Candidate for
Board Member; Coastside County Water District; 2 Year Term

Water Vision

Water is a Resource. Water is Life. The current Board characterizes Water as a commodity to be maximized.

The District must do more than just sell water, it must study, understand and manage the watersheds that provide, shelter, and nurture our Community resource - WATER.

The District is legally chartered to be more than just a purveyor of water. State law is very clear about the wide range of services that Water districts can provide. The District has the rights and responsibilities to protect our natural Resource - Water. I believe the District must become expansive: it must develop its services to ensure that the Water we use is protected and nurtured, from the woodland/ canyon source all the way to the bathtub.

The District should look forward, into the realm of real politics in the water world of SFWD, and California water politics. Remember, over a hundred years ago Mark Twain wrote: "gold is worth fighin' for, water is worth dyin' for".

Whether we live in East Bay, Central Valley, Gulf of Mexico, Colorado River basin, Palestine, or the MidCoast, our comparatively tiny amount of SFWD/ SFPUC water needs a vocal advocate. The District must be pro-active in protecting our fragile resource.

The District must initiate a true study of our local water sources. On the MidCoast our only true resource, one that is defendable and guaranteed, is the water that is generated on the MidCoast. The District must evaluate and protect our Resource - WATER. The District must move into a study of the Watersheds that produce and purify the Water we use.

The District must monitor and control of wells, stream flow, & drainage basins. The District needs to initiate a comprehensive study of the basin's wells. Many questions remain: where are the wells located, who are the users, and how will these wells effect the quality of our resource in the largest sense? The District must look into the watersheds of Pilarcitos and of Dennison which serves the citizens of El Granada, and we must act collaboratively with Montara Sanitary District to study the basins of Moss Beach and Montara. The recent Todd/ Priestaf Lower Pilarcitos Basin Groundwater Study of June 2003 is just a beginning to understand the Water Resource + not carte blanc to sell well pumped water.

I believe the District must become a steward of the Water (and by definition the land), by understanding and not overtaxing the supply of surface or underground WATER. Selling Water just to "sell more and more" will only exacerbate the development battles here in the our Community.

Water is not just another commodity to be sold: Water is life.

Water Service

The business side of providing a service to the Community - supplying water is just part of what the District can do - a small part.

District provides a service by us selling water, lots of water. I believe that the District should satisfy the demands of the land use agencies and not be in the business of selling water just to sell more and "make a bigger profit".

The District is well run, well maintained and well planned, as seen on the operations and maintenance side of the shop. Luckily of us, most employees are local coastside residents. The current ratepayers must not be saddled with the costs of the various housing developments/ expansions envisioned for the projected buildout. Developers and those who benefit must bear the costs of system enlargement. Clearly this is a "cost of doing business" for the developers, and the District should not be coerced/ manipulated into passing along those incremental costs to current ratepayers.

The recently approved rate increase will need to be studied by the new board to evaluate if there is any tweaking needed, and after discussions with the staff, my gut says it is pretty lean & cost effective. Keep in mind there are other costs upcoming: i.e., the hwy 92 straightening project, for which the District's share is abut $600,000.

Water Quality

The District must continue to provide water that meets or exceeds all water quality standards. As technologies improve, the District must be innovative, imaginative and cost effective while fulfilling the mandate to improve the quality and the quality assurance of our water.

Water quality is high, however the public's perception may not be based upon fact, but upon particular sales promotions. The Community should be informed and educated about our current high water quality standards.

District water is provided from two sources: San Francisco Water Department and Dennison Creek water shed. The El Granada & Princeton areas are served by Dennison Creek water that is treated at Dennison Creek treatment plant to the same high standards as the Nunez plant water. The majority of District water is provided by SFWD and is treated at the Nunez water treatment plant. Improvements can always be made as technology advances, as innovation occurs - and these changes can be implemented when shown to be cost/ benefit effective.

Water Supply + The District provides a sufficient amount of water + however in this era of limits and natural resources, remember: Water - there is never enough to waste.

The District infrastructure is well maintained and clearly provides a sufficient supply of superior quality water - its as easy as a turn on your tap. I pledge to continue this high level of service.

The District has been embroiled in debates about growth/ no growth, but it is not in the planning business - it doesn't have the personnel, the expertise, nor the legal mandate to set community growth standards. The City and the County have the legal mandate and the resources to make such determinations, and should be the determining force ahead of District policies.

The District's formerly used practices of permit dispensing only tended to "confuse" the planning agencies and has helped spur the unprecedented growth on the MidCoast.

Fire

Fire flow has never been a real issue - the Fire District has confirmed that the safety of residents, the ability to fight, contain, & extinguish fires of recent years has not compromised system integrity. The District supplies enough water (& pressure) to fight the design (hypothetical) fire in the foreseeable future. Certainly as the system enlarges additional/ larger storage tanks can be added to the system to account for design/ emergency fire flow.

The District must do more outreach to the Community about water conservation - the fastest way to insure an adequate amount of water for the MidCoast. Remember, there is never enough to waste.

I pledge to work for all our Community and our environment, not developers, not special interests.

Please vote for me: Jim Marsh for Coastside County Water District on November 4th