SOLVING PACIFIC GROVE'S WATER PROBLEM

By Jeffrey A. Flathers

JEFFREY FLATHERS' PLAN TO HELP PACIFIC GROVE CONQUER ITS LONG-STANDING WATER SHORTAGE PROBLEM

Although no other City Council candidate has offered a plan to resolve the ongoing water shortage in Pacific Grove, JEFFREY FLATHERS has launched an initiative to do so. On October 10, 2004, Flathers unveiled his Comprehensive Cistern Management Plan (CCMP), a proposal that could cut almost by half PG's reliance on the Cal Am Water Company, saving consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual water bills.

PROPERTY TAX CREDITS

The CCMP espoused by Flathers calls upon the PG City Council to establish a long-term water management plan which would allow the city and its residents to capture millions of gallons of storm water runoff each year, and use that water for residential and commercial use. The plan calls for one-time property tax credits to a maximum of $500 per household for those residents who install four or more gutter downspout cisterns on their properties. For a typical dwelling with a roof size of 2,500 square feet, such systems could catch up to 4,000 gallons per year in rain and/or dew runoff. Usually, such runoff is lost to the sea, or, more recently, to the stormwater diversion at Lover's Point. Cisterns, long used by the ancient Romans in a Mediterranean climate not unlike ours, are still popular in drier world areas. Flathers stresses that increased use of water capture devices and containers will allow PG to become more water independent at a time when Cal Am is already punishing residents for its overdraw on the Carmel River.

LOW INTEREST CISTERN LOANS

Flathers' plan goes further still. For individuals with qualifying lower income, he proposes an ordinance to create low-interest cistern installation loans. Said funding would allow residents of more limited means to install water saving devices on their properties, sharing in the savings of reduced water usage. Although Cistern water can be filtered and treated for use as drinking water, its attachment to toilets for flush into existing sewer mains seems an ideal use. Flathers points out that it makes no sense to use drinking water, as we currently do, to flush our toilets, when untreated rainwater offers a much cheaper and sustainable alternative.

CREATING JOBS

Although Flathers' tax credits and low-interest loans will directly benefit PG residents who wish to install cistern systems, his plan will also benefit the local economy. Plumbers, carpenters, architects, and building supply companies are just a few of the local professions which would reap the jobs benefits of the CCMP. Flathers estimates the program could pump $1 million per year into local businesses (assuming 500 residences hook up at an average cost of $2,000 per household). $1 million in annual sales translates into approximately 20 full and part-time jobs for the next five years. Moreover, these jobs will directly contribute to Pacific Grove's conservation efforts to help our environment.

IMPROVING CITY WATER MANAGEMENT

The final, and equally important leg of Flathers' water conservation plan, calls for a significant PG public works effort to build large underground cisterns at strategic points throughout the city. Several such tanks, in the 500,000 gallon size range, could capture much of the municipality's water runoff. Millions of gallons in captured water could be used for irrigation of public parks and the golf course, as well as other necessary uses. Between private and public cisterns, total public water savings in PG could lower collective Cal Am water bills by nearly half. Some possible sites for future underground cisterns include the PG high school parking lot, Breaker Stadium, Caledonia Park and other open spaces such as the golf course. Pacific Grove, with an average rainfall of only 18 inches per year, remains a semi-arid climate. Proper water management of the rainfall we receive will help it ride out times of drought with aplomb and readiness. City council candidate JEFFREY FLATHERS offers his CCMP to the public, and promises to implement his water saving ideas in office to the benefit of all Pacific Grove's residents.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JEFFREY FLATHERS' WATER MANAGEMENT IDEAS YOU MAY CONTACT HIM AT (831) 375-3295