Dear Editor,
Many of the South County residents may not know that at one time we did not have to pay a pump tax, prior to 1987. That was the year that the Santa Clara Valley Water District took over the Gavilan Water Conservation District. From that point on, we have been charged for water that used to be free. One may ask how can that be. Well, it is very simple. In 1987 the water district started transferring imported water, through the Central Valley Project which has become very costly to us. We used to get our water for recharging the aquifers from the local reservoirs, along with the rain water.
Now this costly imported water has become so expensive, that it has out striped any other utility in the state of California. In the past 20 years that I have lived in San Martin, my water rates charged by the water district have gone up by 945 percent, my PG&E bill has gone up by 165 percent and my phone bill has gone up by 25 percent. The cost of this imported water has not gone up to the level that the water district would have you believe.
Robert J. Cerruti, San Martin
