Perhaps I am just contrary by nature, but something in the proposed MID water sale debate just strikes me as way off. Monetizing water in an area where supplies are limited is a recipe for disaster. Traditionally, the cost to capture, store, treat and distribute water was the base by which a price was set for water.

In lean years these costs may rise because it simply cost more to go outside a district to purchase surplus water based on the donors overhead. I would say most people got it, they understood that water was NOT like any other commodity, there are NO substitutes or alternatives to water. Either you have it or you die, period.  

Prop 218 is an example of limiting the cost of water to actual costs and preventing local governments from overcharging to bolstering their balance sheet.  Put another way, this law limits a governments’ ability to extort money for a necessity.

Move to today. The debate over a proposed sale of MID water seems to have parties on both sides arguing over price. In my opinion this is nothing but folly and blinding otherwise well intentioned people to the debacle that awaits them in the future.

Powers within this state know full well what monetizing water will do, it will bring them wealth and power.  These “powers” maybe individuals or governments but the intent is clear. Local utilities and municipalities see only dollar signs and a way out of the financial abyss they have created without ever having to account for their failures.