BDD News
Opinion
For More Information, Contact:
Lynn Pitcher Komer – 660-7682
Rick Carpenter—505-955-2406; 660-5696 cell
The Cost of Maintaining Our Water Supply
Letter to Editor — November 17, 2008
By |
Mayor David Coss |
And |
Rosemary Romero |
And |
Chris Calvert |
In response to William Water’s editorial which ran in the November 10, 2008 edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican, “Our View- Santa Fe Too Expensive? You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”, we would like to correct some assumptions regarding the Buckman Direct Diversion project (BDD) and the proposed water rate increase.
Water is one of our community’s most important resources. It is essential for our daily household needs, vital for our businesses and important to our quality of life. The Santa Fe community has worked hard to conserve water and plan for a sustainable water future. We are among the most environmentally conscious and conservative water users in the U.S. We have cut our average water use per day by about 40 percent in the last 10 years. However, we must do more to ensure long-term sustainability for our residents by creating water sources and providing high quality state of the art infrastructure that treats and delivers our water.
Our community presently faces a difficult challenge. The City and County of Santa Fe do not have a sufficient and reliable supply of drinking water now. The BDD project is necessary for sustainability for our current residents. It is not about growth. We are mining the groundwater and depleting a resource that belongs to our grandchildren. Our ground water pumping is not sustainable. This has been the case since the 1970’s when the first wells were developed in the Buckman well field. Even without any new growth, we will still be mining the aquifer unless we develop the BDD. One of the greatest benefits of the BDD water delivery system is that it will provide current and future relief to mining our aquifers. We must protect our aquifer as a hedge against drought and for future generations. The BDD will allow the community to move to conjunctive use—using renewable surface water when it is available and saving our renewable ground water for drought periods.
We must invest in our infrastructure now to ensure the long term sustainability of our water supply. Rate increases are necessary for this and other important projects. We own the water system. These rates will allow investment in our system. It will be more expensive in the future to pay for the projects our system needs. The BDD will create an infrastructure that allows us to make the best use of existing resources now and incorporate new water resources in the future.
State loans and grants, city gross receipt taxes and county gross receipts taxes have already been levied to help pay for the BDD, which is jointly owned by the City and County. Las Campanas, LLP is a limited partner that will fund its share of the project on a cash basis. We are working actively with our congressional leaders for federal assistance. About half of the rate increase is intended primarily to pay for construction of BDD during the first few years only (2009, 2010, 2011 potentially).
The remainder of the water rate increase will be used for annual operational and maintenance costs and to fund upgrades in the fire fighting and domestic flows throughout the area. Older water mains and service lines are being replaced or repaired, reducing the loss of water and costly street and property damage. Community well systems and private well owners will have the opportunity to connect. A multi-year program is also underway to bring the Canyon Road Water Treatment Plant back to its design capacity.
The City Water Utility is recommending increasing rates at an equal amount for five years to spread out the impact. Spreading out the needed increases evenly over a longer period allows for better planning and helps avoid large, single-year corrections to the rates. If approved by the City Council, this ordinance and the new rates would take effect in March 1, 2009.
For those on fixed incomes and who qualify, there are numerous programs that allow for discounted utility expansion charges and the City offers a Low Income Credit (LIC) which is annual or quarterly depending on if the need is for short term disability and unemployment or for the elderly or permanently disabled. The City Water Utility is also recommending that the cost of service study be updated to review allocation of cost among customer classes. Other changes may also be considered in the coming weeks. Mayor Coss has proposed increasing the income level that would qualify low income households for lifeline water rates.
- The BDD has been carefully and exhaustively studied to ensure the safety
of the water supply. No environmental concerns were “brushed aside”.
The presentation at the Water Quality Town Hall on Aug. 26, 2008 summarizes
the water quality issues for the BDD, including:
- A New Mexico Environment Department conclusion that the BDD will be constructed in sediments that is free of LANL contaminants.
- An Independent assessment concluding the City/County Water Treatment Plant will meet all drinking water regulations.
- A Six year process, including appeals, for the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision by the U. S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior.
- Working with the NMED to ensure LANL takes steps to mitigate the migration via storm water of LANL-origin contaminants.
- Supporting more stringent water quality standards for the Rio Grande near Santa Fe and Los Alamos and requesting NMED to establish LANL origin contaminant regulations.
We invite the public to review the information on the BDD Water Quality
web page, including the Town Hall PowerPoint presentation – www.bddproject.org.
For more information on the proposed water rate increase, call Gary Martinez
at (505) 955-4201 or mail gpmartinez@ci.santa-fe.nm.us.