[GPSCC-chat] Water, water nowhere.

[Wes Rolley]

One of the more important local elections this fall will be fore 
Directors of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.  This is all the 
more critical as we are in the 3rd year of what appears to be an 
extended drought... maybe even the establishment of a new normal climate 
for our area.

The following Director terms end in December, 2014:

  * District 1. Dennis Kennedy
  * District 4. Linda J. Lazotte
  * District 6. Tony Estremera
  * District 7. Brian A Schmidt

If you don't know what district you are in, check the maps on this page: 
http://www.valleywater.org/About/Board_of_Directors/District_Boundaries.aspx

I live in District 1, the most rural of all the districts and know 
Kennedy since he was Mayor of Morgan Hill.    I will publicly endorse 
him this time, in particular after reading these  commenst about his 
role as an elected official:

 From one email:
> We, as water wholesalers, are limited by the enforcement measures 
> available. We must rely on the retailers; cities and water companies 
> to enforce our goals.
>
> I am angered by the careless disregard of some water waisters and will 
> do my best to get them to stop.
>
and from another:
> One of the toughest challenges for elected officials is changing the 
> mind set of some bureaucrats who have been "hunkered down" for a while.

I have seen this tendency to "hunker down" before.  I have also seen 
bureaucrats who will trust the consultants that they hired to justify a 
project before they listen to the public when it is critical of their 
efforts.  If for no other reason than this, I would not consider that a 
Director's experience working for the District to be a plus.  It is not 
necessarily a detriment but voters should consider whether the long time 
associations might be like blinder keep them from seeing the real problems.

I don't know the other Directors all that well.  But if they are your 
director, you should.  You should also begin to pay attention to such 
issues as the planned water bond that will give the state NO NEW WATER.

We also need to pay close attention to ground water use.  The State of 
CA has no system to inform planners as to how much ground water is being 
pumped nor how much is left.  As a result, we have some areas in the 
Central Valley  that are experiencing nearly a foot of subsidence per 
year.   Santa Clara County's experience with ground water pumping is 
very evident in Alviso.  This community was not always below sea level, 
even without the sea level rise we know is coming.

Finally, we also need to be sure that the District Board is up front 
considering the impact of sustained drought on their financial status.  
As Kennedy wrote, they are wholesalers.  That means they get revenue by 
selling water to retailers (cities, water companies).  When usage drops 
there is less revenue and so rates will necessarily have to rise just to 
cover the real expenses of supplying water.   Droughts of short duration 
can be handled by incurring more debt.  However, that can not be 
sustained.   District long term financial plans must be transparent.

You know what to look for.  Challenge the candidates in your districts 
to do the right things.

-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, 
then you are wasting your time on this Earth" - /Roberto Clemente/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/sosfbay-discuss_lists.cagreens.org/attachments/20140728/88687afa/attachment.html>