The Zone 7 Water Agency is scheduled to vote to support the Delta tunnels project at a public meeting this Wednesday, according to an action alert from Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD). The vote centers around continued financial support. They need to hear from people who oppose the Delta Tunnels project! It is important for urban ratepayers and all of California to oppose this project.
Zone 7 sells treated water primarily to four retail water agencies – the California Water Service Company, the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, and the Dublin San Ramon Services District he said. Not only will the project result in higher water rates for residents being served by these water districts, but as a State Water Project contractor it is likely that they will also use parcel/property taxes to pay for the project, even though you will not receive any additional water.
In addition, Zone 7 Water Agency’s calculations are based on a 40% contribution from the Westlands Water District to the project’s total costs. However, Westlands officials have recently stated in public meetings and to the press that they are not moving forward with any further financial contributions. In addition, they are in hot water with the SEC for “Enron” style accounting. That means that smaller water agencies, like Zone 7, will have to come up with the additional funding.
What: Zone 7 Water Agency Board Meeting, Citizens Forum (will occur at the beginning of the meeting)
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Location: 100 N. Canyons Parkway, Livermore
Time: 7:00 pm
And/or email comments to: BoardofDirectors@zone7water.com
Here is a statement for you to use as a template, or to send to them as an email.
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Dear Zone 7 Water Agency Board Members,
Instead of spending more money on planning and supporting the Delta tunnels, which will not meet standards under the Clean Water Act or the Endangered Species Act for protection of the Delta, it would be much more cost-effective for Zone 7 Water Agency to continue to pursue the good conservation measures that are currently at work, and to draw available water from the Delta during wet periods.
As a water rate payer and property tax payer, I do not want to pay money for a project that will not create additional water supply. I do not want to pay money for a project so that Zone 7 Water Agency moves into the water resale business. In addition, seeing that Westlands Water District officials are facing an SEC fine for “Enron” style accounting and are saying in public meetings and to the press that they are not contributing their 40% share to the total cost of the project, Zone 7 will be on the hook for significantly more money as the years go by. And for what? To help State Water Project contractors in the Southern part of the state?
As part of the Bay-Delta region, it makes more sense for Zone 7 Water Agency to align itself with other Bay-Delta communities to protect the long term health of the SF Bay-Delta estuary. The Department of Water Resources’ own modeling and climate change modeling by independent scientists shows us that there is going to be less and less water available from the Delta watershed.
Sign the Petition! Don’t forget to sign the RTD petition telling Metropolitan Water District of SoCal (Met) to reconsider their Delta islands purchase — we need as many signatures as we can get by April 20th. Met will be holding a special meeting on the Delta islands purchase in April, they have put a down payment on the islands and are in escrow — but they have the ability to walk away from the deal: Go to: http://restorethedelta.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=06887fa70084fef8e939fef63&id=8f2eb4b9f1&e=b2b75da888