This is the week for water meetings. The Cucamonga Valley Water District held a meeting of their own tonight to give residents ideas on conservation and to let them ask questions about their water bills. (CVWD serves a small portion of Upland.) The CEO of the Board and the General Manager of the company had shocked looks on their faces when the room started filling up to capacity. Hundreds of very concerned and even angry residents wanted their questions answered.
Water is a deeply personal issue and essential for life. Everyone is scared with this drought. Citizens want to do their part but there are a lot of things happening that just don't make sense. So they came.
They asked all the right questions too: "I have cut back as far as I can - why am I expected to cut back another 32%? How can the City allow all this high density housing when we are scrimping on water? Every new meter just means less water for us." "What if some people want to save their lawns or trees and are ready to pay higher rates? Will they be fined?" What about developers who plant lots of trees and plants in their complexes? How are they allowed to do that?" And this went on for more than an hour. The sheriff's department was even called "just in case" the crowd got out of control.
The answers were not completely satisfying because most of the problems come from the top - good ol' Jerry Brown. The Water company told how the Governor had systematically undone everything his father had done when he was governor - that no dams and reservoirs had been built, laws were set in place that districts with amply water cannot share with needy districts, and so forth. (PS - remember if you want this changed - don't vote Democratic! "Flush Jerry Brown Not Water" is my new slogan.)
But for us here in Upland, this is the bottom line: We receive our water from multiple sources: West End Consolidated Water Company, some from our own wells (San Antonio Water Company) some of which are sucking air and 25% is imported water from the state (Metropolitan Water District). The City has not let the citizens know how many acres of reserves we really have. If we lose the 25% of the state water due to earthquake, severe drought or politics, we don't know how long our own reserves will last.
So until a new study is done and we know the truth, and until this drought is over, a moratorium needs to be in place so that NO NEW PERMITS ARE ISSUED FOR HIGHER DENSITY, MIXED-USE OR ANY APARTMENTS OR CONDOS. PERIOD! and REJECT AND REWRITE THE GENERAL PLAN!