Water Department Downplays Grand Jury Criticism

SAN DIEGO -- The director of the city's Water Department Thursday downplayed a county grand jury report that is critical of San Diego's water infrastructure and reliance on outside agencies.

Water Department Director Jim Barrett, who was appointed to head the office last year, described the grand jury's report as a "rehash" of issues already being addressed by Mayor Jerry Sanders.

"From my perspective, there is really nothing new in there," Barrett said of the report. "I don't know whether they got into any new issues."

The county grand jury recommended in its report, released Wednesday, that the city of San Diego repair aging water infrastructure and guard against inappropriate application of funds from rate increases.

The 10-page report also chastised the city for continuing to rely on imported water and largely ignoring means to reduce reliance on outside sources.

"The city appears to lack the vision to take actions to protect citizens from potential water shortages and the rising cost of water," the report states.

In preparing its report, the grand jury reviewed recommendations contained in a similar study produced by the 1998-1999 grand jury.

According to the current report, many, if not all, of the recommendations proposed in the earlier document were ignored. They included desalinization and water reclamation.

"As water becomes scarcer, citizens of San Diego will pay a price for the inaction of the city," the panel warns in its report.

Barrett said the city's current priority is replacing it aging water and sewer infrastructure system, which will be accomplished through recently approved utility rate increases.

He touted the formation of an Independent Rates Oversight Committee, which is charged with protecting the integrity of funds generated through the water and sewer rate hikes.

"We'll focus on the infrastructure first," Barrett said. "If in the next phase people want us to look at new water (sources), we'll be happy to do that."

Barrett said he is not sure the conditions in the city of San Diego warrant investment in projects such as desalination plants.

"There is a considerable investment that will have to be made there, and I am not sure the ratepayers would be willing to support that," he said.

The grand jury also found that, instead of dealing with the Environmental Protection Agency's goal to have the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant upgraded to a secondary treatment level, the city may ask for a five-year extension to the current waiver, which expires Dec. 31.

If that waiver extension is denied, the city has no plan nor the funds to cover the more than $1 billion it would cost to comply with the Clean Water Act, according to the grand jury.

In February, the city agreed to increase water and sewer rates over the next four years to begin to address a backlog of infrastructure upgrades. As a result, the average ratepayer will shell out about 30 percent more for water and wastewater on a monthly basis by 2011.