Hal Hargrave, the fellow who organized Monday's meeting for Claremont residents to discuss Golden State Water Co.'s never-ending rate hikes, is profiled in this month's edition of Southwest Airline's Spirit Magazine. The article also mentions Hal's son, Hal Jr., who was left a quadraplegic after a 2008 auto accident and who founded the non-profit Be Perfect Foundation, which provides support to people who've had spinal cord injuries:
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There are a couple upcoming meetings the civic-minded among you might want to attend.
Some of the events happening this week in our fair city:
THURSDAY NIGHT WATERWORKS
Speaking of cartels, Claremont's water supplier, Golden State Water Co., is holding an open house tomorrow evening at the new Claremont University Consortium Administrative Campus Center. Here's your chance to hear the latest GSWC propaganda in support of their most recently requested rate hikes. You can get an earful about how all that extra money you're paying for water is going straight into the pockets of water company shareholders improving Claremont's water supply infrastructure.
Here's what the City's website has to say about the event:
Golden State Water Family Open House (Nov 1, 2011)
Golden State Water will host an open house on November 3, 2011 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at the Claremont University Consortium Administrative Campus Center. This is your opportunity to learn more about your water provider's plans for your area. Golden State Watr employees will staff booths about its general rate case application, water use efficiency, planned improvements, water costs, and water quality. The Campus Center is located a 101 South Mills Avenue.
Fall Plant Sale
November 5 and 6
Join us for this spectacular annual event featuring the largest and most exciting collection of California native and California appropriate plants around!
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden's 33nd annual Fall Plant Sale on Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6, 2011. Autumn is the best time to plant California native perennials, shrubs, bulbs and wildflower seeds. Shop thousands of beautiful plants and water-wise solutions for your home landscape and get the expert advice you’d expect from California’s native garden.
Members-only
Saturday, November 5, 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. Memberships (starting at $45 individual and $75 family) may be purchased at the sale. For information, contact our membership team at (909) 625-8767 ext 222.
Veterans Day Ceremony at Memorial Park (Nov 1, 2011)
The City of Claremont and American Legion Post 78 proudly announce the annual Veterans Day Ceremony in Memorial Park (840 N. Indian Hill Blvd), on Friday, November 11 at 11 a.m. This ceremony honors veterans of all wars including living, deceased, killed in combat, prisoners of war (POW's), and missing in action (MIA's).
The ceremony will include comments from members of American Legion Post 78, Mayor Pro Tem Larry Schroeder, and various community members. The ceremony will also feature Taps performed by the El Roble Marching Band.
For more information about the City of Claremont's Veterans Day Ceremony, log onto the City website at www.ci.claremont.ca.us or call (909) 399-5490.
Someone forgot to tell Xavier Alvarez (image, left) that his 15 minutes of fame expired long ago. The former Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member from Pomona made the LA Times last week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District upheld an August 2010 ruling that the federal Stolen Valor Act, under which Alvarez was convicted for lying about being a Medal of Honor recipient, is unconstitutional.
According to the Times article, the court agreed that lying, however abhorrent, is protected under the First Amendment. The Times piece described the appellate court's reasoning:
It wasn't the only time Alvarez had traded in lies. According to an earlier decision in his case, he claimed to have rescued the U.S. ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis (the reason for his fictitious Medal of Honor) and to have played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings. If Congress could punish misstatements about a military decoration, there would be no constitutional obstacle to criminalizing those other lies.Although Alvarez's misdemeanor conviction under the Stolen Valor Act is in question, his LA County felony convictions for misappropriation of public funds, grand theft, and insurance fraud still stand. Alvarez received a five-year prison sentence for falsely claiming he was still married to his ex-wife in order to qualify her for his Three Valleys healthcare plan.
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski made the point more pithily: "If false factual statements are unprotected, then the government can prosecute not only the man who tells tall tales of winning the congressional Medal of Honor, but also the JDater who falsely claims he's Jewish or the dentist who assures you it won't hurt a bit. Phrases such as 'I'm working late tonight, hunny,' 'I got stuck in traffic' and 'I didn't inhale' could all be made into crimes."
A circuit court decision holding an Act of Congress unconstitutional inherently presents "an important question of federal law," Sup. Ct. R. 10(c), in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
The City's website reports that the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies about half the water to Claremont, will close its F. E. Weymouth Treatment Plant in La Verne for seismic retrofitting for 10 days in March. The MWD is asking residents to voluntarily reduce outdoor water usage during the closure.
