Encinitas water district rates go up MondayFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 AT 12:04 A.M. SAN DIEGUITO WATER DISTRICT RATE HIKE• Average customer's water bill (two months): $99.30 • Increase (no change in usage): $19.76 • Increase with reduction in usage (8 percent): $12.18 ENCINITAS — Encinitas residents who live within the boundaries of the city's water district will begin paying higher rates Monday despite a grass roots opposition effort launched by the city's taxpayer association. The Encinitas City Council voted 4-1 Wednesday to approve the rate increases. It had received 1,070 signed protests from property owners. (Notices had been sent to 13,005 property owners.) Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, chairwoman of the water board, said that while she understands that people don't want to pay more, the increases are justified. Emphasizing the importance of investing in infrastructure, she said that keeping rates low and drawing on reserves may be easy, "but a couple of water breaks and it doesn't look so attractive." An average family will see an increase of $9.88 per month if water consumption remains the same. If the family reduces consumption by a target of 8 percent because of the drought, the increase will be $6.09 per month. District officials said the rate increases reflect the higher cost of imported water, as well as capital costs, such as replacing the San Dieguito Reservoir Pump Station. The San Dieguito Water District serves customers on the west side of the city, in Leucadia, Old Encinitas, Cardiff and parts of New Encinitas. It is managed by Encinitas Public Works Director Larry Watt, who reports to its board of the directors, the Encinitas City Council. The Encinitas Taxpayers Association campaigned against the water rate increase, with its vice president, Kevin Cummins, calling for changes in governance of the water district. About a dozen people spoke before the council to oppose the rate hike. Many said the city hasn't done enough to control costs. The speakers raised questions about whether the water district is subsidizing city operations. Some suggested reducing wages and benefits for certain city employees whose salary costs are shared by the water district. Donna Westbrook said the increase should be put to a public vote, and she criticized the cost-sharing arrangement. "It's another way of padding expenses to get more into the general fund," she said. Councilwoman Teresa Barth opposed the water rate increase. She said she was swayed by the public comments, even though she was on the subcommittee with Councilman James Bond who recommended it. She said she recognizes the need for a rate increase, "but we have to get our house in order as well before we continually ask the ratepayers to pay more." Barth suggested implementing a lower rate increase temporarily, and drawing on reserves, to give the city time to analyze its personnel costs and reopen talks with employee unions. Bond disagreed, saying he wants to avoid labor strife. |
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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Water prices expected to increase in Encinitas monday
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Fill out the stakeholder input survey and help grey water become more main stream
Fill Out a Stakeholder Input Survey
Building Standards Commission Meeting Stakeholder Input Survey
60 seconds to have your opinion count!
The responses will be compiled and presented to the Building Standards Commission for the greywater hearing on July 30th.
Introduction—The Need for Greywater Standards that Californians Will Follow
Dear Greywater Stakeholders:
The greywater regulation revolution was started in 1989 in Santa Barbara, California. It spread from there to four other communities, then the whole state, via the Uniform Plumbing Code, in 1992.
Since then, while California's greywater innovation has been at a standstill, the rest of the west has left us in the dust (Greywater law history).
It is certainly true that "plumbers safeguard the health of the nation," and it is doubtless that building and plumbing codes have saved many, many lives.
However, California's greywater law not making a good example of the positive role codes can and usually do play in civil society.
There are about two million greywater systems in the state of California. One in ten thousand has a permit. There's been no reported cases of greywater-induced illnesses. (References follow below).
Perhaps you've heard the old English saying about "shutting the barn door after the horse is gone."
In California with respect to greywater, it is as if regulations have focused on keeping the barn door shut (pre 1992), and then very tightly regulated (since 1992 only a few hundred permits have been issued in the entire state).
Meanwhile, the barn has never had a back wall (there are two million unpermitted systems in the state; 15% of households), and it turns out that horses do just fine free range (there has not been a single reported case of illness).
Concern about public health is the oft-cited reason for keeping that barn door tight. It seems that concern about liability is the actual issue. This would explain why no one blinks about the absence of a back wall (not a liability issue), while few regulators dare open the door (could get sued).
The only people dissuaded by the tight control of the front door are building professionals—plumbers, builders, landscapers. It is hard for a homeowner to get help from a licensed professional to make an illegal system. So, they go out the back, and do it themselves.
