The Soquel Creek Water District has been over-pumping water from the Soquel-Aptos groundwater basin, and as a consequence, the water supply is threatened by salt water intrusion. Pumping needs to be cut back immediately by at least 35%, and that is going to have a significant impact on customers. This shortfall will have to be remedied by a combination of methods, including:
- Improved efficiency
- Rationing
- Waste Water Recycling
- Desalination
- New groundwater and surface water sources
Most of these options incur cost – waste water recycling and desalination, could, for example, cost between $100,000,000 and $200,000,000 to the Soquel Creek Water District. There are only 15,000 or so water hookups in the district, so the cost per hookup (household) could be between about $6,700 and $13,400. Some of this money may be paid for by a bond issue, but a lot of it is likely to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher water rates.
The Soquel Creek Water District needs your input! They are planning a series of meetings to discuss the options. The next meeting is to be held on January 7 at 7 PM at the Capitola City Council Chamber and the topic will be Mandatory Water Rationing/Demand Reduction Options. Concerned citizens are encouraged to get involved. For more information, visit our Aptos Water Supply project page, which has a list of dates of upcoming meetings and a link to the relevant page on the Soquel Creek Water District web site.
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