Here's an enviro idea: forget those DWP 'reforms'

Heal the Bay president Mark Gold isn't a fan of the Department of Water and Power reform measures that may appear on the March ballot in Los Angeles. Or as he calls them, "supposed" reforms. The ratepayer advocate is a bogus watered-down version in his view, and giving the City Council power to fire the general manager goes the wrong way. He comes from the point of view that rates need to go up in order to keep moving the DWP toward a green future. And the utility should be split in two, with one agency for water and one for power, Gold blogs.

From an environmental perspective, the measures almost completely miss the mark....

No initiative can mandate the leadership that is needed to ensure that DWP replaces or repairs decaying infrastructure and moves forward aggressively on sustainable local water supplies and a 40% renewable energy portfolio without dirty coal. The Office of Public Accountability shouldn’t be needed to hold DWP responsible for meeting the city’s goals. That’s the job of the DWP Commission, City Council, and the mayor’s office.

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As I’ve stated before, a critical and long overdue reform is to separate water from power.... Other than water conservation, DWP hasn’t changed much in water management since the days of Mulholland.

He notes that in Los Angeles, the DWP handles drinking water while the Department of Public Works handles stormwater and the vast amount of water contained in sewage. I like this dismissal of the idea that restricting sprinklers use to certain days led to an epidemic of broken water mains: "Does anyone really believe the water conservation caused pipe ruptures?"