Candidate for
Board Member; Coastside County Water District; 4 Year Term

Water Quality

The District must continue to provide water that meets or exceeds all water quality standards. As technologies improve, the District must be innovative, imaginative and cost effective while fulfilling the mandate to improve the quality and the quality assurance of our water.

The District currently supplies Water of high quality, however the public's perception may not be based upon fact, but upon particular sales promotions. The Community should be informed and educated about our current high water quality standards.

District water is provided from two sources: San Francisco Water Department and Dennison Creek water shed. The El Granada & Princeton areas are served by Dennison Creek water that is treated at Dennison Creek treatment plant to the same high standards as the Nunez plant water. The majority of District water is provided by SFWD and is treated at the Nunez water treatment plant. Improvements can always be made as technology advances, as innovation occurs - and these changes can be effected when shown to be cost/benefit effective.

Water Supply

The District is not in the planning business - it doesn't have the personnel, the expertise, nor the legal mandate to set community growth standards. The City and the County have the legal mandate and the resources to make such determinations, and should be the determining force ahead of District policies. The District's formerly used practices of permit dispensing only tended to "confuse" the planning agencies and has helped spur the unprecedented growth on the MidCoast.

Fire flow has never been a real issue - the Fire District will confirm that the safety of residents, the ability to fight, contain, & extinguish fires of recent years has not compromised system integrity. The District supplies enough water (& pressure) to fight the design (hypothetical) fire in the foreseeable future. Certainly as the system enlarges additional/ larger storage tanks can be added to the system to account for design/ emergency fire flow.

The District appears to be well maintained and clearly (turn on your tap) provides a sufficient supply of superior quality water. Please, there is never enough to waste. I pledge to continue this high level of service.

Water - Future/ Vision

The District is well run, well maintained and well planned for the operations and maintenance side of the shop. Recently hired General Manager Ed Schmidt is a true find, an asset for the District.

The board has undergone a change of philosophy in the last election: Directors Coleman, Cupp & Wittrup must be commended for the tremendous achievements they have wrought and the sacrifices they have made to bring accountability and public confidence to the board. I believe we should stay the course, maintain their direction/ philosophy. Stability is needed now and the election of Marsh, McCarthy & Gunkel will promote continuity.

I support Measure U, as a mechanism for a check and balance. Measure U raises the voter's level of confidence in the Board and allows the District the flexibility to continue to provide the high level of service to which the public is accustomed.

The current rate payers must not be saddled with the costs of the various construction expansions envisioned for the projected buildout. Developers and those who benefit must bear the costs of system enlargement. Clearly this is a cost of doing business for the developers, and the District should not be trapped into passing along those incremental costs to current rate payers.

The recently approved rate increase will need to be studied by the new board to evaluate if there is any tweaking needed, and after discussions with the staff, my gut says it is pretty lean & cost effective. Keep in mind there are other costs upcoming: i.e., the hwy 92 straightening project (abut $600g ).

The District should look forward, into the realm of real politics in the water world of SFWD, and California water politics. Remember, over a hundred years ago Mark Twain wrote: "gold is worth fighin' for, water is worth dyin' for". Whether we are in Palestine, Gulf of Mexico, Colorado River basin, Central Valley project, or SFWD/ SFPUC our comparatively tiny amount of SF water needs a vocal advocate. The District must be pro-active in protecting our existing supplies.

The District needs to initiate a true study of our local water sources; our largest, and one might argue, our only resource is the water that is generated on the MidCoast. Where are wells, who are these well users, and how will these wells effect the quality at our water or that drawn by Citizens Utilities for the citizens of Moss Beach and Montara?

I believe the District must initiate a resource study of the MidCoast drainage basins. The District must be steward of the land, by understanding and not overtaxing the supply of this surface or underground water.

Please vote for me: James Marsh for Coastside County Water District on November 6th .