Pure Water Soquel addresses water woes
A letter posed an excellent question to the Soquel Creek Water District – a question that comes up often in the community. To paraphrase: with the Mid- County groundwater basin in a state of critical overdraft, why is development that adds water users to the already overburdened water system allowed to continue?
I appreciate that this question clearly recognizes the extremely serious water supply issues we’re facing as a community. The District is working diligently to address the overdrafting of our groundwater supply and the resulting seawater contamination through our many water conservation programs and our Pure Water Soquel groundwater replenishment project. It is important to note that recent development has not caused the overdraft (created in the 1980s) but could exacerbate it.
To be clear, the Soquel Creek
Water District does not have control over approvals of new land developments; that responsibility is with the governing jurisdictions that enforce landuse regulations – primarily cities and counties – not water districts. Since the District does have some control over new water connections, we created our Water Neutral Program (also called Water Demand Offset Program) in 2003. This Program requires all new development, from homes to commercial projects, to offset the amount of water they are expected to use by 200% as a condition for water service. This allows development to continue without increasing water demand on our groundwater basin.
How does the Program work? Water connection fees collected by the District through the Water Neutral Program have funded a number of water-saving programs, including the installation of thousands of highefficiency toilets, urinals, showerheads, turf replacements, and our i-Meter program, which will install state- of-the-art intelligent meters to help alert customers of leaks. The Program saves millions of gallons of water annually, more than new development uses.
We’re very proud of our Water Neutral Program – and pleased that it won the Theodore Roosevelt Environmental Award for Excellence in Natural Resources Management from the Association of California Water Agencies. This program has been called, “…one of the most comprehensive water demand offset programs in the United States,” (Alliance for Water Efficiency paper), and “…one of the bestdocumented water neutral programs in the California sample described in this Article” (J.L. Harder paper on water neutral development in California).
The District’s Water Neutral Program and its many water conservation programs are only part of the solution to address the groundwater crisis. Our
Pure Water Soquel project will play the most significant role by providing a drought-proof supply of purified recycled water to replenish the groundwater basin and prevent further seawater contamination of our community’s drinking water supply.
Pure Water Soquel is an investment in our water system infrastructure and natural resources. We are prudently planning for project costs and associated contingencies, as you may do when remodeling your home. On behalf of our ratepayers, we were fortunate to be awarded a $50 million grant from the State Water Board, along with tens of millions of dollars in very lowinterest loans from the state and the US EPA to help fund the rest of the project costs and contingencies. In this way, we are effectively leveraging the rates you pay, and this will reduce pressure on the need for future rate increases.
We are grateful to work together with the community on water conservation efforts at every level – from households and yards, to the Water Neutral Program – and we appreciate the support that’s been shown for Pure Water Soquel, both from our local community and from the state and federal funding/ loan agencies.
It’s these kinds of partnerships which will solve our community’s complex challenges, such as our water supply shortage, and create a sustainable water supply for today and the future.
It’s these kinds of partnerships which will solve our community’s complex challenges, such as our water supply shortage, and create a sustainable water supply for today and the future.