The current greywater regulation approach hinders best sustainability practices, and undermines respect for codes in general.
Realistic greywater codes of the type adopted in Arizona (2001), New Mexico (2003), Texas (2005) and in process in several other states (NV, OR, MT...) are emblematic of the shift that occurs when the blinders come off and the full risk profile is taken into account in crafting policy.
If California regains its leadership position, the rest of the world is essentially certain to follow.
I look forward to working with you to get the new greywater standards headed towards this goalpost, as envisioned by the sponsors of the enabling legislation.
We've decided to put some resources behind this effort. Here's what we've come up with so far. We'll be adding more, including responses to HCD's and the Greywater Working Group's material.
Monty's Plumbing phone 619 823-5662 fax 619 546-9257
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Rainwater Harvesting with Brad Lancaster
Popular speaker, author and educator Brad Lancaster delivers some basic rainwater harvesting concepts with humor and clarity.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
San Diego to start charging renters for their use
WATER: Renters may get water meters, and bills to go with them
SAN DIEGO PONDERS 'SUBMETER' REQUIREMENT TO ENCOURAGE CONSERVATION
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SAN DIEGO ---- Apartments and condos are the next frontier in the struggle to reduce water consumption in drought-plagued California.
New and substantially remodeled apartments, condos and other "multifamily" projects in San Diego would be required to have individual water meters, under an ordinance to be introduced early next year.
Most occupants of apartments and condos aren't billed directly for the amount of water they use. Instead, the cost is divided among the occupants and essentially included in the rent for apartments and association fees for condos.
So if occupants see how much water they use, and are billed for it, they'll have an incentive to save water, said Marti Emerald, a San Diego councilmember. Emerald is backing the effort to require "submetering," as it's called, to encourage conservation.
If the ordinance passes, it could encourage other cities in the region to adopt similar measures, Emerald said. Officials of other cities in the region express interest when she brings up the subject, but they haven't gone further.
"I think there's a tendency to sit back and watch and see what happens, before other government entities jump in," she said.
The ordinance has the support of the San Diego County Apartment Association, a local trade group.
Apartment owners want to save water, and an ordinance will supply a uniform standard for them to follow, said spokesman Alan Pentico.
There's also a financial motivation for the apartment owners to conserve: Water rates are increasingly sharply, with double-digit increases the norm over the last few years, and no end in sight.
The potential for saving water is substantial, Emerald said.
"Nearly half of the housing in the city of San Diego is multifamily housing, apartments or condos," Emerald said.
Where it's been tried, submetering has reduced water consumption in the units by about 15 to 30 percent, she said.
"San Diego would become the largest city in California to have a submetering ordinance," Emerald said. "Ours would be the only one that has a trigger for pre-existing buildings. It would be the toughest in the state."
The trigger requirement is still being worked on. Emerald said it could be based on a percentage of pipes replaced, so that a major renovation project would be configured to include individual meters.
Apartment builders have recently begun to consider submetering and other water conservation measures. One new apartment complex in San Diego, Aquatera, already has submetered units. The 254-unit project by H.G. Fenton Co. also has a waterfall, pool and extensive green lawns.
However, the lawn is artificial turf, the pool is salt water and the waterfall is fed by an underground aquifer. The area is landscaped with low water-use plants. All told, Aquatera uses half the water of similarly sized projects, said Mike Neal, H.G. Fenton's president and CEO.
"The washing machines are front-loading, very low water use machines, and the toilets are ultra, ultra low-flow," about 2.8 gallons per flush, Neal said.
Neal said the water-efficient features are part of Fenton's desire to be a "good and responsible developer."
Emerald said the ordinance is expected to go before the Planning Commission in early January, and be ready for the San Diego City Council's consideration by the end of January.
In addition, Emerald said she's also interested in seeing incentives offered to encourage more recently constructed apartment and condo projects to install individual meters.
"California's plumbing codes changed in 1998 to require individual shutoff valves in apartments and condo units," Emerald said. "There's a whole stock of housing built after the plumbing code change that realistically could be retrofitted. It would be expensive, but it's a possibility."
State law authorizes cities to make low-interest loans to fund solar power installation in residences, Emerald said, and legislators are already talking about approving a similar program for water conservation.
"We'll be working on that through the next year, to pull together a funding bank to help people make these retrofits and start saving water," Emerald said.