Supply Side Water Economy

By Joe Miller

Conservation and reclamation reduce but do not eliminate useage. If we do not replenish the supply we could still face shortages, no matter how well we conserve.

We live on top of our water supply. Rainfall would normally replenish the amount consumed, but as the community grows and becomes more urban, we interrupt this replenishment with impervious surface. To eliminate flooding we build storm drains to carry the water out to sea. This means that there is less supply than there was 60 years ago and there will be even less 60 years hence. So no matter how much is saved at the back end of the process through recycling and conservation we could still run short of water.

Every house, driveway, street, patio, office building, parking lot, tennis court or school is a virtual dam that blocks recharge and reduces the amount of water in the aquifer. As we urbanize it is critical for the community to take action to preserve the recharge characteristics of the Valley. If we do not take this course, we will eventually find ourselves pumping a dry aquifer.

We already capture the water that falls. We just shunt it into storm drains and send it to sea. We need to get it back into the aquifer. This can be done with the proper infrastructure such as recharge cisterns, recharge swales and above ground storage for irrigation and beneficial reuse. The fact is that none of these items are exorbitantly expensive; they are just different solutions than we presently employ.

The City Council is responsible for approving development and it looks to SVWD to determine if the development can be served. The Water District supplies water and as long as it has water currently available it says, "Yes" and the Council approves the development. No real plan exists to ensure the future of the supply.

As a community we need to begin a planning process that will reverse the depletion of aquifer groundwater and recharge well fields so that they are once again productive. We have a moral responsibility to protect the water supply in the aquifer for the beneficial use of our children and grandchildren.

The Scotts Valley Water District should set standards for recharge, review development for conformity to those standards and supply water only to developments that meet the standards.

Only when everything is done to restore the original recharge characteristic of our sole source aquifer will the citizens of Scotts Valley be assured that their supply is truly protected.