My A-HA Moment About Water Policy Makers

We have all experienced an “A-HA” moment. In cartoons it’s shown as a light
bulb in the word bubble above a cartoon character’s head. After more than a
decade researching, writing and pondering why the San Diego water policy
makers and implementers have failed to address the water issue where
eighty-five percent of our water is imported, I have had an A-HA moment. It
took the 5/10/14 County Grand Jury’s Report for me to finally get it.

The EPA waiver on the Pt. Loma Wastewater Plant…..that is what it is all
about. For the past forty years San Diego has convinced the EPA to issue a
waiver of the Clean Water Act, so San Diego does not have to comply. And the
deadline is looming again in 2015. These are five year waivers..the last one
issued in 2010. San Diego is the only city in California that has not complied
with the 1972 Clean Water Act. We still Just take the chunks out 175 million
gallons per day of sewage and dump the remainder in the ocean, and at the
same time are issuing stringent storm water regulations so our pristine
shoreline is squeaky clean.

In my working career I have had to deal with alcoholics. One of the factors
in alcoholism are the enablers who, for various reasons, prevent the
alcoholic from finally seeking treatment. San Diego can be likened to an
alcoholic enabled by the City Council from getting the treatment the City
needs.

How do they do that? Do they just plead poverty on bended knee before the
EPA officials? Well, partially, but the rest is the proactive part. Remember
the North County Water Purification Facility? Yes, we spent millions on it
to prove what was already settled science……that sewage can be recycled with
no harm to water users. The City presented its findings to the City Council
this past year, and surprise, surprise, the plant was able to treat a
million gallons per day to drinking water quality.

But wait, there is more. Although it costs the taxpayers over a quarter of a
million dollars a year to operate that little pilot plant, another study is
currently underway. The enablers are at work. And now with the filing of the
County Grand Jury Report on May 10, 2014, what did the City Council do? They
did what any enabler would do, they authorized a million dollars to engage a
public relations firm to spend the next two years convincing water users
potable recycling is okay. The only thing wrong with that is recent polls
indicate seventy percent of the public is ready for potable recycling.

My A-HA moment is the realization the San Diego City Council now may have all the
justification they need to get another EPA waiver. Look, they will say, we
are underway with a new study, and we will need to wait to get our PR
campaign complete before we undertake to make the required modifications of
the Pt. Loma Plant, and besides we are still broke. Better off, but still
broke.

In my research for this blog I came upon the interesting fact that our
infamous short-time mayor, Bob Filner, was the one who pushed the last
waiver over the goal line. It took national legislation to get it done, and
was part of his mayoral campaign. That is how bad it is.

This whole waiver thing is eye-glazing stuff for the majority of water users
in San Diego. After all the pot holes are getting filled, the taps still run
and the toilets still flush. So what is this waiver thing? Who cares? Well,
the County Grand Jury does, and so may the Superior Court judge who will
rule on the grand jury’s findings. Perhaps Diego water policy makers will
have to stand before the judge and explain their actions. Too bad it had to
come to this. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but ever so fine.

Milt Burgess