Dear Editor, As a retired 20-year veteran on the Santa Clara
Valley Water District board of directors, I would be shirking my
public responsibility not to respond to some of the charges the
editorial board has directed towards the operation.
Dear Editor,
As a retired 20-year veteran on the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors, I would be shirking my public responsibility not to respond to some of the charges the editorial board has directed towards the operation. Members of the board are not full-time officers of the district, however, it is not uncommon for a director to spend 30 or 40 plus hours per week on issues which are related to public issues or reviewing documents for the next agenda, receiving no compensation. Question, do you want full-time directors like the county board of supervisors, or many other elected officials to oversee a complex budget, with billions of dollars in facilities, land, reservoirs, equipment, and infrastructures?
You want the directors to be accountable to protect your public trust and to govern one of the larger agencies in Santa Clara County. Be assured, this is not an easy task under the best of conditions for a part-time director – for they are not involved in the day-to-day operations – please understand their charge.
Yes – SCVWD is facing many problems. Yes – the board should be held accountable, and I cannot disagree with some of your charges, but to drag a dry paint brush across a fresh-ink drawing does not resolve anything. SCVWD has been audited by the grand jury for years, and when there was a wrong, they made recommendations to improve. When the district was right – they gave them credit. It is only reasonable that you do the same. It is easy to be critical, but harder to be constructive!
It is important that your readers understand the history of this valley and how the water community has changed from farming in the late ‘30s to one of the world’s most industrialized and complex areas on the earth. Greed and growth over drafted ground water, causing subsidence on the valley floor, extensive engineering and recharge facilities by SCVWD have curtailed that issue for now – but do not ever get comfortable.
Directors are continuing to be exposed to so many new issues dealing with personnel, ground water contamination, toxics, environmental, historic sites, public outreach, public education, federal, state regulations, water quality, eminent domain, legal problems, community meetings, water transfer rights, water storage, water treatment facilities, bonds, debt funding, earthquakes, water advisory boards, commissions, retailers, liaison with local, state, and federal legislators, recycled water, sanitation flow caps, fisheries, maintenance, infrastructures, new water transport lines, security and salaries – all have increased logarithmically. Major flooding has tested the district from Palo Alto, Cupertino, Alviso, Milpitas, San Jose, oh yes, even Morgan Hill and Gilroy, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District was there for you, or did you forget?
Droughts, importation of water, don’t even begin to tell the story of those trying years, but dedicated directors, and staff gave their personal time, and volunteered to educate the media, the community and the legislators. This dedication by them, was a credit to their character, quietly insuring, that you had “California’s” liquid gold.
Your readers should be proud of the hard work the district has provided since its inception. Is it perfect? No. Can it be improved? Yes. But I cannot change your mind because you just don’t understand and continue to be misinformed.
It has been my opinion for decades, the SCVWD should be emancipated from the county board of supervisors, all water board members should be elected (no offense to the appointed, but it stinks of politics of the past) collectively, and as individuals, the board should be held accountable for their actions. If you don’t feel the board members are responsible, vote them out of office! It is obvious, you and your readers have no idea of the hours which are spent by each director, returning phone calls, attending community meetings at nights and weekends, all just trying to do their job. Sometimes they fail, but there are more success stories that you or your readers shall never hear about, because they may never get their name up in lights. I find that disappointing and tragic, don’t you?
Remember, “water is life, life is water, don’t gamble with it,” just ask the people in the South!
Robert W. Gross, San Jose, SCVWD Director (retired)
