CITY OF
OXNARD
Lai, Dee <[email protected]>
CALIFORNIA
Closed Session Items 1 & 2, Litigation with FCGMA
1 message
Steven Nash <[email protected]> Thu, Jul 27, 2023 at 8:02 AM To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Please distribute to the City Council members prior to tonight's meeting. Thank you.
Here is a comment letter I submitted to the FCGMA for their meeting yesterday. The GMA is no friend of the City and has not, in the words of Director Maulhardt, fulfilled their mission of preventing sea water intrusion and developing a sustainable basin in the agency's 40+ years of existence.
The GMA has squandered tens of thousands of acre-feet of AWPW water since the facility's operations began in 2016. This water could have filled the Forebay and brought the groundwater basin into a sustainable yield. They are a failed agency. And now, they are preventing the City from utilizing its RWPA.
I fully support the City's efforts to claim their pumping rights at any time. However, barring this, I would urge the Council to seriously consider mothballing the AWPF indefinitely as the residents of Oxnard should not have to subsidize the water being delivered to the farmers of the Pleasant Valley Water District.
The comment follows;
Yet again the GMA's Board has failed in its mission to protect the groundwater basins and provide new sources of water for users and to secure a means of replenishing the aquifers.
It is absurd that the GMA would only allow Oxnard to utilize its RWPA during wet years when the forebay meets certain criteria. Why would the City agree to pump water that it may not need and certainly does not have the capacity to store for future use? Only a failed agency like the GMA would think this is a good idea.
The GMA assumes that the residents of Oxnard will pay for the GREAT program infrastructure such as the AWPF, build and pay for the distribution pipelines, conduct and pay for the studies and EIRs showing no net detriment to the groundwater basins, contract with the farmers and water agencies to receive the ultra-pure recycled water at a price assuredly below the actual cost of producing that water and then, in the end, be prohibited from pumping its RWPA when the cost benefits and need are the greatest.
I will tell you that the residents of Oxnard will demand we shut down the AWPF because the GMA has not upheld its part of the bargain and has hung the total cost of the program entirely on Oxnard ratepayers. This is not an idle threat. Once the actual financial black hole is revealed, residents will demand the City Council mothball the facility until a cost-neutral agreement is reached with the farmers and the GMA.
How many years of RW production has the GMA squandered because of its inaction? Tens of thousands of AF of potential ultra-pure RW has flowed out to the ocean. This is real water that could have offset groundwater pumping and brought the basins into a better balance between extraction and replenishment.
This has been a monumental failure of the GMA. The Directors have proven yet again that they lack the willingness to fulfill the agency's mission.
I urge you to please work with the City to resolve this issue ASAP. Partner with them to expand the capacity of the AWPF in order to replenish the groundwater basins and ensure their productive use for future generations.
Best,
Steve Nash
2211 Laurel Valley Place
805-889-0218