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In 2014, the City of Cambria’s Water District was able to convince the State that their water supply was in peril due to the drought.  The State responded with approval to qualify for an advanced tertiary sewage treatment plant and groundwater injection wells, fast-tracking the project under the Governor’s Executive Order of Drought Emergency.  That waived all environmental review normally required for a project like this, and the plant zoomed through construction.  From the time it went online in 2015, there were problems with cost over-runs,  late monitoring reports, and other documentation required.  The State Waterboard staff quickly jumped in to assist the City’s management, and actually reduced the amount of reporting necessary and the complexity of the information to be reported.  There were still multiple violations.

Local residents started observing irregularities, such as strong odors of chlorine in local creeks.  They, along with nearby State Parks officials, noted that the treatment plant was dumping treated brine into the creeks, rather than into the appointed evaporation pond.  Upon investigation, the State Waterboard determined there had been multiple instances of contaminated water being injected into the aquifer because the treatment plant staff had not noticed that the alarms signaling such problems were not functioning properly. 

Because of citizen outcry and documentation of problems, the State began to seriously monitor Cambria’s advanced tertiary treatment management.  Penalties of over $400,000 should have been assessed, had the State followed the usual formula for such assessments, but since the plant was already experiencing cost over-runs, the fines were reduced to $54,000 so as not to place a further financial burden on rate payers.  The violations were uncontested by Cambria’s Water District.  State Waterboards prosecution staff stated that there are about 100 such recycled water indirect potable projects in the state, but that he had been spending 25%-30% of his time just to assess the Cambria management’s problems. 

Roughly 30 Cambria residents had travelled to Watsonville to testify before the Regional Water Quality Control Board as to their negative experiences with the Cambria City Water District’s mis-management and the concerning health effects of the now-contaminated groundwater due to system failures.  They also have concerns associated with big problems linked to the associated evaporation pond that has leaked effluent into the high groundwater table.  The Board acknowledged that it had enabled the problem initially by assisting Cambria’s management in processing early documents that seemed problematic. 

I explained during the break to one of the Cambrians who has been instrumental in documenting these problems that I was interested in this case because Soquel Creek Water District wants to install a similar facility in my area.   He exclaimed “Oh, God, don’t let it happen!  Just don’t.  You’ll be sorry.  Get them to build a reservoir instead.” The public hearing regarding whether the plant will be allowed to continue to operate went on for a long time, with resident after resident speaking about the problems encountered.  Unfortunately, I was not able to stay to learn the outcome, but will by next week.  Stay tuned. 

Meanwhile, I hope the State Waterboard is taking a hard look at their goal to have 1.5 million Acre Feet per year of recycled water being used in California by 2020.  Their emphasis, the Director stated, is on small communities to construct advanced tertiary sewage treatment plants and injection wells into the aquifers.  If the City of Cambria is any indication of the problems that ensue when small, inexperienced water districts attempt to manage a complex, technology-dependent facility, we should all be asking ourselves….”Isn’t there a better way to solve groundwater overdraft?”

WATER FOR SANTA CRUZ HAS GOOD IDEAS
Take a look at www.waterforsantacruz.com for some better ideas to solve our area’s critical groundwater overdraft problem.  You will find a well-maintained calendar of all local water-related events and meetings, and a blog where you may post questions and actually get an answer!  These intelligent folks have excellent expertise, education and background experiences.  Some have served on state and local water advisory commissions.  All are concerned about the future of water in Santa Cruz County and want to work to solve the problems effectively and affordably.  Take a look at their website and contact your local government policy makers.

WHY DRINK EXPENSIVE SEWAGE WATER?
That is the question that all who attend the Soquel Creek Water District’s Open House, Thursday, July 20, 4:30pm-7pm at the District Office (5180 Soquel Drive, Soquel) should ask.  The District’s zeal to push the proposed PureWater Soquel Project will be the focus.  Their plan to inject treated sewage water into the local drinking water supply is supposedly one of four supplemental supply sources being considered to solve the very real threat of sea water moving inland and destroying the area’s drinking water supply.  So, why is Soquel Creek Water District only moving forward on the Environmental Impact Report for the PureWater Soquel Project and none others?  Why is the 2018-2019 budget planning for a 17% customer rate increase and the addition of new plant engineers/operators and administrative staff to handle the Project?

