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It’s really difficult to try to keep up with the politics of saving the earth in California. The last couple of years have seen a shortfall in rain/snow melt to fill made-made water storage lakes in California and most of the western states; this has created a water shortage. Meanwhile environmental groups have continued to demand that what little water that’s left be released to save the fish habitat. And they have opposed efforts to convert ample sea water off the California coastline for use as drinking water. California is a state filled with migrants from other states and countries; these folks need food to eat, a place to live and water for cooking and bathing. Farmers and ranchers also need water to raise their crops and keep their animals hydrated. Some communities have tried to help alleviate the situation by building desalination plants; Santa Barbara is one. While costly energy hogs, they seem to help satisfy the need for a city to grow and prosper if the ratepayers can afford it. Other communities have implemented strict conservation programs that rely on self-regulation by the public. In Lompoc for example, residents typically use a little over 65 gallons a day which is above the national average, so the city suggests that they try to reduce their consumption – some do, and some don’t. They also asked commercial property owners to stop watering; some did, but most didn’t. In rental properties with multiple units the tenants, many of whom in our city are receiving rental assistance, don’t pay individual water bills so they have no incentive to try and save this resource. Meanwhile, the city wastewater plant discharges enough processed “gray water” to help replenish our well fields and help resolve the water supply issue.
But there are no plans to try and recycle this water and even if the did there would likely be a lengthy legal battle with farmers on the west end of the Lompoc Valley because this water, paid for by domestic and wastewater system users in Lompoc, helps replenish their irrigation wells. The only gray water recycling effort I know of in this county is in the Mission Hills Community Services District just north of Lompoc. They have successfully used this method to allow treated wastewater to reenter the domestic water supply by allowing it to filter through the soil into their well fields. For several decades the city of Huntington Beach tried to gain the approval for a desal plant for their community; the 12 political appointees of the California Coastal Commission denied their proposal.
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Other proposals are now coming up for consideration by the Coastal Commission. Since their decision concerning the Huntington Beach plant was unanimous, the Orange and Monterey counties' proposals submitted for similar projects appear unlikely to be approved. Why, because a group of environmental activists known a Surfrider who have taken it upon themselves to save the world oppose the plants saying, “We have to carefully consider all of our infrastructure decisions to make sure they don’t exacerbate the climate crisis, harm beaches and marine life, or negatively impact frontline communities.” On its website, Surfrider claims the high ground saying “defending our oceans from challenges threatening the vitality of the ecosystem” is one of its goals. Apparently, desal plants alter the ecosystem so they must be stopped at all costs even if it means humans do without life sustaining water.
There is something wrong with the politics out here in California. First, state government elected officials encourage more residents to come, both legal and document challenged, more overcrowded housing projects to be built, and keeping our state number one in food production. Then their political appointees deny projects that would help mitigate the water shortage.
On the other hand, they encourage environmental activists, who comprise a small portion of the state’s population, but are very well funded by folks living in mega mansions which use large quantities of water to irrigate their landscape acreage, to obstruct, delay and otherwise impede any efforts to sustain human life.
If we keep electing the same political party to run our state, how can we expect things to change?
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry. He has been following Lompoc politics since 1992, and after serving for 23 years appointed to various Lompoc commissions, retired from public service. The opinions expressed are his own.
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