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Santa Cruz water chief defends plans for desal plant

Posted by: Maven on March 19, 2010 at 5:36 am

From the Silicon Valley Mercury News:

“The head of the Santa Cruz Water Department, Bill Kocher, staunchly defended plans to build a desalination plant, telling a crowd of nearly 200 residents Thursday that there is no other option for surviving a severe drought like the one Santa Cruz experienced in the mid-1970s.

Kocher was part of a panel of water experts gathered at Live Oak Elementary School for a public forum sponsored by Transition Santa Cruz to lay out the risks and advantages of turning salty seawater into drinking water.

Several panelists, including former mayor of Huntington Beach Debbie Cook and Santa Cruz resident Rick Longinotti, attacked desalination as an expensive waste of energy that could be avoided with increasing conservation and trying other water-saving methods such as recycling and capturing rain and other runoff.

“Water restrictions depend on cooperation, and if the water is there for use, most customers are not going to put up with conserving more,”

Kocher said. “Conserving more, it’s just not enough.” … “

Continue reading this article from the Silicon Valley Mercury News by clicking here.

March 19, 2010 · Filed Under Central Coast

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