RATES, EFFICIENCY, RELIABILITY AND LEVEL OF SERVICE

By Paul T. Converse, P.E.

To understand who understands and cares about the rates you pay, look at the voting records regarding Project 184. If Project 184 had been generating power for the past year and a half, as it should have, EID's ratepayers would face a much more attractive prospective. If money to line and cover reservoirs hadn't been squandered on the Hazel Creek Tunnel, that problem would be behind us. Recent Boards have fumbled away countless opportunities.

Hydroelectric revenues have subsidized our water supply since the 1920's, yet controlling and enhancing that revenue stream has been thwarted by the dismantling of an effective Hydroelectric Department.

EID's staff has labored in miserably inadequate and inefficient office facilities for a dozen years, while a beautiful headquarters site sat idle, and while the Board argued that modern facilities were inappropriate until additional water was procured. That was and is irrelevant nonsense. Presumably, wasting your money was o.k., as long as water supplies were in question. As Henry Ford once said, "If you need a facility and don't acquire it, you pay for it anyway". Our recent Boards seem to have found it necessary to demonstrate this principle, yet again.

And, speaking of trade-offs, have you thought about the relationship between cost and reliability. In this day and age, car tires have taken on a reliability such that many cars do not carry spares, or have the small donut spares to allow the driver to limp into town for a replacement. But remember that most of our water distribution facilities are half a century old, and our system has virtually no spare capacity. Closing one valve, in a system with thousands, brought on the recent El Dorado Hills water emergency. What happens to us all when something more serious occurs, as it surely will? What price will you be willing to pay then? When your survival is at stake?

If you read the biographical data on Paul T. Converse, you will learn that I have graduate level education in Industrial Engineering. The more familiar term for Industrial Engineer is "Efficiency Expert", and when it comes to water and wastewater systems, I do not hesitate to claim that title. Put that knowledge to work for you and for this whole community. Your wallet will thank you.

I want to help adopt and implement a plan to accomplish these and other urgent goals. Don't you want the same thing? Vote for Paul T. Converse, EID Director, District 2.