Everyone notices when the city raises its water rates, as Morgan
Hill has just done. There is almost always a protest over raising
rates when people have gotten used to saving water. At times it
feels as if being a good citizen is an invitation to take a size 12
boot in the keester.
Everyone notices when the city raises its water rates, as Morgan Hill has just done. There is almost always a protest over raising rates when people have gotten used to saving water. At times it feels as if being a good citizen is an invitation to take a size 12 boot in the keester.
We need to realize that the costs of delivering water are only partially controlled by the volume of water that has to be made available. It is not always true that an increase in volume argues for a lower price. Other factors include the necessity to build and maintain a geographically dispersed infrastructure. That takes people and equipment and generally is funded by bonds.
I am not an expert on the ins and outs of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Others, like Robert Cerruti, know a lot more than I do. In fact, some of what I know I learned from Cerruti.
In a letter to the Times back in March, Robert made a point that the salaries for Water District staff were too high. Historically, they have risen ahead of the rise in the cost of living. Yet, when everyone else is learning to make do with less, as we all are learning to do with the water we use, it is only logical to take a good look at how salaries of Water District employees compare to similar jobs.
But it is also important to examine both the cost of any new infrastructure needed to support population growth as well as the costs associated with maintaining that infrastructure. Both of these needs offer the water district, as well as the city of Morgan Hill, a chance to play the political game of kicking the can down the road. It is always a temptation in tough times to delay expenditure on maintenance and it almost always comes back to haunt you later.
In fact, I am not so sure that we will be out of the current tough time any time soon. Even Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is talking of a long delayed recovery. If this is the case, will we see our agencies continue to delay maintenance? I sincerely hope not because doing maintenance on an emergency basis always costs more yet that is where we will eventually end up.
Then, I think that we need to ask questions about how much economic or population growth are we really going to have. Governments frequently finance projects in such a manner that they have to generate growth in order to pay the bills. When that growth does not happen it becomes increasingly hard to meet the needs of our users in a cost effective manner.
The final limit of growth will certainly be the availability of water. We have a good idea of what the current changes in climate will do to precipitation. So far, weather events in the United States have been following the patterns that were predicted to be the consequence of global climate change. We are experiencing the predicted major droughts in New Mexico and Texas, we have above normal precipitation in the upper Midwest and associated flooding on the Missouri River. And, in California, we seem to have ended up with more extremes in our weather … longer drought periods punctuated by years of apparent abundance as we have had this year.
The Water District is highly dependent on water that flows through the Delta. This supply is never going to be assured with the current politicized processes. The history of water rights, water legislation and water agencies in California is like a long running guerrilla war and no one is really sure whose side anyone else is on.
For all of the rhetoric of recent special legislative sessions and the fancy names (Delta Stewardship Council) give to new organizations, the fundamental nature of the water wars has not changed. The same problems exist now as we had before: agencies with responsibilities but without either the authority or the funding to carry them out. This will not provide a sustainable future for any of the players and the Water District may well be left with less water than they count on receiving.
I have a blog titled California Greening. (http://cagreening.blogspot.com). One of my co-authors is Martin Zehr who participated for many years in the development of a new water compact in New Mexico. In a series of recent posts, he has analyzed the most recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California and found it full of good words, and good direction, but still lacking. One of the key missing pieces in California is the open and transparent involvement of the public. I invite you all to look at it.
If we are going to have a future where societal needs are met in a cost-effective manner, one where the future of both the human and natural inhabitants find their water needs met, we need that same citizen involvement.
Wes Rolley is a Morgan Hill artist and concerned citizen. He is co-chairman of the EcoAction Committee, Green Party.
