L.A. Growth and Water Supply
Carl Boronkay’s (Metropolitan Water District general manager) cynical response (letter, Sept. 26) to Bob Gottlieb’s analysis of the water industry’s role in regional and state growth (“Our Water Agencies’ Historic Growth Agenda Needs a New Mission,” Op-Ed Page, Sept. 13) clearly reveals one of the central problems facing local governments in Southern California in dealing with population growth.
The water industry wants to be a key player in the region’s political and economic leadership but shuns the responsibility that goes with it. These un-elected power brokers who know the true environmental and economic costs associated with extending water delivery to new developments fail to share that information with the public or with local government.
Gottlieb was trying to make a point that the water industry does in fact have a critical role to play in assuring that current and future residents are supplied with water in adequate quantity and quality and understand the cost associated with its delivery.
Boronkay doesn’t possess the magic of an alchemist to conjure unlimited quantities of water to Southern California. His excuse that population increase is not due to new arrivals misses the point. The fact of the matter is that the MWD has a limited resource to manage and the demands on that resource are going to be more inflexible within the next decade.
It’s time for the water industry to listen to its critics and to take on the responsibility of leadership in developing responsible public policy dealing with the effects of unmanaged population growth.
BOB HARTMAN
Lemon Grove
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