Groundwater meeting will be important to Elk Grove’s future
 |
| Map of Harvest Water Eco Project. | |
SCGA’s sixteen-member
board membership includes various public and private agencies as well as
agricultural and landowner interests.
The SCGA
will be considering the adoption of a groundwater sustainability plan, which will
include plans for how water will be sourced throughout the county, including
Elk Grove.
As residents
may know, Elk Grove still has long-term expansion plans to annex thousands of
acres for future development, much of it for housing. Obviously, this expansion
will include significant demands on water supply and infrastructure.
As part of
Elk Grove’s future expansion, recycled wastewater will be provided by
Sacramento Sanitation District (an SCGA member) as a part of the ongoing Harvest
Water Eco project.
 |
| Recycled water map. |
While the intent of the Harvest Water Eco project has merit from a water conversation
aspect, there are some noteworthy concerns.
One concern
that must be addressed is who and how will this billion-dollar project be
financed, given that a good part of it will be within the City of Elk Grove. Will
current ratepayers in Elk Grove carry the unfair financial burden of
subsidizing the impacts of future housing tracts to the benefit of the developers?
At this meeting, one of the items of discussion will be the budget and funding of the
groundwater sustainability plan. This will be the third and final meeting on
the matter for public participation.
It has often
been said, water, especially in California, is gold. The question ratepayers
need to ask is who is paying for the supplying of this gold? What will be the cost to each resident? Will some benefit more than others? Will the
burden be shared in an equitable manner? Please remember the general public has been allowed only three meetings
while designated “stakeholders” have had the benefit of many meetings.
An example
of the lack of transparency to the general public is the Sacramento Sanitation
District’s application submitted to the Sacramento LAFCo to expand the Harvest Eco water
project. In their LAFCo application it
is noted that public meetings would be conducted after approval of the
expansion.
The meeting is on Thursday, March 25 between 6 and 8 p.m. and can be viewed at this Zoom link.
Posts
Post a Comment