What do I feel are the major future issues facing us?

By James Edward "Jim" Deline

The whole MTBE fiasco could have been avoided if it had been studied more carefully before being implemented. I think that we have to be more considerate of the long-term effects of decisions that are made about what goes into our water and air. I would have to say, that on average, our water quality is pretty good right now. I drink it. I read the annual water analysis statements, and they look pretty good to me. I am concerned about the water hardness (mineral content) though. Unless we get a lot more of our drinking water from the surface, then we are going to have to contend with harder water. Some form of injection into the groundwater may be necessary to offset the increased hardness. Whether this injection comes from RO treated sewage remains to be seen. I would be curious to find out how much it would cost to deionize the drinking water supply, and whether the consumer would be willing to pay for that. If you look at all of the utilities that we pay for, water is by far the cheapest. Yet it is the only utility that is indispensable. We cannot survive without water. Most people pay far more for the convenience of having a cellular phone or cable TV. Beyond the scope of Zone 7, I feel that the Government needs to make sure that discharges into our rivers and oceans are safe, and are not going to come back to haunt us years from now.

In regards to meeting future demands for water, it is obvious that people do not have the power to produce water out of thin air. We can only manage what we have. I think that somebody does need to ask the question: "Can our natural resources sustain the type of growth that this area is experiencing?" Maybe the answer is that they can't. Zone 7 officials have only so much control over where new water is going to come from. They can't make the decision to build another Hetch-Hetchy Dam. We've got to look at our current water resources; look at what future supplies might be available; and then make sound decisions about how much growth can be supported. I for one, do not want to have to undergo extreme water rationing 5 or 10 years from now because this area grew without regard to our ability to meet future water demands. This does not mean that I am anti-growth, it just means that I believe we have to take a realistic approach forward when it comes to managing our most precious resource.