Here's what the City's website had to say about the closure:
Residents Asked To Reduce Outdoor Water Usage March 18-27
The Metropolitan Water District has announced it will be closing its Weymouth Water Plant for repair in March. The Weymouth Water Plant is a major water treatment plant in La Verne that supplies water to 1.7 million Metropolitan Water District Customers. Claremont residents receive imported water from the plant through Three Valleys Water. Beginning March 4 the plant will reduce production of water and will stop completely from March 18 through March 27. Claremont residents are asked to reduce their outdoor water usage during the closure period. Residents should are encouraged to limit watering, hand washing vehicles, filling swimming pools, and hosing down driveways. The plant will be at full capacity by April 17, 2011.
Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker's weekly report last Thursday led with a blurb about a turf buyback program offering $3 for every square-foot of yard grass homeowners replace with drought-tolerant landscaping:
TURF BUYBACK PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE IN CLAREMONT!
Golden State Water Company and Three Valleys Municipal Water District have teamed up to offer cash rebates to Claremont homeowners that remove turf and replace it with water-wise landscaping. The Residential Turf Removal Program rebates $3.00 per square foot for turf removed up to a maximum of $3,000 per residence. Details of the program and an application to participate can be found at:
http://www.socalwatersmart.com/images/PDFs/mwd_rebate_form_turf_removal.pdf .
The City is excited about this program because it should help the community meet its goal of reducing potable water consumed community-wide by 20% by 2012. City Council members have been pushing for a turf buyback program, noting that 70% of water used in Claremont is for outdoor uses and that turf is almost always the most water intensive plant in our yards.
DATE: Sat, September 4, 2010 7:02:01 AM
TO: Claremont Insider
SUBJECT: Re: Claremont Insider
Oh yeah, Friday night you could see the Padua park lights from space. You know the area in north claremont that isn't supposed to have any street lights. They wanted to keep that rural feeling. That is until "they" had yet another plan, uh huh I feel like I'm in the boonies...
Old friend Xavier Alvarez (pictured, right) is back in the news. Alvarez, the former Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember from Pomona, courtesy of Assemblywoman Norma Torres, was convicted in May 2008 in federal court for having lied about being a Medal of Honor recipient. For violating the federal Stolen Valor Act, Alvarez was sentenced to five months home detention. The conviction was a misdemeanor.
The Denver Post reported Saturday that a federal judge in Colorado has ruled the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment. In the Colorado case, defendant Rick Strandlof was accused of falsely claiming that he was an Iraqi war vet and that he had received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. Strandlof had been soliciting donations to a charity he had created under a false name.
Strandlof argued that the Stolen Valor Act was an abridgment of his right to free speech, and civil liberties activists filed briefs in support of Strandlof. The Post article quoted an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union:
Attorney Chris Beall, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the ACLU of Colorado, said the decision is remarkable.
"The First Amendment protects speech we don't like," he said. "We don't need the First Amendment for speech people like. The government cannot criminalize a statement simply because it is false, no matter how important the statement is."
Beall points out Strandlof wasn't charged with stealing money meant for the veterans group, adding that laws are already in place for those crimes.
"That's plain-old, regular-vanilla everyday fraud, and we do prosecute that every day," he said. "Congress does not need a special statute to prevent people from using false claims of valor in order to prevent fraud."
VERIZON DIGS CLAREMONT
As you probably know, Verizon has been slowly upgrading its wiring in the area. The company is replacing the old copper wires with a new fiber optic system (FiOS), which promises to bring us faster Internet access and a television system to compete with the Time Warner cable franchise.
A reader wrote in to complain about the disruption and shoddy road patching done by the Verizon work crews:
DATE:Friday, July 24, 2009 7:27 AMWHAT WATER CRISIS?
