Residents, farmers grumbling at water-cut pleas
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
They suggest that home-building be curtailed instead | ∞
SAN DIEGO -- Threats of statewide water shortages and public pleas to cut water use have elicited grumbles from some local residents and farmers who say they shouldn't have to conserve until officials stop building homes and cut off development.
But a number of city, county and water officials rejected that suggestion last week, saying the state's current water problems are a short-term problem, and that building has slowed anyway because of the downturn in the housing market.
The region faces water shortages partly because of drought, but mainly because a court ruling could limit water deliveries from Northern California, which make up two-thirds of this year's life-sustaining imported water supplies.
Already, growers on special discounted water programs have been told they'll get a 30 percent mandatory supply cut Jan. 1. Residents have been asked to voluntarily cut back their own water use.
At an Escondido town hall meeting for growers last month, hundreds of farmers burst into applause when one suggested a countywide moratorium on new hookups for "houses and golf courses."
But officials last week said the housing boom was slowing development anyway, and that everyone should wait to see if the state can find a way to produce new water supplies or fix problems in Northern California.
"I have not heard to any degree that it's time to panic, that we've gotten to the point where it's that serious that we've got to issue a moratorium on building," said Peter Weiss, Oceanside's city manager, referring to the fact that calls for conservation have been voluntary, not mandatory.
Clay Phillips, Escondido's city manager, said, "Building new homes is not a big issue right now."
Growers are not alone in their unhappiness.
Glenn Carroll, a retired prisons administrator living in Fallbrook, said he resents being asked to cut back his own residential water use.
"With the ongoing approval of new development, I'm convinced the water we're being asked to cut back is going to supply this new development," Carroll said, adding that he thought there should be a moratorium "until we see what shakes out in the water picture."
Water outlook grim
California's water picture got bleaker in August when a federal court judge said the pumps that send Northern California rainfall and snow melt to Southern California and the rest of the state through the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta would have to be cut back next year to protect an endangered fish, the delta smelt.
Southern California's main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District, has said the ruling could cut the region's delta supplies by 30 percent next year.
The looming shortages have already had effects. Water agencies statewide, including Metropolitan and the San Diego County Water Authority, have called for people to cut water use. If people conserve now, they say, it will leave more water in storage to buttress next year's supplies.
The question of how possible water shortages and development mix, meanwhile, are bound to increase.
State legislators tied growth and water supplies together in 2001, requiring water departments, cities, counties and developers to state they have enough water before approving big developments.
Planning and water officials said that is typically done through the water agency's water management plans, which use population growth estimates and the agency's own water supply information to project how they'll meet increasing demands for five to 20 years.
Dana Friehauf, senior water resources manager for the Water Authority, said the agency may revisit its annual supply projections in light of the recent federal court ruling. However, Friehauf said, that will not happen until the judge's final written decision is recorded sometime in December.
Jeff Murphy, interim deputy director of San Diego County's planning department, said the county had 1,200 tentative letters suggesting there is water available for project proposals large and small in its queue.
Government and developers have their desires. For example, Escondido hopes to build condominium type housing in its downtown corridor; Oceanside has dreams of hotels and timeshares; some American Indian tribes have talked about annexation to the Water Authority's supplies and there are large developments proposed for North County's I-15 corridor and Chula Vista in South County.
Still, most officials said development has slowed because of the housing market. Building permits in the county are down. Aaron Adams, assistant city manager in Temecula -- a boom town for development until recently -- said developers are holding back because they don't know if they can sell their products.
Discussion
The conservation-development issue has triggered some discussion among water agency officials.
Keith Lewinger, general manager of Fallbrook's water district and its Water Authority board member, told other directors recently that he opposed the idea of annexing new water clients to the Water Authority's supplies because of the looming shortages.
Other directors said the agency should consider annexations because the predicted shortages could be temporary if state legislators can "fix" the delta problems.
Lori Holt Pfeiler, Escondido's mayor and vice chairwoman of the San Diego Association of Governments -- a regional planning agency -- said she would consider asking Water Authority officials to come and talk to the association's board about the water-supply concerns.
David Kreitzer, chairman of the county's planning commission, said he personally thought it might be time to put a hold on development because of the water question, and that he would ask the commission to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Carlsbad Mayor and Water Authority board member Claude "Bud" Lewis summed up the questions on the issue at a recent board meeting.
Lewis said the conservation-development question was becoming very political in Carlsbad. The city was pushing people to conserve, and people were asking why they should because the city has development projects.
"It's a Catch 22," he said. "It's pretty hard to respond to them. There's no solution to it unless we just shut down everything, or we provide all the water that's necessary to put in all these developments."
-- Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.
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Joe wrote on Oct 8, 2007 8:27 PM:Oh my.... bud the builder, can you fix it. Man you sound like you haven't a clue. If your running out of water, the last thing you do is open up the spicet even wider. A starting point is no new meters, then you can look at additional measures if needed. No new meters until you can prove the area has plenty of water. Why would I conserve, when Carlsbad plans on building 50,000 new big boxes all with front lawns. No thanks, I will just vote for someone with a brain in 2008.
Conserve wrote on Oct 8, 2007 8:39 PM:All California residents and farmers should have begun conserving years ago. Wake up folks, you live in a desert. Water is your most important commodity and every drop wasted is a waste. If you want to live like you get 60 inches of rain a year then you need more storage capacity, desalination plants and more reclaimed water facilities. Your choice - begin to pay the big bucks needed or conserve. If you stop building where will your kids live???
