Close to Home: Stop treating water as if it’s free

Of course, we all get water bills that keep going up. But look at the details on your invoice, it’s mostly paying for infrastructure, loans and operating costs. There won’t be a fee for the water that’s pumped out of the ground or reservoir. That water right — the ability to pump — is essentially free for your water company and for you. But in a persistent drought, free cannot be the right price for that right. And water rights in northern Sonoma and southern Mendocino Counties are undergoing a lot of change.

One of the foundations of good government is to require a cost-benefit analysis when comparing alternative courses of action. The Potter Valley Project — the foundation of the upper Russian River water supply — is currently in the legal limbo of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission surrender process, with PG&E seeking to give up its license to operate the hydroelectric dam that uses water diverted from the Eel River. Many courses of action are being proposed. Those alternatives need to be evaluated for the public interest across the five counties that will be impacted by the Potter Valley Project’s future.

Let’s look at the value of water. An economic analysis estimated that an acre-foot of Potter Valley Project water has a $900,000 economic impact — but that study focused solely on Mendocino County. There is not yet a corresponding estimate for Sonoma County, but an examination of the local economy would suggest that the economic value would be at least as great here. Since diversions of Eel River water have been between 30,000 and 60,000 acre-feet per year, the economic impact of that water would be between $5.4 billion and $10.8 billion per year for Sonoma and Mendocino counties. And that doesn’t consider the impact of forever water shortages on agricultural and residential property values. It also doesn’t consider the cost of weakened Cal Fire response due to the proposed draining of reservoirs.

Despite its huge value, nobody has been paying much, if anything, for that water source. Likewise, because everybody assumes that Potter Valley Project water is free, proposals to remove the dams haven’t included any compensation for property owners or water districts that would be impacted. We can’t continue to behave as if water anywhere in California is free.

The Potter Valley Project’s transfers represent between 10 billion and 20 billion gallons annually — so it’s been creating about 50 cents of economic value per gallon, looking only at the short-term impact. What if consumers paid a penny for every 5 gallons of Potter Valley Project water? This would produce between $20 million and $40 million annually.

That would provide a subsidy large enough for PG&E to run the system profitably. That would pay for needed capital improvements to aid fisheries. That would fund subsidies for Eel River tribes dependent on fish. That would avoid years of legal haggling and politicking.

Yes, it would mean that everyone’s water bill would rise a bit. But if you believe in the free market, the only way to get conservation to work is through the price signal. Use what you want, but if you want to pay less, use less.

The road we are on now — full of politics and lawsuits and water rationing and propaganda — is nothing but potholes and rickety bridges. But what if we could make that all go away? We need to design our water future with cold, rational eyes.

David Taber is board president for the Palomino Lakes Mutual Water Company in Cloverdale.

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