SUBJECT: FIOS construction
TO: Claremont Buzz
Hi. Just wanted to let you know that FIOS construction in Claremont is horrific. Long story short, they spent 6 weeks on my block of 6 homes. Verizon went through 3 crews from Simmons Court to Athens Court which is a matter of a few homes and trust me, once you see these guys in your neighborhood you will understand why. The quality of work, the clean up, the misinformation given to us as residents is unbelievable. Long story short, I have contacted Verizon officials and Claremont officials trying to get some straight answers and the bottom line, I wish I had never gotten involved. Verizon is supposed to come into a neighborhood and leave it as if they were never there…come drive Fairmont, Athens and Simmons Courts all the way up to Scripps and look at the streets. (Athens has been given more attention because 3 of the 6 of us called and complained.) The patch we can live with. The fact that Verizon construction drove immediately through the black tar and left marks from one end of the neighborhood to the other and Claremont is ok with this shouldn’t surprise me but it does. Claremont tells me we are on slurry schedule for 2010 so until then, I guess I should just be grateful I have FIOS underground! WOW!! So…Claremont BEWARE! FIOS is coming to a neighborhood near you and when they are gone…you will know they were there and definitely not for the better. FIOS had to come in but give me a break, I don’t have a “road degree” but sure know a good paving job when I see one and there isn’t one to be seen in my neighborhood.
In other infrastructure related news, there was some sort of burst water pipe yesterday morning at College Ave. directly across from the affordable housing project site at 111 S. College Ave. The leak was on the east side of the street and was just north of the Pooch Park. The source was hidden by the chainlink fence and the landscaping, but you could see the water pour from under the fence wire and flow down College Ave. in a torrent. One young fellow tried surfing the stream on a boogie board.The City Council meet tonight in the council chambers at 225 W. 2nd St. You can watch it all here.
The council will meet in closed session at 5:15pm to discuss possible future litigation in two unspecified cases. The council will also hear a report from City Manager Jeff Parker and Assistant City Manager on labor negotiations with the City's employee organizations.
The regular session begins at 6:30pm. We don't have time for an in-depth breakdown, but you can read the regular session agenda here. The specific reports for each agenda item are here.
A few items of interest from tonight's agenda:
The Claremont City Council meets tonight in the council chambers at 225 W. 2nd St. in the Claremont Village. You can watch all the action beginning at 6:30pm on the City's website.
CLOSED SESSION
The council will meet in a special closed session at 5:15pm to discuss the potential purchase of the water utility, currently provided by Golden State Water Co. Before anyone gets too excited, there doesn't seem to be any concrete action planned, though you never know what happens behind closed council doors.
Here's the closed session agenda. The Daily Bulletin had an article on the subject. The article, by Wes Woods II, quoted several councilmembers, including Sam Pedroza:
Councilman Sam Pedroza said the council expects to review several options, such as whether the city should take over its water provider or just continue to fight the water company's rising rates.
Pedroza said he brought the item to the council's attention because residents have been asking him about the increased rates.
In December, Claremont joined San Dimas, Apple Valley and Placentia in hopes of halting rising water rates charged by the water company.
"We've been talking about it for many, many years," Pedroza said. "Because of the water situation we're in and the economy, it's never going to be cheaper than what it is right now. We need to do something."
Wes Woods II posted a couple entries related to our local League of Women Voters chapter in the Daily Bulletin's Claremont Now blog.
The first post announced a forum on climate change and water issues next Saturday, June 20, from 8:30am to noon in the Padua Room of the city's Alexander Hughes Center. The Hughes Center is located at 1700 Danbury Rd.
The LWV will host the forum, and Woods writes that it is co-sponsored by Sustainable Claremont and funded by grants from the national LWV and Oxfam America. Woods' blog post has some information on the speakers:
Speakers include Dr. Bill Patzert, oceanographer and climatologist, the "prophet of California climate."Seating is limited, and reservations are required. You can reserve a spot by calling (909) 624-9457 or by emailing league@claremont.ca.lwvnet.org.
In a news release, Patzert was described as "Known for studying how Earth's oceans affect our weather and global climate and govern El Nino/La Nina weather phenomena. A 26 year Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee, he has dramatically improved long-term global weather and climate forecasts for Southern California. He will discuss the impacts of longer term climate trends and global warming. Topic: "The Climate is A-Changin': California's Future Ain't What It Used TO Be.'"
The second speaker is Celeste Cantu, General Manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA).
The other LWV news posted on Claremont Now was the presentation of the Claremont LWV's Ruth Ordway Award to former Claremont mayor Ellen Taylor. The award, according to the LWV press release quoted by Woods, is given annually by the LWV to an "outstanding member of our community.""It is often difficult to recognize one particular leader among the many women and men, LWVers or not, who have given outstanding service to the Claremont Community. This year our recipient is an active LWV member with a history of diverse and effective leadership and her selection by the committee was unanimously enthusiastic.
