Water Resources Action

Letter to Santa Clara Valley Water District Chairman and Board of Directors Regarding Water Resources Protection Collaborative Board Meeting September 7, 2004

LEAGUES OF WOMEN VOTERS OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

CUPERTINO SUNNYVALE
LOS ALTOS-MTN. VIEW AREA
SOUTHWEST SANTA CLARA VALLEY
PALO ALTO
SAN JOSE-SANTA CLARA

Subject: Water Resources Protection Collaborative Board Meeting September 7, 2004

August 19, 2004

Chairman Joe Judge and Members of the Board of Directors
Santa Clara Valley Water District
5750 Almaden Expressway
San Jose, Ca 95118

Dear Board of Directors,

The Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County applaud your support of the collaborative effort among the SCVWD, the cities, the county and other stakeholders to develop a cooperative land use method for improving the health of the streams in Santa Clara County. The SCVWD staff members and the facilitators working on this Water Resources Protection Collaborative project have done an excellent job and the members of the Collaborative have devoted extensive amounts of time towards a positive outcome. Since the process started, a much greater mutual understanding of what the problems are and practical ways to approach solving them has been developed. However, several steps remain to be accomplished in order to put these approaches into action. Some of these are:

1. The list of "Guidelines and Standards" that the Collaborative has developed needs more work to be sure that all the problems are addressed and that both minimal and enhanced practices are defined. We don't want to leave loopholes that would encourage those cities with excellent processes in place now to revert to the minimal practices that other cities have yet to add to their stream-side permitting requirements. The cities and county still need to compare the proposed guidelines and standards with what they do now.
2. Education and training materials have to be developed for planning, permitting and public works staffs of the cities and county, for city councils and the County Board of Supervisors, and for the public in general (especially stream side property owners). Implementation tools for the cities to use in following the guidelines and standards need to be developed and a framework for monitoring the results of this cooperative land use effort still needs to be developed and implemented.
3. The early consultation process developed by SCVWD, Gilroy, and Sunnyvale shows excellent potential. Now, this process for involving SCVWD input in the earliest stages of discussion about proposed development needs to be modified to be able to accommodate more cities.
4. SCVWD also needs to begin the long process of developing a Comprehensive Plan for the county's waterways. A countywide vision for healthy creek and river ecosystems, flood management, and water quality protection, with some teeth in CEQA requirements will help, among other things, to avoid the problems that an upstream city's actions can create for a downstream city. Everyone needs to be part of the SCVWD efforts to keep the groundwater basin recharged and to manage flooding in an environmentally sensitive way.

The health of our waterways is a complex problem that needs cooperative action. We hope you will continue to support the collaborative process so that stream preservation will be a high priority on everyone's list. The League of Women Voters supports and will continue to support the efforts of the District to protect the watersheds and streams of the valley. We look forward to seeing the results of this process and a positive effect on our watersheds.

Sincerely,

Sally Pyle, Chairman of the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County
6852 Elwood Road, San Jose 95120-4730

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