Alameda County water board candidates float issues of water supply, rate increases
- October 20, 2010
FREMONT -- With one incumbent and two challengers vying for two seats on the Alameda County Water District board Nov. 2, all the candidates are promising voters they have the knowledge and expertise to help keep the Tri-City area afloat.
Current board member Judy C. Huang and newcomers Frank Price Jr. and Paul Sethy share similar priorities in ensuring a sufficient water supply for the district, but each is viewing the job through a different lens.
Huang, who has been on the board for almost 10 years, said she is running for re-election because her background and experience will help the district "achieve its goal of providing environmentally responsible, healthful, cost-effective water supplies for the Tri-City area."
To protect the environment, Huang would like to see continued participation in the restoration of both the Alameda Creek and the Delta.
"We could help the Delta restoration go forward by finding the balance between environmental needs and water supply needs," she said.
She aims to minimize rate increases by "optimizing district operations, seeking external grants for capital programs and diversifying water sources," such as using recycled water and desalinated water.
"It's good in the event of an earthquake -- local water is good, rather than shipping from the Delta because you can't be sure the Delta will be there after an earthquake," she said.
Price is running for the board for the first time,but similarly would like to provide "guidance based on a knowledgeable perspective gained from 35-plus years working in the water industry."
He recently retired after 22 years with the East Bay Municipal Utility District and 11 years as a manager in the Alameda County Water District.
He said he would like to ensure the district has a rate structure that minimizes future debt, but he also said that such a rate structure needs to guarantee the "systematic, effective and economical replacement of underground infrastructures" in the event of a major disaster.
"If we have a maximum critical earthquake "... the entire system would bleed out in seven or eight hours," Price said. "Now you can go in and you can produce all kinds of water, but if you've got no place to distribute it or store it, because of the breakage, what are people going to do?"
Sethy, who has spent his entire career in the technology industry, said he "grew up in an ACWD (family)" -- his father worked in the district's engineering department for most of his career, starting in the early 1960s.
But Sethy sees parallels between his background and the water district, calling it "a high-tech company whose product is high-quality water.
He hopes that "three times is the charm," having first run for the water board when he was a 19-year-old student at UC Berkeley and again last year after board member Art Lampert died.
While he also emphasized the need to deal with increased water scarcity, escalating costs and a new infrastructure to ensure the community is emergency-ready, Sethy said his main campaign issue is educating the community against supporting a proposed $11 billion state water bond
The bond, known as the "Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010," was postponed from this November until the November 2012 election.
Still, Sethy wants voters to know it is "poor public planning" and "a direct takeaway of much needed funding for education at all levels and for other statewide essential services.
"The taxpayers pay for this bond, but big business -- agriculture -- which uses 80 percent of the state's water, are the big beneficiaries," he said.
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