"A native of Massachusetts and a graduate of Skidmore College, she worked as a social worker for many years before coming to Claremont over thirty years ago. Not one to be shy or hesitant, Ellen Taylor soon began to be involved in the community, and involved, indeed, she continued to be.
Taylor, in an e-mail, said: "I consider receiving this to be a great honor, one that I do not take lightly, since the people who have won the award in the past are some of my role models. I am humbled to be recognized by the League."
Like the rest of us, you probably received a notice in the mail today from Golden State Water Company regarding a public meeting next Wednesday, June 17, at 6:30pm. The meeting will allow the water company to explain their proposed mandatory water rationing plan.
You may want to pay attention because there are fines of $50 to $300 that can be imposed for violations, depending on which of the seven stages of water rationing we happen to be at. The conditions listed seem to track the city's proposed water conservation ordinance.
The City of Claremont's website carried this notice, along with a link to the text of the mailing:
Public Meeting on Staged Mandatory Water Rationing
Golden State Water Company (GSWC) filed Advice Letter 1332-W requesting authority from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to institute a staged mandatory rationing plan (Plan). The proposed Plan would only go into effect when specific criteria, detailed in the Plan, are met. A Public meeting will be held on June 17, 2009 at Double Tree Hotel, Sequoia Room, 555 W. Foothill Boulevard, Claremont, CA, to explain the rate process and to receive public input.
GSWC customers who would like to provide any other information or comments regarding this requested increase, should write to the CPUC at the address below.
Written public comment by GSWC customers is very much desired by the CPUC and may be sent to the CPUC's Water Division at 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, 3rd Floor, Room 3102, or e-mailed to regulatoryaffairs@gswater.com. Please refer to Golden State Water Company's Advice Letter No. 1332-W in any communications.
View GSWC Manadatory Conservation Notice (Adobe Acrobat, 35KB)
Written public comment by GSWC customers is very much desired by the CPUC and may be sent to the CPUC's Water Division at 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, 3rd Floor, Room 3102. Please refer to Golden State Water Company's Advice Letter No. 1332-W in any communications.
The City of Claremont's draft water conservation ordinance will been unveiled at tonight's Community Services Commission meeting. The commission meets in the city council chambers at 225 W. 2nd St. at 7pm.
After review by the commission, the matter will go to the Claremont City Council at the July 9 meeting. (The materials for tonight's meeting say June 9, but that appears to be a typo.) If approved, the ordinance should go into effect by the end of July.
The ordinance is based on the a model provided by Metropolitan Water District. Claremont Community Services Director Scott Carroll's staff report gives the reasons for the proposed ordinance:
ANALYSIS
Background
California is experiencing its third consecutive year of drought. The governor has proclaimed a water emergency and is calling for water conservation efforts statewide. In addition, aquatic habitat issues in Northern California, increasing population growth, decreasing supplies from the Colorado River, and climate change are all combining to magnify our current situation and create on going concerns over the long term dependability of our water supply.
In response, the MWD has allocated approximately 10% less imported water to each of its 26 member agencies in Southern California beginning on July 1, 2009. They plan to raise their water rates by 20% to make up for the revenue shortfall anticipated by the lower water sales. Water agencies that do not meet MWD s water conservation targets will also pay penalty rates of up to 500% of current rates for water exceeding their target reduction.
Both the Claremont General Plan and Claremont Sustainable City Plan include goals policies and recommended actions to increase water conservation. These actions call for working with our local water providers to provide education, incentives, and enforcement.
Permanent Water Conservation Restrictions
- No watering between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
- Watering duration limited to (15) minutes watering per day per station
- No excessive water flow or runoff from outdoor watering
- No washing down hard or paved surfaces with water
- Obligation to fix leaks breaks or malfunctions within five business days of notice
- Re-circulating water required for water fountains and decorative water features
- Wash vehicles only with a bucket or hose with shut off nozzle
- Restaurants only serve water upon request
- Hotels must provide guests option to decline daily linen laundering
- No installation of single pass cooling systems
- No installation of non recirculating commercial carwash and laundry systems
- Restaurants required to use water conserving dish washing spray valves
With California in the midst of its third year of drought, water agencies have begun instituting water conservation measures. The search for ways of reducing water consumption is on, and the City of Claremont announced a toilet exchange program sponsored by Golden State Water Co. (see flyer at right) If you have an old toilet (3.8 gallons per flush), you can trade that for a new, high-efficiency model at no cost.Free High-Efficiency Toilets for Golden State Water Customers
Golden State Water Company will be distributing free, high-efficiency toilets at Claremont High School (1601 N. Indian Hill Boulevard) on Saturday, June 27, 2009, starting at 8:00 a.m. By participating, you are supporting Claremont High School Softball Boosters. Click on the link below for participation requirements and information on how to reserve a free high-efficiency toilet.
