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by Debbie Cook, cross-posted from Surf City Voice; original title “Sucking it Up will lower Costs for Ratepayers and Help Fill the Basin” changed by OJ.
I recently spoke at the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Water Issues Committee (WIC) in support of OCWD staff’s first proposal to raise the District’s replenishment assessment (RA) by $27.
Based on OCWD staff’s basin pumping projections (OCWD manages the Orange County Groundwater Basin), I calculate that the price increase is equal to 6¢ for 748 gallons (one unit) of water.
My husband and I used 8 units in February. Seventy-five percent of our water comes from the basin and 25% from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. We have a 1/3 acre lot landscaped with drought-tolerant plants as well as fruit trees and a vegetable garden.
So, OCWD staff’s originally proposed increase would add about 36¢ per month to our water bill.
But Santa Ana City Councilman Vincent Sarmiento, who represents his city on the OCWD Board of Directors, apparently took offense. To him, I was telling his constituents to “suck it up” and he suggested that the OCWD “cut the fat” like he has to do in his city.
Sarmiento pointed out that he represents constituents who barely afford food or rent. “So, you know, I’m just shocked by some of the comments I’ve heard throughout the county from some folks. And I’m offended by some of the comments I hear even in our agency,” he said.
I’m all for cutting fat, but after years attending OCWD meetings (and videotaping them) I have seen no evidence that its board can cut the fat of its own making.
Consider the 5% raise the board discreetly gave itself recently…
Continue reading this story for ways OCWD could cut LOTSA fat…
*Yeah Chairman Vern, Self-Policing is certainly not what born in brass bureaucrats are know for. As we have suggested for years…..bring on the extensive CA Desal programs which actually offer up serious competition and additional supply.
No they don’t.
Desalination does not participate in market rate water sale.
They exist because of politicians who can’t or refuse to do basic math.
RC – Ever heard of Supply and Demand? It is a concept you know? It tells the story of how So Cal has had to beg, borrow, plead and get on their hands and knees….to get more water. The Feather River, Colorado River and of course of well polluted estuaries, wells and of course those Koi Ponds that pass for wilderness groundwater and aquifers which account for 40% of the OC Water Suply. Meanwhile, the Salton Sea and everything going down to San Diego
is a perfect mess controlled by the Irvine Ranch Water District and the San Diego Water District……The yuk factor is immense. So why in the world would you want Desal to only supply New Developments and Commercial
Buildings? Probably makes way too much sense….eh?
You’re an idiot.
Supply and demand dictates price.
Imported water: $1200 per acre/foot.
Desalination: $2800.
Like I said, basic math.
*RC – yeah….that works today! How much was an acre foot of water in So Cal in 1974? That is when we had 16 million people in CA. That should give you an historical perspective….if you care to look at it. If not, all the logic in the world cannot help you. Ever heard of Acid Rain? Yep, the mountain tops in the Rockies are loaded with it and when that snow and ice melts…..we get it right here in our taps plus whatever other pollution we have picked up along the way like pesticides and fertilizers. You drink out of your toilet? Maybe your dog can……but for how long? Stop carrying water for the Irvine Ranch Water District….very transparent dude!
^^^ Ibid.
*Oh, now we see…IBID…is like RABID! We get it! Glad we are elevating the conversation.
*No, what IBID means is “See what Ryan wrote above,” which was (I’ll skip “you’re an idiot”):
“Supply and demand dictates price.
“Imported water: $1200 per acre/foot.
“Desalination: $2800.
“Like I said, basic math.”
But… There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See:
• According to the ‘Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings’ this proverb has been traced back to 1546 (John Heywood), and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’). In 1738 it was used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation’ and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 ‘Works of Thomas Chalkley’. The full saying is: ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know’.
http://www.actualfreedom.com.au/richard/abditorium/nonesoblind.htm
Thank you, Vern.
*So we sadly are very thick and are missing the point. Who cares what Poseidon Charges? $2809 or $10,000 an acre foot. If no one buys it’
then it shouldn’t be a problem. In our conversations with Poseidon, they already have a customer base willing to take their product. What are you concerned about? Inflation? The Cost of Coffee at Starbucks?
IT IS TAKE OR PAY.
Jiminy Christmas.
It’s also indexed with a premium to imported water after being subsidized by MWD. It will never, ever, be competitive versus the next best viable alternative.
Please stop inventing your own facts.
*RC, NEVER is quite a while…in our book. We might then wonder just for sake of argument, why the Carlsbad Operation seems to be performing well enough to stay in business? Of course maybe we are just making that up and relying on Fake Business Reports? Ya see,,,,the Fountain Valley Water Treatment Plant utilizes Toilet to Tap water, Reclaimed water (which is being withdrawn from the market) and of course used directly as Buffers against Sea Water intrusion into the Coastal Water Table. But again….NEVER is quite a long time to utilize sub-standard drinking water with Percholrates and Glyptos……eh? When you could actually pay for the NON harmful stuff at double the cost?
Stop. Inventing. Facts.
Seriously.
Stop.
Should take you about 20 seconds to identify issues with the Carlsbad plant and it’s current contract.
Like the rest of your ridiculous statements on this thread, your claim about GWRS and reclaimed water is undeniably false. The system is being expanded and just set a new record for gallons reclaimed in a 24 hour period.
Yes, never is a long time. Desalination will never, ever, be cheaper than imports, recycled water, brackish water reclamation, storm water capture and reclamation, or conservation. It is a technology of last resort to mitigate scarcity, not to address economic competitiveness.
Now go back to bed.
Ryan, am I correct in remembering that Ron’s (I don’t want to put this on Anna’s tab) “if no one buys it” provision is pointless given that the contract that Poseidon has proposed required OCWD (or whomever) to “buy it” for an extended period or years?
I can understand why he’d see this as benign if only market forces were, perpetually, at work. It seems that this may be the piece of the puzzle that has fallen off the table and bounced under his mental couch.
That’s correct. It’s take or pay for 50+ years.
Sale rate is indexed to the cost of imports at a premium AFTER an import offset credit from MWD.
It’s publically subsidized to guarantee a private profit and exclusive from any competition that might curb private profit.
Straight up water piracy that provides zero net water for those who are actually paying the fee.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
Where does Sarimiento stand on Poseidon given his concerns about residents pocketbook?
*Well, as Butch and Sundance said: “Everyone seems to be wearing bi-focals when
we see 20-20!” Salton Sea….ever heard of it? How about border communities? Ah,
you guys are brilliant, no doubt…… So how in the world did they pull this boondoggle
off again? Just using scare tactics? Uh huh…..we get it all NOW!