In the News
Letters to the Editor: Desal and the Public Process
By
Bill Kocher, Director, Santa Cruz Water Department
and Laura Brown, General Manager, Soquel Creek Water
District
Santa Cruz Weekly, August 5, 2009
The July 1
contribution in the Bullhorn section ("Desal and Democracy")
contained a number of statements regarding the city of
Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek Water District's
exploration of desalination as a supplemental water supply that we
believe deserve clarification.
Firstly, a
decision on construction of a full-scale desalination plant has not
been made. What was decided was to determine the feasibility of a
desalination plant by building a pilot project and conducting other
studies to inform the decision regarding pursuing a full-scale
desalination project. The decision by the city of Santa Cruz to move ahead
with a pilot project was the result of an Integrated Water Plan that
took two years and 74 public meetings to complete. In attempting to
prepare for drought shortfalls, the city council decided that the
most feasible option to augment the local water supply was
desalination of seawater. The Soquel Creek Water District conducted
a similar in-depth and public evaluation of its options to address
insufficient groundwater supplies that have resulted in overdraft
and seawater intrusion of the mid-county aquifers. The issues and
options considered are documented in that agency's Integrated
Resources Plan.
Any decision
about whether to construct a full-scale desalination plant will be
made only after a thorough Environmental Impact Report is completed
and reviewed. The report will study, among other things, the effects
of a proposed desalination plant on marine life. The EIR will be
subject to public hearings and review, during which time members of
the public will be given ample opportunity to provide oral and
written comments. Community members will continue to have the
opportunity to be involved during every phase of the process.
Secondly, it
was not the elected officials of either the city of
Santa Cruz or the Soquel Creek Water District
(referred to as "The Powers That Be") who decided there was a
drought. California is in the
midst of a third year of drought, and water districts throughout the
state have implemented both mandatory and voluntary conservation
measures to reduce water use. Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a drought
last June and this February declared a state of emergency, citing
the third straight year of below-average rainfall and the
possibility of future dry years. Local water officials must prepare
for the possibility of a prolonged drought.
Thirdly, the
desalination project is in no way linked to any expansion of the
UC-Santa Cruz campus. The desalination project is being studied for
drought protection and to forestall seawater contamination of the
aquifers. Any future water demands that result from UCSC growth will
require a separate environmental assessment and city council
decision. Ratepayers in the
Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water
District will not be subsidizing the cost of the university's
expansion, because the desalination project is not linked to future
growth of that institution.
The Soquel
Creek Water District and the city of
Santa Cruz
are committed to conducting their water supply planning and policy
matters in a public and transparent fashion and encourage the public
to take advantage of the many opportunities to shape that policy.
More information is available at: www.scwd2desal.org.