But one Coastside agency made a clear point not to support that petition — the Coastside County Water District, the partner agency working in cooperation to help bring recycled water to the Coastside.
Water district officials say they couldn’t support the local Coastside letter campaign to request funding from Rep. Anna Eshoo, saying it could affect their chances for a larger cooperative agreement they joined with other Bay Area groups to seek $38 million from the federal government.
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Last year, the water district joined the Bay Area Recycled Water Coalition to partner with other water reclamation projects throughout the nine Bay Area counties. Hiring its own Washington lobbyist, the coalition is designed to promote funding and grant opportunities for its member agencies.
The water district is paying about $10,000 for the membership, which it expects will lead to future funding benefits sometime in 2011.
“This is the right way to go,” explained Dave Dickson, CCWD general manager. “It’s inconsistent with the terms of our agreement to submit our own requests for federal funding.”
The sewer authority has decided on a go-it-alone strategy, asking federal legislators to add funding earmarks for the Coastside project. The sewer authority’s latest request to Eshoo’s office asked for $8 million in earmarks, and was followed by dozens of letters of support from local officials from Half Moon Bay and Midcoast agencies.
A similar request to Eshoo’s office last year was not successful. Based on feedback from last year, sewer officials say they have improved their application to Eshoo’s office and packaged it with dozens of letters of support to show community interest in recycled water.
SAM General Manager Jack Foley said having the water and sewer district pursue different strategies is basically a sign of the agencies agreeing to disagree.
“Both agencies didn’t get together and agree on this strategy … but I think this increases our chances,” he said.
Conversely, it could also hinder government help. Caroline Quinn, BARWC spokeswoman, said having the Coastside sewer agency seek funding could muddle support for local recycled water projects in the U.S. Congress.
“It could cause confusion … In Washington, if they receive two different requests, it would raise questions, more than anything else,” Quinn said. “It’s their prerogative, but the whole idea behind this coalition is that we work together to seek funding.”
But ultimately, Quinn doubted having separate requests for federal aid would harm the larger effort for Bay Area recycled water.
SAM director Scott Boyd said both partner agencies will now be pursuing their funding strategies knowing they have strong public demand for recycled water. That might work out brilliantly with both agencies getting federal funds, he said. Or it might not.
“We need to build a treatment system, they need to build a distribution system,” he said. “We’re both executing our plans to get funds. If it’s a race to pull in money, that’s fine.”
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