Water Supplies, Fire Suppression and Growth

By Greg W. Sanders

Cambria's existing water supply is inadequate to serve existing residents and provide adequate fire protection. A reliable alternate supply of water must be developed to meet Cambria's existing needs. Introduction of a new source of water can be managed so as to control and limit growth.

As a first priority, I support installation of additional water storage facilities for emergencies (approximately 2 million gallons of additional storage capacity is needed). Second, there is an inadequate supply of potable water for Cambria's existing residents. With MTBE pollution having caused the Community Services District to shut down all but one Santa Rosa Creek well and with current drought conditions, severe water rationing may be close at hand.

Second, Cambria needs an adequate, stable and reliable alternative source of water. Several options have been suggested, including construction of an open reservoir and a desalination plant. Both options have potential environmental impacts which must be mitigated to a level of insignificance before approval in order to be acceptable to me. I support whichever option is the least environmentally problematic and can be permitted by the regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Coastal Commission within a reasonable amount of time.

My support for an alternate source of water is conditioned upon a) the California Coastal Commission imposing a condition of approval on the Coastal Development Permit for the alternate water source project requiring that the water produced by the project be used only as a supplement to water drawn under current California Coastal Commission permits from San Simeon and Santa Rosa Creeks so that the current limitation of 1230 annual acre feet of water allocated to Cambria from all sources is maintained (which will result in approximately 380 additional acre feet of water per year since the Community Services District historically has been able to draw only about 850 acre feet per year of its 1230 acre feet per year allocation); and b) the limitation of water drawn from all three sources (San Simeon Creek, Santa Rosa Creek and the alternate water source) coupled with maintenance of the current County annual growth cap be the subject of a Community Services District sponsored initiative to be placed on the ballot. If the initiative passes, the introduction of a new source of water will not result in explosive growth, growth will be paced over time as required by the San Luis Obispo County General Plan (requiring approximately 20 years to exhaust the Community Services District and County water wait lists), and the ultimate buildout population of Cambria will be approximately 9,000 to 10,000. Under California law, the growth controls that I propose be adopted by initiative cannot be amended or repealed except by a vote of the people of Cambria.

I also support an aggressive lot retirement program whereby the Community Services District, in conjunction with land conservation organizations, acquires the fee interest or conservation easements over as many buildable lots as possible so as to reduce growth pressures and further control the buildout of Cambria.