Guest Commentary: The WAC Revolution Will Be Televised

Evolution? Revolution? That’s not mine to judge. But at a meeting last month, the Water Advisory Committee not only moved its timeline up several notches so it could put an achievable, affordable water plan on the November ballot, it also voted unanimously to televise all future committee meetings and workshops.

I can assure you that choosing to put our meetings on TV wasn’t an easy step for me or my fellow committee members. Some, like me, aren’t too sure our voice or visage should be foisted on an unsuspecting public. Others worry that the nascent collegiality and goodwill among all committee members might be lost in the glare of the cameras.

What do we hope to gain by such increased transparency and heightened scrutiny? I can’t speak for others on the committee, but I can explain what moved me to overcome my trepidation. In voting with all my colleagues to televise committee meetings, my hope was that doing so will demonstrate to Davis residents the honesty of our effort to bring forth something sensible and affordable from the ashes of the old joint powers authority plan rescinded late last year, while on a parallel track we simultaneously attempt to craft a restructured rate plan that’s equitable for all.

But that’s not all, nor even the largest part of what made this decision simply the only right thing to do. As the incredibly prescient Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in the posthumously published anthology, “Wartime Writings 1939-44,” “Water has no power … unless it is a gift of human goodwill.”

And without claiming for my poor scribbles any glimmer of the pure light Saint-Exupéry shone in his writings (and even more so, in his life), I’m proud to say his wisdom inspired me to hope that by giving our fellow citizens the gift of open access to our meetings, every facet of public participation in the committee’s proceedings will be broadened.

Because public participation is the vital part of creating a sensible plan. To me, it’s the one absolutely essential element for building an enthusiastic buy-in by Davis’ voters, without which no system should — nor will — merit or win voters’ approval.

From the sublime let us pass to the pragmatic: There’s so much material, so much information and so little time provided to effect our task, that I don’t for a minute expect every Davis citizen to follow the flow of minutiae inherent to explicating either the old, defunct JPA water plan or the new water plan for which the Water Advisory Committee is now carefully laying the groundwork.

Committee meetings are never going to be more attractive to tune in to than the latest showing of “House,” or more fun than “Cooking with Emeril.” And the detailed data links, FAQs and other assorted impedentia keyed to our presentations, in my experience, are perfect soporifics, guaranteed to induce drowsiness faster than a warm cup of Sleepy Time tea.

But if our work is sometimes boring and the questions repetitious, we all know the devil is in the details, and no question is a bad question. However, all questions should be asked politely.

The facts as they’ve been provided to the Water Advisory Committee so far are immensely enlightening, but hardly shocking, because they corroborate what the city’s own documentation has long substantiated.

We’ve learned that our newly acquired surface water rights cannot supply our year-round needs; that our well water is safe to drink, and — if treated appropriately — the surface water from the Sacramento River also can be made safe; that Davis already has surpassed the goal of a 20 percent reduction in water use; and that Davis is not by any means alone in facing the dilemmas of anticipated growth simultaneous with heightened discharge standards and further conservation goals while only having its own citizens’ pocketbooks to draw on to pay for everything the state or federal government mandates but doesn’t pay for.

But, Davis being Davis, we’re also further along than many or most communities in facing up to those challenges, and with your help we will meet them.

I can’t promise you perfection. I can only promise that if you join us in our work, if you come along for the ride on this magical mystery tour, what you will experience is our best honest effort to make our water plan and rate structure reflect your input.

To the extent that you participate — by coming to Water Advisory Committee meetings in person or by watching the meetings on TV, by visiting the city website (www.cityofdavis.org), by offering your insights and ideas in letters to The Enterprise, by participation in the Vanguard blog and by emailing your questions and concerns direct to the committee — then our work will not only be made light by the help of many hands, but much, much better.

So — turn on the tube, tune us in and tap into the process — together, we’ll make our water works a winner!

Michael Bartolic is a Davis resident who was appointed to the Water Advisory Committee by City Councilman Stephen Souza.