Although the District’s Board and staff insist there will be no decisions made until after the PureWater Soquel  EIR is complete, it seems rather transparent to many members of the public that the choice has already been made. 

THERE WERE NO BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT AND NO APPLAUSE AT SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT’S PRESENTATION ABOUT PUREWATER SOQUEL
Although the PureWater Soquel EIR Scoping sessions last November had highest attendance during the afternoon, the second Scoping session last week was scheduled for the evening.  Strangely, there were no members of the Board present.  The District had hired yet another consultant to run the event, and again, no members of the public were allowed to speak or ask questions publicly.  The entire event was carefully orchestrated to maintain control of the public, with small stations staffed by consultants and District staff who quickly directed people to submit their questions on the comment cards supplied.

All comments are due by July 22 at 4pm.  Examine the details of the proposed project at www.soquelcreekwater.org.  I wonder if the District will allow all who depend on the Purisima Aquifer for drinking water a vote on whether this treated sewage water injection project goes forward?  Over 300 signators on the petitions I have been circulating think that should happen.  Stay vigilant and write the Board with your thoughts.

MORE BAD NEWS ON THE SALINAS GROUNDWATER FRONT
Last week’s Monterey County Special Joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors and the Water Resources Agency Board of Directors was interesting because the consultant from USGS publicly released the groundwater model for the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin.  It was quite alarming.  Groundwater levels in King City monitoring wells dropped 35′ between 2013 and 2015.  Similar wells in Chular dropped 20′-25′ and the sea water intrusion moved four miles further inland.  There may be some indication of subsidence on the eastern Salinas Valley areas, but this is under further investigation. 

I left wondering what will become of this area without affordable fresh water?  I travelled back to Santa Cruz, wondering what we can all do to work together to solve this problem? I was glad to have seen what a groundwater model looks like (I am still waiting to see the MidCounty Groundwater model that has been long-delayed and a seemingly endless money pit), but I felt very troubled.

GOOD NEWS ON THE PAJARO VALLEY WATER FRONT
I attended the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency’s public workshop to begin environmental review of the proposed College Lake managed recharge project out near the Fairgrounds.  The idea is to use College Lake as a year-round storm water collection basin for recharge efforts and coastal farming irrigation rather than pumping out the storm water in the spring and sending it to the ocean.  The workshop was well-attended and offered the public the opportunity to ask questions of General Manager Mr. Brian Lockwood after his presentation (they even provided a portable microphone for those who had questions!).  Wow…Soquel Creek could take a lesson from these folks.

The workshop also featured interesting stations informing people about various other managed recharge projects the Agency is doing to halt the sea water intrusion into the Basin.  I toured two of these the following day, one in operation at Harkins Slough with a percolation pond near the coast, and the other in the works and located closer to the mountains on the Kelly Farm.

Now there is a real inspiration.  Mr. Ed Kelly and his family have been farming on their Pajaro Valley land since 1851.  He recently approached the local Resource Conservation District to help him with a groundwater recharge pond on his farm that will handle storm water runoff from the neighboring 15 farms as well as his own by creating  a ten-acre recharge basin with charcoal and woodchips to clean the nitrates and any pesticide runoff before infiltration into the overdrafted aquifer.  He is doing this, at great personal expense, because he wants to make a positive difference for the future generations that will carry on the family farming.  He wants to be a model for what he considers all farmers need to do: handle all their irrigation and storm water runoff and responsibly return the water to the aquifer.  He hopes this project will recharge the Pajaro Basin with 350 Acre Feet/year. 

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency has been working seriously for a number of years to find solutions to the aquifer overdraft there while continuing to support local agriculture.  One of the Board members stated that the Agency had hoped to have the problem solved by 2025 with goals stated in their Basin Management Plan, but probably will not achieve their goal until 2030.  That is ten years ahead of what the State is mandating. 

Good work, Pajaro Valley!

