About Cambria

Despite the fact that water supplies are undeniably constrained and climate change is likely to constrain them even more, there is more than enough water to go around — and that includes enough water to maintain the environmental and biological integrity of our rivers, streams, estuaries and wetlands.

In November 2004, the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) published “An Investment Strategy for California Water”. This publication (available online at PCL.org) concluded that new demands for water associated with California’s projected growth could not only be met, but could be met economically and without damaging California’s environment. The following year, the state Department of Water Resources essentially confirmed PCL’s findings in The California Water Plan Update 2005, Bulletin 160-05.

More recently, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute has argued what we have is a water management problem, not a water shortage problem. If we were to manage our water use more efficiently, our limited resource could provide for more people. It means we need to change the “me” paradigm into a “we” paradigm. We need to make some fundamental changes in our behavior and our assumptions.

Here’s two important questions for everyone: How much are you and your 4,000 neighbors willing to pay for water without restriction? The current plan approved by the Board Is the plan to limit the number of connections a defensible  policy? Before you respond, just think about this: 4,650 customer are using water without restriction, but every other  lot owner inside the CCSD’s service area is out of luck because they aren’t on a list that was closed in 1990 and ceased producing new connections in 2001. You and I can waste all the water we can pay for while hundreds of others are denied service. Please help me see how this isn’t going to present a problem.

With the recent regulatory approval of the Carlsbad (San Diego) desalination plant to be built by Poseidon, chatter on the net about Desal seems to have gotten louder. Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute recently posted two articles about desalination, its costs and energy requirements.

Even more interesting, in my opinion, is a report from non-profit organization Food and Water Watch‘s James Fryer titled: Sustaining Our Water Future: A Review of the Marin Municipal Water District’s Alternatives to Improve Water Supply Reliability.

Fryer served as coordinator  of the Marin Municipal Water District’s (MMWD) water conservation program from 1990 to 1999. According to their website Food and Water watch is  a nonprofit consumer organization based in Washington, D.C., with offices on the west coast. It works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world.  They challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.  Read their report on Marin’s Desalination plans here.

The rate increase has prompted quite a bit of research, online and otherwise by many of us. The links on the left side of the page represent just some of the many resources overflowing the web. Included here are a number of sites authored by people or organizations either “in the same boat” we Cambrians find ourselves in or people or organizations who have HELPED communities and citizens who’ve sailed before us.

The first resource is one that may be able to really help us out: the Pacific Institute.
The Pacific Institute is an independent, nonpartisan think-tank studying issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security. The Institute posits several well-stated points in a report on Potential of Urban Water Conservation.

” Controversies rage over allocation of water among users, the need to reduce the state’s use of Colorado River water, overpumping of groundwater, and ecological damages caused by human withdrawals of water. All these factors, combined with concern over growing populations and the threat of climate change, make it essential that the deadlock over California water policy be broken. The best way to do this is through reducing waste in the system, using proper pricing and economics, educating the public, and improving water efficiency and conservation efforts.
We do not argue that the savings potential we identify will all be captured. Capturing wasted water will require better use of available technology, expanding existing conservation programs, developing new approaches and policies, and educating consumers and policymakers. Further technological advances will also help. Some of the needed improvements will be easy; some will be difficult. But there is no doubt that the path to a sustainable water future lies not with more “hard” infrastructure of dams and pipelines but with the soft infrastructure of responsible local water management, smart application of existing technology, active stakeholder participation in decision-making, and the efforts of innovative communities and businesses. We hope that this report is the beginning, not the end, of a real debate over water conservation in California.”

One recent project was a Review of the SFPUC’s Retail and Wholesale Customer Water Demand Projections. Their evaluation of projections brings up an interesting point that I’ve been wondering about:

How did the Board arrive at the basic assumption about water consumption that each residential customer would require 18 units each 2 month period? When figuring projected needs, using a number this high inflates the need exponentially. Do they have a vision of Cambria canals? Tropical rainforest taking over the pines? My current personal water use is between 6 and 9 units per billing cycle. I do conserve, but I can’t imagine using twice as much. Families may have higher usage, but an average need over double what I have used over the last 6 years seems a bit extreme.

Perhaps the Pacific Institute could evaluate the CCSD 20 year water master plan and/or the rates increase rationale like it evaluated the SFPUC’s plan.

Another report on the Pacific Institute’s site that you may find interesting and informative is their report Desalination, With a Grain of Salt – A California Perspective. In this report the Pacific Institute provides a comprehensive overview of the history, benefits, and risks of ocean desalination, and the barriers that hinder more widespread use of this technology, especially in the context of recent proposals for a massive increase in desalination development in California.

More handy resources to come.

Please post or comment and share the sources you have found useful.