Shut up and drink the cool aid; wrote on Oct 9, 2007 12:47 AM:Sign the contract and Poseidon Desaltation Water, from the shores of Carlsbad, waits to deliver all the water you can drink for only $500 per acre foot.-
No water. wrote on Oct 9, 2007 5:21 AM:Shortage. It's a democratic tree hugger scam. Don't fall for it.-
Restrict water meters wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:02 AM:Make any new projects or projects that have already not had water meters installed, be restricted in such a fashion that they restructure their plumbing to dual systems for drainage. Separate the waste water from the grey water and recycle it, which would be easily possible. If reclamation cannot or will not be done - no water meters. Simple. Build dams and retention areas for stormwater (rainwater). Reclaim that too, instead of having it gush out into the ocean. No tree-hugger here, either. Just a realist. In addition, offer farmers and growners assistance in reclaiming their water for reuse and help them use better methods of watering. Don't punish them, help them or we will not be the bread-basket of the world.-
Responsible wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:12 AM:Hey Conserve- The building industry association montra doesn't work anymore. I am responsible. I realize human population explosion is the biggest issue facing the world. I chose to only have 2 kids. I will leave them with a good educations and financial capability to be able to stay in my house if they choose. I want your 20 kids to start a new town out near El Centro, not along the coast. The coast is full. People including kids need to either pay big to live near the coast or move somewhere they can afford.-
From todays NCT wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:13 AM:Farmers will do their share: San Diego County's agricultural community preparing for mandatory water cuts. Which is it, they will save or the farmers are grumbling?-
MIke wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:31 AM:Conservation and banning further development are not mutually exclusive. Both options are viable. But the fact is the city and county fat cats are sales tax and real estate tax addicts: they can't help themselves when it comes to approving more development projects because of the revenues. So until real evidence exists that oficials are imposing building moritoriums, don't expect most current residents to support conservation. But, like our energy crisis, the real solution here is finding alternatives for new water supplies. We cannot conserve our way out of this problem.-
"Scam"? wrote on Oct 9, 2007 8:07 AM:What would be the motive for this scam? What would the "tree huggers" get out of it? -
J from Vista wrote on Oct 9, 2007 8:13 AM:Could the area cities help residents and businesses to set up gray water recycling? Why should potable water be used to water lawns? Let's make the most of what we've got.-
Delta Issues won't go away wrote on Oct 9, 2007 8:24 AM:There have been issues with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Southern California for more than three decades. This will not be an easily solved problem, and it cannot just be solved at the local level (by having southern Californians conserve). Our water crisis is statewide, and the solution needs to come from Sacramento. As a good start, how about a statewide mandate for water meters? Many northern California communities still charge residents a flat fee for water consumption, rather than metering their usage. A building moratorium should be considered; Santa Barbara limited water meters when they went thorugh a severe drought many years ago. You'll be amazed at the solutions that the builders can come up with for conserving water when faced with a moratorium for water meters.-
Our Government wrote on Oct 9, 2007 8:59 AM:is in the back pocket of the real estate developers. The only purpose of new development in the middle of a water shortage is money.-
Paul wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:03 AM:regarding using gray water -- in LA county it was illegal to use it for watering your lawn. Not sure what the code is down here in SD county.
To Responsible wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:15 AM:I agree that the coast is full and that is the reason why we need to stop living on 1950s methods of solving problems. We have the technology to solve some of this problem, but it will cost of money. And so sorry, but I don't have 20 children,(LOL) just 2 like you and am financially fit. If we want to live along the coast, we need to invest in infrastructure. Even without more building, there will be major problems with power, transportation etc. It is time to think out of the box and get busy with real solutions.-
GFN wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:24 AM:Joe, at 8:27 pm has it right. When you are running out of water, turn off the spigot. It's also time to use gray water recycling, and for the state to come up with a comprehensive water plan. It will cost a fortune, much more debt, but first, turn off the spigot until the plan is in place. Like always, the truth about water shortages is always worse than the water authority lets on...in the beginning.
They said the same wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:45 AM:thing several years ago. The City, County and Water officials continue to say the same thing while they sit and do nothing! They knew this was coming and yet do nothing but blame voters. When will they learn their job is to ptovide for the people they represent. They have yet to present any long term solutions. All they can do is continue to tell us to conserve. Desalination plant? Second canal? Another storage lake? Nothing. All they can manage is getting their paycheck with no accountability!-
Waterwatcher wrote on Oct 9, 2007 2:27 PM:This problem won't be solved until our pathetic elected officials get their heads out of their rears and start paying attention to the actual science of potential solutions, instead of being buffaloed by buzzwords.
Oceansider wrote on Oct 9, 2007 2:49 PM:Even if the shortage today is manufactured, fact is that water will be in short supply soon. I generally support agriculture, but wait a minute: farmers here have been gladly accepting the reduced water rate for years, a discount predicated on the agreement that in times of shortage, they would be the first to cut back usage. Can't have it both ways, folks. Real farmers keep their word.
We need to get wrote on Oct 9, 2007 3:46 PM:The children out of government. This last 50 years is a joke. Republican AND Democrat. Make them pay for what they have done. Put them in jail.
Roberto1 wrote on Oct 9, 2007 9:15 PM:Float a tax bond to import more water, the developers needs us to tax ourselves so they can build more homes. While were at it, maybe the Trafficula water park should be funded by the taxpayers also.
Pinyon2 wrote on Oct 10, 2007 4:35 PM:It is all about the cash flow generated from development. Without that, the financial obligations of the local gummints will not be met. Pay cuts and layoffs will be the end result. Water is the catalyst.
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