Why I am running for the CCWD Board

By Jim Larimer

• Fire Safety First

• Reliable Water at the Lowest Cost

• Water Not Politics

• Complete the Crystal Springs Project

Today there is a serious risk from fires in our community due to an inadequate supply of water during periods of high demand. The current Board has not moved forward to remedy this documented need to upgrade our water transmission system. Three independent engineering studies of our system have identified several areas with inadequate water to fight fire. These problems need to be addressed immediately. We should replace the aging El Granada pipeline with a larger pipeline that can provide an adequate flow of water to meet the FIRE SAFETY minimums our community requires.

Reliable Water at the Lowest Cost

The funds to replace the El Granada Pipeline are already in the bank. This replacement of old and worn out infrastructure was planned as part of the Crystal Springs Project. The current Board has put this project on hold.

The water system must provide water for all of our domestic and commercial requirements in addition of protecting our properties from fire. Under sizing the system will prolong our exposure to water outages, prolong a fire hazard that can be eliminated, and cost ratepayers more.

Pipes move water they do not make water. Larger transmission pipelines allow us to move water where we need it when we need it. The water transmission capacity of a larger pipeline increases our margin of safety. Proper sizing of the pipeline to 16 inch or larger pipe does not increase the replacement cost to upgrade the aging water transmission pipelines because most of the cost is construction and engineering.

Emergency pumps are now being used to satisfy the demand for water in Miramar, El Granada and Princeton. Larger pipes allow gravity flow to move water instead of pumping it through our system. Reducing or eliminating the need for pumping will save significant operating costs reducing ratepayer bills.

Water Not Politics

The Water Board should stop playing political games with our water system's infrastructure. Under sizing the system to prevent growth creates and continuses a fire hazard and will increase every ratepayer's water bill. Growth is an issue within our community, but the Water Board is not the agency responsible for setting growth policy. The Water Board should be concerned with water and not with other agendas. If the planning agencies within our community are broken and not doing their jobs, then let's fix them. Diverting the CCWD Board from managing the water system to managing development will only add to the inability of our community to deal with its problems.

Complete the Crystal Springs Project

We have wasted the last two years with politically motivated delay. The Crystal Springs Project has been on hold since the last election. It is time to move forward and make good the agreements we made as a community to complete this project by upgrading the El Granada and Carter Hill transmission pipelines. We must complete the Crystal Springs Project with pipelines large enough to serve our needs with a margin of safety. This will reduce our fire hazard and save ratepayers money.