Lompico is located in the San Lorenzo Valley (that’s in Santa Cruz County), and is kind of a “world apart.” That’s probably less true than it used to be, but Lompico is not your garden variety suburban development. It reflects a unique history, and is home to some of Santa Cruz County’s notably individualistic mountain settlers.

One of the things that distinguishes Lompico is its homegrown water system, which relies on the waters of Lompico Creek, one of the tributaries to the San Lorenzo River. Even if you’re not from Santa Cruz County, you’re probably familiar with the San Lorenzo River as it reaches the sea, right next to the Beach Boardwalk. If you were to walk up the river, and then turn upstream at Lompico Creek, you’d find that “world apart” I’m talking about.

Coming down Lompico Creek, and a constant challenge to its water system, is lots of sand and silt. The Lompico Watershed Conservancy estimates that more than 12,000 tons of silt and sand come down the creek each year. This silt transfer, water scarcity, and finding the finances to address these problems, pretty much sums up the challenges facing the Lompico County Water District. Now, the District has a proposed timber harvest to worry about, which could vastly intensify erosion. If you’re from Lompico, or would like to see how the timber harvest permit process really works, check out the KUSP website and get involved.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Lompico Watershed Conservancy Website
http://www.lompicocreek.org

For information on how you can get involved, contact Kevin Collins

Information on Lompico
http://www.lompico.org/lompicowaterdepartment.html

State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
http://www.fire.ca.gov/php/

Board of Forestry
http://www.bof.fire.ca.gov/

Sierra Club on the Lompico Timber Harvest
http://ventana.sierraclub.org/conservation/lompico/index.shtml

Most local governments are taking this week off, but that’s not true for the Monterey City Council. The City Council will be meeting tonight, at the Monterey City Hall, starting at 7:00 p.m. This is a meeting that might be of interest not only to Monterey City residents, but to Monterey County residents generally. One of the main items on the agenda is a proposed Regional Development Impact Fee, which would provide monies for countywide transportation improvements. How much discussion will actually take place this evening is unclear, since the staff wants to continue the item to January 17th. The topic, however, is definitely on the agenda, and it’s an important one. It would certainly make sense for Monterey County residents to start focusing on what’s being suggested.

Briefly stated, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County is placing a funding proposal before the voters at the June 2006 election. They’re asking for sales taxes to be raised to fund road projects. Many local voters are likely to be skeptical, thinking that this will mean that the taxpayers’ money will provide a subsidy to land developers, and that this isn’t really in the best interest of anyone but the developers. To speak to that perception, TAMC wants each city in Monterey County to start imposing fees on the developers, to be used for regional transportation problems. That’s something that’s not done now. How much, and how fair, will definitely be questions before the Council, and ultimately before the public. If you’d like more information on the meeting tonight, look below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

TAMC Website
http://www.tamcmonterey.org/

Proposed Sales Tax Ordinance
http://www.tamcmonterey.org/prog_14yrplan/
pdf/ordinance-adopted-14year.pdf

City of Monterey Website
http://www.monterey.org/

City County Agendas
http://www.monterey.org/ccncl/agendas/agenda.html

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (or PVWMA) is charged with dealing with what might be called a “slow crisis.” Water extractions from the groundwater basin are in excess of the annual recharge of the underground aquifer. This means, over time, that the level in the basin will drop. The “bank account” analogy is pertinent. When expenditures exceed income, you are spending down the principal. Sometime, depending on how much you have in the bank, you’ll run out and be broke. As a long term strategy, it’s always best to balance income and expenses, and that’s probably even more true where water is concerned.

The “bank account” analogy actually isn’t totally adequate to explain the crisis affecting the Pajaro Valley, because as the level of groundwater drops below sea level, sea water starts to move inland into the groundwater basin underlying the land. That can end up contaminating all the water in the basin. This all takes decades, of course, so it is a “slow crisis,” but the problem has been going on for fifty years or more, and things are not really getting much better. The PVWMA was going to import water from the Central Valley, and so solve the problem that way. Now, it turns out that there may not be any available water to import. Nonetheless, the agency is getting ready to authorize the building of an import pipeline later this month. It’s definitely time for local farmers, residents, and County Government to get involved!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency Website
http://www.pvwma.dst.ca.us/

An important lawsuit has recently been argued in Monterey County, and a decision is expected later this month. The cities of the Monterey Peninsula, and Ca-]Am, the private water company that provides water on the Peninsula, have joined forces to attack the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. The District is a public agency, with many members of its Board being directly elected by the voters. It is charged with ensuring the long term water health of the Monterey Peninsula, and is supposed to be sure that groundwater extractions don’t lead to the kind of overdraft that has been occurring in the Pajaro Valley, and that I talked about yesterday. One of the basins of most significance is known as the Seaside Aquifer.

The Peninsula cities and Cal-Am are asking the Court to displace the authority of the District with respect to the Seaside Aquifer. Instead, they want the Judge to let them pick a “Watermaster” to make the decision on how much water can be pumped. Instead of an independent review of the water issues related to city growth plans, the cities (and Cal-Am) would be able to do whatever they jointly decide. The District claims that this would almost certainly lead to overdraft, and thus to an increased water crisis on the Peninsula. The Sierra Club is so concerned that they actually intervened in the lawsuit on the side of the District, despite the many disputes they’ve had with the District in the past. This could be a “quick” and not a “slow” groundwater crisis, depending on what the Judge decides.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Sierra Club, Ventana Chapter
http://ventana.sierraclub.org/current/index.shtml

Sierra Club on Seaside Aquifer Lawsuit
http://ventana.sierraclub.org/conservation/
regional/chapt_opposes_water_mgmt.shtml

I hope you’ll forgive me as I remind you of one of my favorite ways to think about the world. I call it the “two world hypothesis,” and here’s how it goes:

We live not in one world (as we sometimes assume), but in two different worlds, simultaneously. Ultimately, we live in the natural world, a world that we did not create. With my background in theological seminary, I often call this the “world that God created.” The main point is that this world, the world we ultimately inhabit, is a world that we did not create ourselves and the rules governing which we cannot change.

In fact, though, we live most immediately in a world that we did (and do) create. Buildings, institutions, everything we see and touch comes from our own modifications of the natural world, and now from the synthetic materials we have come to substitute for the materials supplied by nature. This second world, the world we did and do create, is what I call the “political world,” because it can be shaped and changed by the decisions we make together about what we do. We can’t escape the ultimate truths and realities that prevail in the natural world, and we ignore them at our peril. But in our world, the world we create, we can do what we want. It may be hard, but if changes need to be made, we can make them. We fulfill ourselves, in fact, only as we do construct a world that respects the world of nature, and that meets our own deepest needs and aspirations. Bottom line: get involved in the politics that shapes our world!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.