04/16/09
DOWN TO EARTH - The Federal Government is offering California $260-million to help upgrade our state's water distribution channels. The Interior Secretary is also offering to act as mediator in the fierce battles that develop over where all the water goes and to whom.
Locally, communities are facing water rationing to help get through the upcoming summer months. While we're conserving here on the Central Coast, as well as residents up in the Bay Area, water customers down in the L.A. basin aren't facing the same restrictions. And, it's been this way for years. The disparity has created some hard feelings up north.
The director of East Bay MUDD says his constituents complain to him about the uneven way water is distributed within the state. He says the City of Los Angeles, "should have had at minimum a voluntary rationing program the last two years and, they haven't had it."
The L.A. City Council is currently debating restrictions that would lower the "tier one" water threshold. This keeps already frugal water users from getting punished by higher rates. Despite the current push, any efforts now being considered are below the rationing already in place in many other communities throughout the state.