- View Golden State Water Company Flyer (Adobe Acrobat, 1702KB)
We didn't write about the last round of storms that blew through the area earlier this week, but a reader caught the rainfall numbers recorded at the automated weather station at L.A. County Fire Station 62 on Mills Ave. just south of Mt. Baldy Rd.
The reader pegged the rainfall between last Thursday and 9pm Monday evening at nearly five inches:
DATE: Monday, February 9, 2009 9:02 PM
SUBJECT: Rainfall
TO: Claremont Buzz
Hi Buzz -
I think I'm recalling this correctly, but I'm not sure. Last Thursday just before the storms, the Claremont weather station that you've publicized before had our rain total at 6.68 inches (might have been 6.86). Now (Mon 9pm) under a clear sky it's at 11.79. That's a lot of good moisture.
23% of Los Angeles’ water comes from Owens Valley, and 67% comes from Metropolitan, according to the Los Angeles Times article. Metropolitan’s water supplies include groundwater, Colorado River Aqueduct, and the State Water Project. Metropolitan has rights to 47% (2 MAF [million acre-feet]) of water from the State Water Project and 1.2 MAF of Colorado River water, plus groundwater.
The good news is that this year, the snowpack is looking good for the Colorado River basin. The okay news is that the Eastern Sierra and the Owens Valley are classified as moderate drought to abnormally dry. But the bad news is that Northern California, the source for the State Water Project, is considered in “extreme drought”.
So, although Southern California is getting plenty of precipitation, it doesn’t do a lot for the water supply as most of it flows right out to the ocean. Northern California’s precipitation is still below normal, at least according to this drought monitor. It’s from last Tuesday, so it doesn’t include the recent storms which have brought some rain and snow to Northern California. There might be some improvement in the next one.
California Public Utilities Commission Seeks Public Participation and Request for Public Comment
The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) will be holding two public hearings regarding Golden State Water Company's (GSWC) formal application for a rate increase. The hearings will be held in the Padua Room at the Alexander Hughes Center, located at 1700 Danbury Road, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2009.
The City of Claremont believes that GSWC has not provided a compelling reason why an interim rate relief is merited, and the City, as a substantial ratepayer, deserves the benefit of a full Commission process before any rate increases are imposed.
The CPUC is seeking public comment on this formal application by GSWC. As part of its decision-making process, the CPUC is interested in your comments on any aspect of the company's operation including proposed rates, service quality or any other issue of concern.
Claremont residents are strongly encouraged to attend one of these hearings. The Public Participation Hearing provides the public an opportunity to provide comment on any portion of Golden State Water Company's Application before a CPUC Administrative Law Judge.
Here is a list of some talking points to assist you when speaking to the CPUC:
- The Proposed overall rate increase is more than 35% higher than current rates.
- Overall rate increase is unreasonable in the current state of the economy, with people losing jobs, facing foreclosure and not being able to afford higher utility bills.
- Wrightwood Pipeline being built in another town located far from Claremont: Because of regionalized rate structure, citizens of Claremont will subsidize pipeline project through their rates, but receive no benefit from it.
- GSWC is not establishing the required connection between the cost of the proposed conservation measures and the benefit/savings to local communities. Citizens care deeply about conservation, but want to see conservation measures implemented properly and effectively.
- Return on investment sought by GSWC is unreasonable in this economic climate. GSWC shouldn't be making a higher profit, when other business and citizens are merely trying to stay afloat.
For a copy of the talking points, click on the link below.
Claremont residents are also encouraged to immediately e-mail/write to the Public Utilities Commission to protest Golden State Water's interim rate increase:
Email: public.advisor.la@cpuc.ca.gov
Send correspondence to:
CPUC's Public Advisor's Office
320 West 4th Street, Suite 500
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Here's a link to the City of Claremont talking points
Our thanks to the readers who waded through all this information and distilled it for us and to the Insider Hydrology Institute, which vetted the piece.
