Dawdling In a Drought

By Gary Kremen

Our District dawdled in a drought and waiting for rain is not a strategy

If elected, I will encourage the Water District management to act swiftly on issues regarding water conservation, water management and contending head-on with the drought. Plan B will not be just to hope it rains next year but to have a long-term sustainable self-sufficient strategy.

THE WATER EXCHANGE DEBACLE

The Water District instead of focusing on local or regional water storage, stored water at Semitropic Water Storage Bank, near Bakersfield, hundreds of miles away from us.

Now that the water was needed, the Water District is having challenges getting the water (read the coverage in the Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/News/ci_26308365/Water-exchange-at-risk ) This water is critical because the Santa Clara Valley district depends on the Semitropic water for 25 percent of its treated water. Now 25% of our water is stranded and we can't get it when we need it.

THE CALERO AND ANDERSON DAM DEBACLE

In the event it rains, we can't even store all the rainwater because the Water District has not fixed it dams! In their own words - "As such, the district will keep the water at no higher than 20 feet below the [Calero] dam crest until the full integrity of the dam can be assessed or corrective action can be completed." The same is true for Anderson Dam. I will actively push for the district to ensure we implement policies of regional water storage and invest in district dams and infrastructure so we can use them to their full capacities.