— from Lesley Liddle —
[Monday]’s EWUA meeting was a good informative meeting overall; Paul Kamin put together a well-organized presentation, some of it heavily weighted to impress on certain points of current policy with regard to the guest house bylaw and recent “initiative”, which I don’t necessarily or entirely agree with, but one has to really appreciate that Paul did a lot of work for this presentation and he stayed on track throughout, and it was, I thought, a productive meeting.
The board is sticking to its guns on the guest initiative and date for compliance. This is still going to be frighteningly costly for some. It does not fairly address the smallest water users who choose to live in very small one bedroom houses and who have on their property even smaller accessory dwellings, which together consistently do not use the monthly allotted water amount for one “average family” home. There seem to be numerous variations to what constitutes an “average family home” although island homeoweners are all presently judged by this category.
Importantly there is some agreement that unique properties might fall into the Class IV category for special consideration. That means that at least some of us in this smaller home with accessory dwelling situation will be grandfathered in or will have the potential for mitigated circumstances. Paul does seem very willing to look at unique or stressed financial situations in order to find reasonable solutions. Unfortunately at present the guest house policy does not address or encourage the new “tiny house” direction many see as a necessary healthy new trend into the future.
The second half of the meeting was focused on rate structure. It was particularly interesting to have the various tiered ideas for rate structures presented and discussed although the present board is weighted on keeping its present rate structure. It would be interesting and worthwhile to continue examining possible other rate tiers that encourage conservation for the long haul and quality of the island life, and we may have to pay for this with slightly increased rates at some point.
In the end it was announced that there are two currently open positions on the board which could be filled now by interested members, and that due to requests by members there will be an annual meeting next April.
What was not considered or mentioned at all was the fact that water is becoming ever more precious and scarce globally, even if it does seem to be wonderfully plentiful here in the northwest. It is certainly not plentiful elsewhere. Although wasteful leaks have been corrected by diligent and commendable EWUA effort, the executive push is to add to current revenue by adding to membership capacity, by selling more and more memberships which, of course, supports the promotion of new housing developments, inevitably more potable water consumption and an ever growing population on the island. This is a policy that courts the inevitable scarcity of water down the road for all of us who do live here.
Potable water is a finite and limited resource globally and we need to protect and preserve the incredible quality of life here by recognizing realistic limitations to growth—by promoting conservation of water. People die of its shortage elsewhere. It is priceless where there is none and more precious than gold. It seems to me that the EWUA and the Chamber of Commerce are playing a dangerous pyramid game by continuously pushing for more and more revenue-generating population to the islands. Ultimately more is not better, except for a few who can make money for a relatively short time. Just like the planet on a smaller scale, an island has limited resources and space. It is already unpleasant if not impossible for current residents to do grocery shopping during the summer months.
At some point with over use and without controlled growth or restraint, inevitably—if not already—the overall quality of island life diminishes, just as the quality of the Salish Sea has already clearly and seriously diminished. We need to love enough to be restrained in our consumption; to love enough to respect this gift of life, its amazing water and our delicate planet.
Leslie; Regarding your concerns about growth on Orcas, and specifically in Eastsound, bear in mind that in a free society, anyone is able to live wherever they choose (and can afford to do so). With that in mind, WA State through the Growth Management Act has directed that 1/2 of all growth on Orcas be directed into an urban growth area, that is, Eastsound. This requirement places great pressure on the utility providers whether or not we have seasonal visitors.
Those of us who have lived here for many years have seen substantial growth and change which has necessitated increased capacity of the services that we take for granted. How often do we think about what allows the lights to come on, the water to flow, or the toilet to flush.
The necessity that those services be available as our community grows must be shared by everyone who benefits from those services, equally and fairly.
In that context, as Michael Riordan has pointed out, it is important that we all are involved in our community and that everything we do to contribute must be done with complete transparency for the benefit of us all.
Well said, Lesley. Thanks for your coverage of the meeting, for those of us who could not attend.
In any viable and sustainable long-range planning, the issue of eventual water scarcity – and ways to prevent it – is a discussion that needs to be on the table now and for the foreseeable future. That inevitable day will come much sooner if people continue to have the idea that doing anything they want on their land, if they can fiscally afford it, means that they can take and waste a finite resource with impunity, just because a resource is plentiful now.
I think that water fees should be rated for amount of water used in summer. Lawn watering takes far more water than flushing a toilet 20 times a day. The idea that unlimited amounts of money can buy unlimited amounts of waste is an idea that doesn’t look past this generation. I think we need a longer-term and more educated vision – one that will protect the precious resource of water for many future generations.