The mayors of some of the largest cities in California, including San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, met in Sacramento this month to work toward a statewide voter-approved water bond that would secure water for San Diego and other cities in the future. The meeting marks Sanders’ latest efforts to improve the city’s water-system infrastructure.
As part of his effort, Sanders also secured a $150 million loan from financing firm J.P. Morgan to improve the city’s water pipes, pumps and other infrastructure, said Sanders’ spokesman Bill Harris. Sanders made the deal in advance of the city’s expected return to the public bond market later this year, Harris said. The City Council secured the loan Tuesday, Feb. 19 at a rate of 3.3 percent over 12 months, according to city documents.
Meanwhile, the mayoral summit at the capitol on Feb. 13 brought together mayors from across the state to set guidelines for the creation of a water bond beneficial to all California cities. Recent events, including a 2007 federal court decision that city officials say could reduce the water supply to San Diego by 12 percent or more, spurred the cities’ leaders to act in advance of impending future shortages.
“[The meeting] was a continuation of Mayor Sanders’ effort to coordinate cities and their support for a statewide water bond,” Harris said. “[Sanders] didn’t want it to be a [Southern California-versus-Northern California] issue.”
Sanders wants any potential water bond to support a restoration plan for the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, as well as a plan to better transport and store water in the future, Harris said.
So far, a monetary range has not been established regarding the potential bond issue.
With mayors and mayoral representatives from cities such as San Jose, Fresno, Los Angeles and Oakland in attendance, the meeting builds on a previous meeting Sanders helped organize in January, according to a statement from Sanders’ office.
Tim Barnett, a climate expert with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, joined the mayors in Sacramento and talked about problems with getting water from the Colorado River.
“In the future there is going to be less water in the [Colorado] River and somebody who’s getting it now is not going to get it,” Barnett said.
Barnett said current estimates predict 10 to 30 percent less water coming from the Colorado River because of current drought conditions, along with the overuse of the river water and climate changes linked to greenhouse gasses.
Barnett said there could be pressure on farmers to use less water so that it could go to cities. Barnett said combined efforts of conservation and using recycled water will help deal with looming shortages.
“It took all of us to get into this mess and it’s going to take all of us to get out of it. We need some good, strong leadership, I think,” he said.
Barnett said he was glad to see that the mayors were deeply concerned about the problem and pointed to other cities like Las Vegas as examples of efficient water recycling programs. Las Vegas recycles as much as 70 percent of its wastewater, Barnett said.
The city’s Water Department is currently studying a water reuse plan more expansive than the “purple-pipe” system that currently reuses treated wastewater primarily for landscape irrigation, according to city officials.
The City Council voted in December to overturn Sanders’ veto of the so-called “toilet-to-tap” program and directed the city’s Water Department to explore the costs associated with implementing such a program.
The council gave the Water Department three months to study the issue and present the information to councilmembers.
No date, however, has been set for the City Council to hear the results of the study, according to city documents.
Meanwhile, the $150 million loan from J.P. Morgan will finance additional upgrades for aging pipes, pump stations and bolstering security measures.
The city would pay the money back in about 12 months. By then, according to Harris, the city should be back in the public bond market.
For more information, visit www.sandiego.gov/water.