My choices for the CSD, Karen Dean and Harry Farmer are 'pro-water’, ‘pro-ratepayer’ and ‘pro-environment’. We are all ‘pro-water’.
No one wants to haul water in buckets and injure themselves lifting heavy pails of water to flush their toilets and "water their roses”. Do you remember the days of not flushing your toilets? Do you want to return to strict rationing of water where you can’t even wash your hands? How is this going to affect our health during this COVID 19 pandemic when hand washing is one of the primary ways to stop the spread of the virus?
Do you know the emergency water project has been built but is not running? Do you know the emergency water project does not supply NEW WATER? The emergency water project was supposed to be our insurance policy against drought - do you think there will never be another drought?
CSD never got permits for their "emergency" water project. We’ve been waiting since 2014. Now they and their C4H20 supporters are emailing their supporters to support a permit to change the project for growth.
CSD and their cohorts, C4H20, claimed this new water supply would cost about $1-4 million dollars. They claimed it would be used in a Stage 3 Water emergency only. They claimed it was only for existing residents. They claimed it would not be used for growth. They claimed it was 'water security' or an insurance policy against running out of water in the future. They claimed it would not harm our environment or take resources from the wildlife that depend on water in our coastal creeks.
None of these claims proved to be true. How we got that water, how much it cost, how it would be permitted, who paid for that water and who will use that water has always been in contention. The other contentious issue was always, how will taking this water out of Santa Rosa and San Simeon Creeks affect our wildlife?
The water project ended up costing over $18 million. Our rates are going up year after year with no end in sight and we have no new water. The brine pond was supposed to be able to withstand a 1,000 year flood event. It didn’t make it thru one year’s rainfall.
The project was supposed to deliver 250 acre feet of drinking water in 6 months. It has never provided drinking water to Cambrians. It is not working properly and everyone knows it. It is now rusting away day and night in the salty sea air because it was never finished because they ran out of money. We can’t turn it on because it costs too much to run it.
We haven’t even begun the hearings we will all have to attend to see what conditions will be placed over it to protect our coastal creeks. See attached letter written to the North Coast Advisory County from 2014 highlighting the environmental damages that have still not been addressed.
The first thing the CSD did was change the name of this water supply to open the Wait List for growth. Bait and Switch. How does adding more homes ensure our "water security” when the project isn’t running? How does adding more homes ensure this project is “insurance against future droughts” when the project isn’t permitted? How will adding more demands for this water protect the fishes and pond turtles and red-legged frogs when permits have not been obtained from Fish and Wildlife and State Parks and the Coastal Commission yet?
How does adding more homes protect residents from running out of water again during the next drought? Short answer is - it doesn’t. Cambrians will now be forced to turn back to the dark ages of hauling water in buckets once again while new homes are being built. Residents on fixed incomes are going broke trying to pay for a rushed project that doesn’t work.
Our bank accounts are drained to try to fix all the problems that continue to be disguised by the pro-growth element in town. The same people are still supporting the same failed policies that got us into this mess.
Take a stand for a balanced approach to Cambria’s water, infrastructure and ratepayer interests and vote only for Harry Farmer and Karen Dean for Cambria Community Services District.
Cosmo the Wonder Dog!
BY HOLLY LUDWIGSON
It was only a few days after we adopted Cosmo from Woods Humane Society that we started calling him Wonder Dog. He doesn’t bark, never reacts to other dogs barking, was totally house trained, gets along with all dogs and people, and offers his Golden Retriever love constantly.
Wait, there’s more to love! On Feb. 11, as we were nearly home after a lovely walk on Lodge Hill, he tugged me over to a spot just a couple of feet off the side of Richard St where the grass was long, green, and wet. He stuck his nose into the grass and started licking as if there was a bowl of water there. My husband pulled the grass apart and saw a broken pipe leaking a steady stream of water. What? Had Cosmo detected a water leak? So we marked the spot with a stake, called CCSD, and reported what he’d found.
Workmen showed up shortly, found the leak and repaired it that day. I posted an “atta boy” to CCSD on ND sharing how quickly and efficiently the matter was resolved. My post even got a “thank you” reply from John Weigold (CCSD’s Gen. Mgr.). On top of that, CCSD called and thanked us for letting them know about the leak because, they said, it had been going on for a long time and they hadn’t been able to locate it. So thank you to our wonderful Wonder Dog Cosmo! 🥰😘🤩
And yet we were left wondering how it could be that there is so much concern in town about water supply and water security, while a steady leak, just a couple of feet off the street, goes undetected for “a long time?” How many more pipes are leaking out there going undetected for a long time?
Like so many Cambrians, I’ve heard and read about the deteriorating water lines and waste water infrastructure in Cambria. Pretty scary. What’s the deal? So I listened to Tom Gray’s Sept 4 Zoom Q&A to find out how important infrastructure is to him. When asked how he prioritizes Cambria’s numerous infrastructure needs, he explained: 1.) The waste water treatment plant. He said it “needs the most work, needs very specific work” as it is “a very mechanical process” with “lift stations all over town with pumps, pumping at the plant, blowers constantly going, a lot of highly active equipment.” He said “a lot of pumps especially are in need of replacement, also the electrical system needs to be upgraded.”
Apparently CCSD contracted with PG&E to do an audit of our waste water system and identified “10 projects...that are both needed and very high priority projects.” He even provided the estimate for all that highly mechanical stuff to be repaired saying, “It’s about $9,000,000. worth of projects and we’re looking right now for financing for that.”
Wow, that’s a big ticket item!
2.) “Replacement of the Stuart Street tanks is a fairly high priority item.” Hmmmmm, our 2 water storage tanks that hold water for fighting house fires, etc., and are overdue to be replaced are a “fairly high priority?” 😬😳 I say, “Look out below!” to all the properties downhill from those tanks if they aren’t dealt with.
3.) The water lines, which “would have to be dealt with over time because there’s like 60 something miles of water lines.” He went on to describe all the different types and places our water pipes leak due to “roots that bend the pipes, have cracks, and the joints loosen,” so they need to be replaced.
And while that infrastructure To-Do List seems really important to me, it doesn’t seem nearly as worthy of Tom Gray’s time and energies as his, and his C4H20 friends, EWS/“SWF” project is, and has been, for many years. All the attention and resources and rate payer monies (already over $18,000,000. and close to $1,000,000. more each year) have been poured into the Emergency Water System, and if Tom Gray and his C4H20 pals get their wish to run the plant constantly as a “SWF,” so much more money and resources will be spent.
And all the while the pipes and waste water treatment machinery, that are integral to not only providing treated waste water to the “SWF,” but also delivering its meager amount of processed potable water to Cambrians, are falling apart. “What if,” I wondered, “Some or all of the monies and resources that were pumped/poured/injected into the EWS had been voted instead to be spent on repairing the infrastructure that is essential for the EWS/“SWF” to actually work for Cambrians.”
As a rate payer, I REALLY want to know how it is that CCSD is “looking right now for financing” to repair our essential WW treatment machinery after so many years and millions of rate payer dollars have been spent on the pipe dream of Tom Gray and the C4H20 group. I mean, if you were someone who was frightened by their threat of “sand will come out of your faucets,” you should be especially frightened about the very real possibility of the WW treatment machinery pooping out.....you KNOW what I mean.
So I’m WONDERING why in the world I would vote for a candidate who obviously knows (has known for a long time???) about our failing infrastructure and yet, by all appearances, puts far more importance on the “SWF” than dealing with the essential infrastructure that ANY AND ALL water requires. Still WONDERing........
