John’s Soapbox:
Water Rights
So-are you in the camp that feels that as long as you can pay for your water that you are entitled to use as much as you want? Or are you in the camp that puts the 5 gallon bucket under the shower head and responsibly waters your plants with the “getting warm” shower supply?
Either way, there is a Change a Coming!
Your ECA is part of a group of folks that just met to discuss ways to conserve water in various sectors of our County. From manufacturing, housing, construction, agriculture, and landscaping-there is a passionate group of leaders that are going to agree on a contract to promote measurable savings in water usage. Why are we doing this? Several reasons:
- If you recall, Petaluma came out with “Moratorium” knee jerk reaction to the drought recently.
- Sonoma County Water Agency recently spoke publicly about how housing starts should not be held hostage by the claim there is not enough water in our area.
- Agriculture and wine industry interests have been hard hit over their use of water from folks that are letting their lawns die to conserve and save money on their water bill.
- Amy’s kitchen ran into a problem with water consumption and it may yet cost Sonoma County several hundred jobs and lots of General Fund revenues as they focus their expansion elsewhere.
- Environmentalists want more water to flow to the Eel River rather than allow Sonoma County to continue diverting through the Potter Valley system to the Russian River.
- Marin County folks who seem to think their reservoirs are full so they do not care much about water use right now, may be in for a big surprise when they need water from Sonoma County in the future due to biological restraints curtailing any more water coming out of the Dry Creek area to the Russian River.
- Much needed housing starts are seeing protests from people who say we should not build any more housing while we are in a drought.
For all of these reasons, we have joined in a common alliance (unprecedented in anyone’s knowledge) consisting of leaders and electeds in Sonoma County. What we eventually accomplish will be a direct result of some of your feedback on water conservation efforts in the construction industry as well as “case stories” of water conservation measures like a recycled facility that washes trucks like Kadon Trucking.
More to come in mid-June!
That’s All Folks!
John Bly
