Marina has a looming water crisis – both short term, with the CalAm slant well project threatening to take our groundwater, and in the long term, as our existing water supply dwindles. I will dedicate my time on the Marina Coast Water District board to maintaining safe and affordable drinking water while working with Marina’s leadership to secure a long-term sustainable water supply. Our problems seem daunting, but if we are willing to work with our local partners to solve them we can ensure that we have water for our children and grandchildren. I worked collaboratively to solve daunting water problems as an Air Force civil engineering officer in Texas, Alaska, the middle east and Afghanistan. My PhD in Ecology trained me to think about water issues as large-scale problems requiring large-scale solutions. We need to proactively seek regional solutions to our water challenges so we won’t have to worry about entities like CalAm threatening our water again.
Major Issues: 1. Protecting Marina’s groundwater. The most immediate and critical issue facing the Marina Coast Water District is protecting our groundwater from CalAm’s proposed slant well project. There are many problems with this project, but three problems important to the people of Marina are (1) the high likelihood that the slant well will draw on our ground water and contaminate our aquifers through salt water intrusion, (2) the desalinated water will go to communities on the peninsula instead of to Marina, (3) CalAm has no legal right to our groundwater. That these issues have not yet been adequately considered by state agencies in unconscionable. As a private citizen I have worked with Citizens for Just Water to oppose the slant well and have spoken against it at the CPUC meeting in San Francisco. If the slant well is not stopped administratively, I support working with the City of Marina and other allies to stop it through the courts. Litigation can be expensive, but it is a question of whether we pay some now for a lawsuit or a lot more later when desalination is our only source of water. As an alternative to the slant well, I support expansion of the Pure Water Monterey recycling program. On the MCWD board, I will focus on leading other regional agencies in developing a long-term regional water supply. 2. Smart annexation. With the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) scheduled to end, I intend to make sure that the MCWD plans for smart annexation of former Fort Ord communities. We are already servicing those communities and paying FORA a fortune for the privilege. With annexation, we will no longer pay FORA. However, I want to make sure that the lower-income parts of Marina do not end up subsidizing the expansion of expensive infrastructure into higher-income developments. I support (1) keeping separate cost centers to make sure that we fairly allocate administrative and infrastructure costs between the older and newer parts of Marina - at least until the infrastructure costs have balanced between the two areas; (2) making sure that developers pay the infrastructure costs for new developments up-front so that existing former Fort Ord residents do not see these costs added to their water bill; (3) evaluating low-income housing in in-fill areas for incorporation into the central Marina cost center on a case-by-case basis. 3. Developing a long-term water supply. I will work to ensure a sustainable water supply in Marina for my family in the decades to come. I will work with the City of Marina and our regional allies to establish a regional long-term water supply to ensure safe, affordable water for future generations. There is no reason that Marina Coast Water District cannot lead in this area and, as the most prominent public water agency in the region, we should. Responsible communication with the public: I believe that MCWD board members should represent themselves, the water district, and the people of Marina with professionalism and respect. The Marina Coast Water District has done amazing work for Marina. The staff are knowledgeable, responsible, and hard-working. The current manager, Keith Van Der Maaten, is incredibly smart and collaborative and puts the needs of Marina first. Current board members Tom Moore, Jan Shriner, Bill Lee, and Herbert Cortez have all been extremely generous to me with their time, experience, and ideas as I have prepared to represent you on the board. Any of the bad reputation associated with the MCWD (constant in-fighting, etc) in the past does not apply to most of the current leadership. Whenever you hear about the MCWD in the newspaper, on Nextdoor, or from your neighbors, I want it to *always* be about our accomplishments and good work for Marina. There has been a lot of discussion at board meetings and candidate forums about whether MCWD board members have the constitutional freedom to say what they want. While I agree that board members have these constitutional rights, I am more concerned about how we choose to exercise them. I believe that elected officials should be recognized as the servants of all of the people of their district – regardless of their race or creed. If you elect me to represent you on the MCWD board, I promise that I will comport myself and speak publicly in a professional manner that emphasizes the good work of the Marina Coast Water District in protecting and sustaining our water and that is inclusive to all of the people of Marina. In our fight to protect Marina’s water, we can’t be distracted by conflict between ourselves and our natural allies. To achieve a sustainable water supply, the Marina Coast Water District needs to work collaboratively with our city council and regional partners. In Afghanistan, I worked with US military and civilian engineers, local Afghan contractors and our NATO and South Korean allies to solve a complicated array of engineering problems. I will use the same collaborative problem-solving approach to serve you on the MCWD board. Our water problems can be solved - as long as we work together.