When I asked a member of the Pajaro Valley Groundwater Agency Basin Management Planning Committee what had been the greatest challenge in arriving at the Plan, he replied: “Getting good scientific information we could base our road map on.  Until we had a model, we were all making up ideas in the parking lot and drawing plans on napkins, and not really getting along with each other. But once we had a sound model, we could work together better and really know what it was we had to accomplish and how to go about it.”  That was good insight.

APPLY FOR THE PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY
If you live or have a business in the MidCounty area (La Selva Beach, Aptos, Soquel, Capitola and parts of Live Oak), make sure you visit www.midcountygroundwater.org to apply for a place on the Groundwater Sustainability Planning Committee to help write the Plan for the future of your water.  All applications must be filed by June 20 at 4pm with the Soquel Creek Water District Office or submitted online.  The group will meet regularly for the next two years, developing a road map for how to solve the critical groundwater overdraft problem in the area.

The MidCounty Groundwater Agency Board will meet Thursday, July 20 at 7pm at Simpkins Swim Center to discuss issues including how the Planning Committee applicants will be selected and by whom.  Attend if you are able.  I continue to ask that the Board budget a professional video recording agency to document the meetings for members of the public who cannot attend, but so far, the $1.3 million annual budget for the group does not allow for that expense.  For now, I will continue to borrow a video camera and pay a friend to upload the meetings on YouTube.  You might try contacting the MidCounty Board and ask for meetings to be recorded…those folks are making some mighty significant decisions that really ought to be more publicly available.

APTOS/ LA SELVA FIRE CHIEF JONES STILL DRAGGING OUT HIS PLANS FOR CONTRACT EXTENSION
Last Thursday’s Aptos/La Selva Fire District Board meeting was again well-attended by the public and fire fighters of Local 3535.  The meeting began at 7pm but the Board was in closed session with discussions regarding claims against the District by four Chiefs who were placed under investigation by Chief Jones without substantial evidence.  The four have asked that the District specify more clearly the claims against them, but the Board refused.  The Chiefs then filed charges for $25,000 and placed the District on notice…to defend their personal integrity.  The Board voted Thursday night to deny those claims. 

So, the matter is now in escalating litigation.  The District’s local 3535 members continue to function as dedicated public servants under stress, and members of the public continue to wonder why Chief Jon Jones stays on when he has no support to do so.  Members of the public also wonder if the legal action taken against the four chiefs is retaliation for their simple questioning of fiscal choices that Chief Jones made soon after being hired on at Aptos/La Selva District.  When will the Board take leadership here?

On April 21, 2014, the District hired Ms. Tracy New to replace Mr. Fred Malmlund as business manager when he retired after 14 years on the job.  On November 12, 2015, Ms. New complained to the Board that her pay was low compared with what the former person had been paid.  Chief Jones recommended to the Board that Ms. New’s job title be changed to Director of Business Services and that she be given an unprecedented 40.3% pay increase.  At the same time, Chief Jones recommended pay reductions for Local 3535 firefighters by reducing overtime, changed the overtime policy, eliminated all stipends for the Aquatic Rescue Response trainings, suspended other training programs and education incentives and denied new equipment purchases because he stressed the need for fiscal austerity due to budget deficits.   The Board approved everything that Chief Jones recommended, including the 40.35 pay increase for Ms. New.

Chiefs Skrabak, Peters, Calcagno and Houston merely questioned the Board’s decisions.  For doing that, Ms. New filed a vaguely-worded sexual harassment claim against them.  The matter has gone downhill from there, and you can read the legal background on the Aptos /La Selva Fire District website under Agenda Item 9.0 of the July 13 Board meeting.  It is, in my opinion, a case being brought against the chiefs who exercised their First Amendment rights to question matters of public concern, criticize employer fiscal policies, criticize employer leadership and question budget priorities.

Chief Jones has until July 20 to formally request that the Board extend his contract for another two years.  His contract ends in October this year.  We shall see what happens.  In the meantime, one must wonder if the spike in Workers Compensation claims during the past year is related to the extreme stress firefighters have experienced under Chief Jones.  When I asked the Chief publicly about that possibility, he said he did not feel there was a problem.  Wow.