline.
>
> What none of the agencies, water districts, cooperative users will say
> is that we have an increasing demand (population growth, more  
> intensive
> agriculture) for a diminishing supply of water (due to global  
> warming).
> The agencies have always operated on the assumption that there was an
> engineering solution to everything... build more dams, build more
> canals, lay more pipeline.
>
> The fact is that we are suffering from decades of poor planning and
> ineffectual oversight and it is time that communities started to  
> demand
> something better.
>
> I promised to lay out some new direction at a blog called delta  
> levees.
> It isn't there yet, but a number of the options are outlined in the
> reports that are linked from that site or from the delta links at
> http://cagreening.blogspot.com/
>
> We need to keep a close eye on what the water district is doing, Some
> consider them one of the more predatory of water districts in the  
> state
> and they have some degree of power given the role that State Sen.
> Simitian (D. Palo Alto) plays.  Some version of Simitian's  SB 27 will
> undoubtedly influence the direction that the State of California  
> takes.
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> "I find I have a great lot to learn – or unlearn. I seem to know  
> far too much and this knowledge obscures the really significant  
> facts, but I am getting on." -- Charles Rennie Mackintosh
>
> Wesley C. Rolley
> 17211 Quail Court
> Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> (408)778-3024
> http://www.refpub.com/
>
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