 |
| No golf courses in Sierra Madre. |
The reason for this on-going request has been to once and for all help determine the reasons why this city has been unable to reach its state mandated water use goals. Are the residents of Sierra Madre really such profligate water users, or could it possibly be the city's fault? Those questions never seem to get answered.
![]()
![]()
This matter has now become even more urgent as the City of Sierra Madre has made the Los Angeles Times list of worst performing water districts in the state. Not a good place to be, unfortunately. Sierra Madre has apparently also become one of the few water districts in the state that doesn't seem to know why it is on that list. Nor has it shown that much urgency in finding out why this might be, despite the many determined statements made by Mayor John Capoccia. There must be a disconnect somewhere.
Here's the report, best first, then worst. Clickhereto view it in the original setting. All of this is connected to a LA Times article called "When it comes to saving water, Southern Californians are tapped out — or are they?" It was posted on their website yesterday, February 10, and can be found here.
To see an individual LA Times report for the City of Sierra Madre, clickhere.
Back on December 27 the Pasadena Star News published an article by Claudia Palma called "How Sierra Madre’s water issues went from bad to worse due to the drought" (link). In that piece the issue of water main leaks was discussed, along with Mayor Capoccia's stated gritty determination to get to the bottom of all this.
Public works director Bruce Inman said there is not an easy or quick way to quantify how much water is lost due to the leaks to see how much that is affecting their conservation efforts. The city is split when meters are measured and both numbers are not gathered in the same month, noted Inman.
Despite the community’s extensive outreach and conservation efforts that began long before the state enacted new strict regulations, the city faces a fine from the State Water Resources Control Board for not meeting its target reduction of 32 percent for the last three months.
The city is working with state officials regarding the target and fine, but no final decisions have been made.
“We’re serious about meeting the target rate,” Capoccia said.
About 77 percent of residents met their conservation targets between July and October, according to city manager Elaine Aguilar. Now the city plans to work with those who haven’t, though no meeting date has been set yet.
“First thing is to find out what’s keeping them from meeting the target. There could be something that we’re just unaware of,” Capoccia said. “We want to call them, find out what the problem is and work with them.”
So did City Hall ever get in touch with those people? Given the city's water main leakage problems, would that have actually been relevant? Maybe that is why nothing was ever done, because the city already knew the real reasons for Sierra Madre's poor water conservation record?
Being among the worst performing water districts in the state is no small thing. It could end up costing the city a lot of money.
Obviously answers are still awaited.
Obviously answers are still awaited.
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com