One reader connects an agricultural cover story to Watsonville’s developing plans. Others shed light on possible water supply solutions and the best way to study them.
Protect The Prime
After reading “Field Good” (cover story, June 13).html I realized that to be a “farmers friend” is to resist the insane idea of building on prime ag land.
One glaring example of this folly is the plan to build on prime, irreplaceable ag land in Watsonville. Garish, big box stores, planned to be built on our food supply.
Fight any plan to build on farmland—with global unchecked population growth, we must protect our food supply.
Bob Dickie, Jr.
From The Web
Desal By Ineptitude
[RE: “Projected Water Swap Flows Reduced,” June 20.html]: These figures do not weaken the argument of environmentalists. They need to be put in proper context. The reason why South County needs so much water is to replenish the ground water. Once this level is brought up to its original height, the amount of additional water to maintain it is far less. This problem has been known for years. If the water collection and storage facilities that we are talking about were built years ago, it is perhaps likely that this issue would not exist. Building adequate water collection and storage has been severely neglected. You don’t know about a problem, allow it to continue, and then force people to buy into an expensive, inefficient, worse for the environment solution of desalination because of ineptitude. I do not believe Mr. Ricker is qualified to develop the best solution. The sand quarries were used up almost 15 years ago and provide an ideal location for water storage. It does not matter where you collect the water, it is when. It is during large storm flows, and if done this way, does not damage the fish habitat. This water, year after year, dumps into the bay along with sewer water which could be reclaimed. And, what also causes me to be anti-desal is that the water collection/storage/reclaimed water will help the economy for jobs 10 times over building a desal plant.
Bill Smallman
Water Swap Just One Part of Plan
This article makes a frequent mistake, in that it assumes that any one alternative to desal is what is being proposed. This is not true. It is the implementation of a comprehensive program of alternatives to desal that will provide significant public benefits as well as water for our future. These alternatives include, but are not limited to, effective water-neutral development policies, increased incentives for conservation, operational improvements to the reservoir system, infrastructure upgrades (i.e., leak detection and repair), increased water storage capacity, water recycling, drought-tolerant landscaping,grey water irrigation, rainwater harvesting and watershed restoration.
Jean Brocklebank
No Money, Honey
Thanks for the great article (“The Man Who Doesn’t Use Money,” June 20.html). My 9-year-old daughter has been asking me for several weeks why “everyone just can’t stop using money” because people either seem too obsessed about getting more of it or not having enough. I will share this with her.
Kimberly
