er supply or water quality constraints.”
With 80% of Napa residents living in the cities, what is the master plan to supply them with water when the state water project is no longer able to deliver and the reservoirs are compromised by drought and/or polluting runoff?
The Problem We Collectively Must Solve
How much water from all sources will be available and who gets to have it? We can study this to death; we can hire consultant engineering firms and pay them to develop numerous scenarios but we think we all truly know that the earth is warming, fire dangers are increasing, the weather is changing dramatically and therefore we ought to focus on planning for the worst-case.
In 2017 Napa Vision 2050 stated in a letter to the DWR that if all users of water in Napa County were to need to rely solely upon the groundwater we would be in an unsustainable situation. We still believe this to be the case.
Going Forward: A Clear, Consolidated Approach vs a Fractured System
Within the past month, LAFCO (our Local Agency Formation Commission*) issued a most comprehensive report, “Napa Countywide Water and Wastewater Municipal Services Review” (May 18, 2020). The report thoroughly covers the history and operation of the many water service providers with recommendations regarding their administration and operation.
It is of great significance that this report introduced the concept of a county water agency and/or a county water district. Benefits to forming such a county water district include:
• Efficient use of the County’s water resources
• Enhanced water resource management
• Solidarity amongst Napa water purveyors with greater leveraging power
• Greater scrutiny of all utility providers
• Enhanced technical and operational support for local providers
• Elimination of redundancies and duplication of efforts amongst the smaller systems
• Improved economies of scale.