More about Trinitas & Water

A note received today from an individual identifying herself as cathryn jackson as posted on the blog. See my response below:

"I am a member of KIRC, I have researched the declining water quantity/availability in the western end of our county. I live in Wallace and am concerned about property rights of our existing agricultural residents, especially wells that are in trouble. As such I attended a meeting in 2006 of about 36 neighbors adjacent to the Trinitas Golf Course who had agreed to be trained in CEQA law in order to use the required Environmental Impact Report to challenge negative impacts to their environment through the county Board of Supervisors.The overdrafted East Stockton aquifer Nemee's deep wells are using has been declared in the State Water Board bulletins for 2 decades. The Govenor is currently in the news driving efforts to restore the San Joaquin delta.My comments on Trinitas's first Draft EIR involved a mathemtical analysis of the golf courses' water requirements they submitted in Chapter 12; Tables 12-1 and 12-2.The results I found, using their tables showed water consumption to be equivelent to 513 homes. Only 439 homes now exist in Wallace. No complete hydrological study of aquifer depths has been done to quantify how much population growth can even be sustained in this area. The State Regional Water Board warned Calaveras Planning Department in 2005 & 2006 not to proceed with a nearby project requesting 124 homes until surface water could be brought in. So why did the county allow this golf course to continue being built in the first place? I appreciate you offering this blog. All my comments are part of public records now.

Cathryn Jackson"

Thank you for responding Cathryn. Those are many interesting facts and figures. However, they seem to miss the point. If the East Stockton Water Aquifer is overdrafted, and I don't know that is the case...but even if it were: Trinitas didn't cause that problem, and as I said earlier, the latest information provided by the local water agency suggests that it would not...as currently planned...negatively impact the local water supply. Everyone has a right to drill their own wells, even the Nemees. That's part of our private property rights you mention in your post, and by the way the Nemees have those same private property rights. They've shared with me their commitment to maintaining the County's agricultural heritage through their olive oil agritourism business, so I am satisfied that they, like you, clearly care about private property rights AND agriculture.

With your comparison to building homes as you state above, even if that were true and I (respectfully) have seen no evidence your claim notwithstanding: would you rather have the homes built?

Regarding your study of the data, it's clear that some of the original water well data you might have used in your study was either reported incorrectly or misrepresented. You choose which, but I know this is an issue that will receive greater scrutiny when the County gets the EIR show on the road.

The golf course is private, constructed according to county zoning as far as I know. The reason for the EIR process, as you know from your CEQA training, is so that the public and government agencies have the opportunity to provide comments, just as you have done in the past. We should get on with the process of circulating the EIR document so that we can get everything on the table. I hope you agree.

Thanks for your comments!