CLAREMONT LOGIC
As we noted last week, the Claremont City Council Tuesday night voted 5-0 to dedicate $25,000 to a League of Women Voters (LWV) project dedicated to buying the area around Thompson Creek Dam and turning it into a park with cienegas (or marshlands or fens or bogs or fever swamps), a wooded area, and about 50-60 acres of endangered Riversidean Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub (RAFSS).
The LWV has applied for a $7.6 million grant through the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, a state agency that takes state bond money and distributes it to local projects throughout land drained by the San Gabriel River - a very wide area that runs from the mountains to the sea and which encompasses large sections of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Our previous post on the subject included the observation that the there was some hypocrisy implicit in the LWV grant application. For instance, the argument that the project is needed because it saves 50-60 acres of endangered RAFSS is specious given the fact that the city of Claremont is also applying for another grant of $1.5 million through the same Conservancy for the Padua Sports Park. That project will destroy 10 acres of the same, precious RAFSS habitat.
So, if the habitat is so rare that we should spend $7.6 million to save it, why are we also asking for $1.5 million to bulldoze it? And why are we asking a land conservancy for that money? The answer is that it depends on a good deal of Claremont logic: The habitat is good when we want it to be and bad when we don't want it.
The irony is you have the same hypocrites on the City Council, on city commissions, and in the LWV pushing both projects. Leave it to City Councilmember Sam Pedroza (AKA, WJM's Ted Baxter) to sum it up perfectly as he did in his rush to show his support for the LWV project: "This is a no-brainer."
We couldn't agree more.
(To be fair, the city's evidence for removing the stuff on the sports park site was equally stupid: They hired a so-called "biostitute" with a Internet-ordered Ph.D in theology to write the biology report that supported their park project.)
THE BASELINE BARRIER WELLS WILL SAVE US!
It's truly remarkable how poorly conceived the LWV project is. One the other concerns we raised previously was the question of where does all the water they intend to spread around the site go? The area sits above the Canyon Water Basin, an underground aquifer that will take the water and carry it to lower, downslope areas. Add water and away it goes. So, how do you keep the water in the project area without having to constantly add more. How do you do that in dry season when the creeks dry up?
Also, what do you do about the water that seeps away? Cienegas are wet places where the area's geology is such that water pools underground and comes to the Earth's surface, sometimes via artesian wells. One such place called the Martin Cienega existed around 6th and Harrison in the Claremont Village near Pilgrim Place until pumping of the groundwater lowered the water table so much that the cienega ceased to exist.
Presumably, the geology remains in place, so if groundwater were to rise high enough, water would once again spout forth in the Claremont Village and in a number of other areas of town. Claremont's Human Services Department would no doubt put a happy spin on them and call them "Water Play Features."
In any case, in order to quell any questions about downslope artesian wells, the LWV grant application refers to a 2006 study by a consulting company called CDM Engineering. The study was commissioned by Three Valleys Municipal Water District and is titled "Mitigation Alternatives to Rising Groundwater Study." It turns out that Three Valleys needed the study because they want to increase the amount of water spread on the San Antonio Spreading Grounds below the San Antonio Dam.
Of course, the LWV grant writers likely did not bother to read the study all that carefully and certainly didn't cite any portions of it in their application. Nor did they attach it to the grant application. For the sake of their project, it's a good thing they didn't. What the CDM study found was that water springing up in Pilgrim Place need not be a concern, provided we're willing to spend $24.4 million to build the "Base Line Barrier Wells" protection system.
That's right - $24.4 million.
We couldn't help but think about an article we read recently in the New York Times. The article discussed the state of Florida's buyout of United States Sugar and Florida's takeover of 187,000 acres of land south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area.The impact on the Everglades could be substantial. The natural flow of water would be restored, and the expanse of about 292 square miles would add about a million acre-feet of water storage. That amount of water — enough to fill about 500,000 Olympic size swimming pools — could soak the southern Everglades during the dry season, protecting wildlife, preventing fires, and allowing for a redrawing of the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan approved in 2000.
It would essentially remove some of the proposed plumbing. Many of the complicated wells and pumps the plan relied on might never have to be built, water officials said, because the water could move naturally down the gradually sloping land.
Kenneth G. Ammon, deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, which would assume control of the land, said it would be a “managed” flow-way, with reservoirs and other engineered mechanisms to control water flow. David G. Guest, a lawyer for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, joked that he might have to go to blows to keep the area all natural.
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