Assuring that Paradise Continues

July, 2007

Viewpoint Article by Mayor Dave Romero

Your City Council is making a series of decisions to assure that our city has an adequate and reliable water supply to meet our needs and the needs of our children and grandchildren. In my opinion these actions are the most important that any City Council has taken since I first became elected almost 15 years ago.  A quality of life is simply not achievable without adequate water.

Other than reclaimed wastewater and some small wells, the Nacimiento supply will be our first new water source since Whale Rock Dam was built over 40 years ago. Every new source costs more than the last and makes us grateful that those who came before had the foresight to make the tough decisions.  We dare not let this opportunity pass us by.

True, water isn’t free.  It costs money to meet all federal and state health standards and have sufficient supplies, storage and piping to meet all the diverse demands (including enough flow to fight fires).  Like everyone else, we experience ever-increasing costs for necessities like electricity, materials and treatment chemicals.  Old tanks, pumps, and pipelines must be replaced, too.  However, we also constantly look for ways to cut costs, such as operating the treatment plant at night, when electric rates are lower.  And all things considered, we offer a good bargain. 

We used to say that “water is dirt cheap.”   It isn’t anymore.  At $1.32 a ton with our new rate increases, it might actually be cheaper than dirt!  And consider this:  In 5 years, after our rates have been increased to pay for Nacimiento water and other long-term system improvements, the average customer will pay less than one penny a gallon for City water – water that we capture, store, transfer, treat, distribute and deliver to your home on demand 24/7.  Compare that to the water that you buy at the grocery store (in those environmentally unfriendly bottles, no less!). 

And here’s another cost consideration:  Because of the change to volume based sewer rates, for many smaller families with little or no outside landscape watering, the total water and sewer bill will be reduced, rather than increased. The sewer bill for my wife and me will be $10.36/mo. less, just about equaling the total of the combined water and sewer rate increases recently approved.

Some residents are concerned that growth may not be paying its fair share of the new water supply. The city water rate structure calls for all new water system connections to pay $15,000/house (more for other non-residential uses). New development is indeed paying its fair share.  Let’s also not forget that we need added housing supply in our community to serve those children and grandchildren I mentioned earlier.

We live in an area subject to drought, and as we know from our history, there will be droughts in our future.  There were severe droughts in the 1800s, and in the late 1980s and early 90s, the community virtually dried up – even with mandatory, drastic and expensive conservation measures.  We certainly do not want to relive those days.  The cities participating in the Nacimiento Pipeline Project will have first rights to Nacimiento water, even in low rainfall years.  The pipeline will also provide security should either of our current supplies, Whale Rock Dam or Salinas Dam, be taken out of service for an extended period of time due to an earthquake or perhaps a seismic retrofit.

As a member of the Nacimiento Project Commission since it started, I have been extremely pleased by the wonderful cooperation among all the partners, and the management and the engineering of the project has been outstanding.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to resolve our water supply needs. We may never see another. Many generations who follow us in SLOTOWN will be grateful.