League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Joaquin County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Measure V Groundwater Charge Repeal Initiative North San Joaquin Water Conservation District Majority Approval Required Pass: 10219 / 54.91% Yes votes ...... 8392 / 45.09% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure V

Arguments Against Measure V

Measure V is about fairness. It isn't fair for the government to charge well owners for water, when the government doesn't provide their water. The North San Joaquin Water District says to well owners, "You pay for the hole, the pipe, the pump, the tank, the electricity, the filtering, the testing, and the maintenance to provide your own water, and we'll charge you for it." To add insult to injury, the money the District collects from well owners is used to pipe Mokelumne River irrigation water to a select group of winegrowers for free! Well owners are paying to rebuild the winegrowers' irrigation system, and paying for their water. The winegrowers pay nothing! Is that fair? The District claims it will percolate some of its Mokelumne River water allotment into the ground for the benefit of the well owners. But court documents show that the District has other plans: to ship water outside the district to the City of Stockton to support new development! Is it fair to charge local well owners for water to make Stockton developers rich? The District doesn't receive its full allotment of water every year. In recent decades it has received only about half its allotment. After giving water to the winegrowers for free and sending the thirsty City of Stockton the amount it wants, there may be no water left in a given year to help well owners. Yet the District wants to charge well owners for every gallon they pump, every day, every year. Is that fair? Well owners don't mind paying for what they receive, but the District's ground water charge is unfair! Passing Measure V will repeal the District's ground water charge and force the District to find a fairer way to finance its plans. Vote YES. Submitted by: /s/ Bryan Pilkington, Teacher/Rancher /s/ Dale Carver, Rancher /s/ Ruth M. Brown, Farmer /s/ E.L. Tavarez, Apple Valley Orchards /s/ Oscar Goehring, Rancher Rebuttal to Arguments For The supporters of Measure V say this is about fairness. Measure V is not fair to anyone! This is about local control. If Measure V passes, the State will place large restrictions on everyone's water use. Do you want Sacramento bureaucrats to tell you how much water you can use? This is about avoiding taxes. What the supporters haven't told you is that in court they supported increasing everyone's taxes instead of this groundwater charge. Now they're flip-flopping to get your vote. Do you want to pay higher taxes instead of a $10 or $20 charge? This is about keeping our water. If the District does not raise money to build structures and pipes it needs to recharge the aquifer, it will lose its right to 20,000 acre-feet of water per year. We all depend on our aquifer and on this water. The District would only temporarily sell water to Stockton that it can't use anyway. The District cannot use its 20,000 acre-feet of water until the structures and pipes are built, but once they are in place the District will put its water in our aquifer. The District is also using the charge to provide surface water to irrigators to discourage groundwater pumping and encourage using surface water. Irrigators will pump less groundwater during critical parts of the year, which benefits everyone. Say yes to local control. Say no to new taxes. Keep the State out of our aquifer. Keep our water here. Vote No on Measure V. Submitted by: /s/ Tom Hoffman, President, North San Joaquin Water Conservation District

The purpose of the groundwater charge is to prevent serious environmental damage that will harm the quality of our drinking and irrigation water. The annual charge is only $10.70 for many homes, $21.40 for a home on one acre, and $4.80 per acre-foot for agricultural users. Only property owners pumping water pay the charge. If the City of Lodi or a county service area provides your water you will not be charged by the District. Is paying ten or twenty dollars a year too much to protect our drinking water? The District conducted formal hearings to receive objections to the charge. Only 17% of well owners disagree with the charge. Dissatisfied with the democratic process this minority then circulated this poorly drafted initiative. The initiative is poorly drafted because according to a recent court ruling the election provision is "superfluous." That means the initiative does not require the District to have an election before imposing a charge in future years. The initiative proponents disagree with the court's interpretation and implied that more wasteful and costly litigation will occur. Proponents have already cost the District $100,000 in legal fees, and another $100,000 holding an election. Future lawsuits can be avoided if you vote no. Also, the initiative is poorly drafted because all it does is repeal a charge already imposed, collected and spent. The initiative was not drafted in a way that requires a refund of the charge. The District will end up spending time and money fighting this unhappy minority instead of spending time and money protecting our drinking and irrigation water. Finally, if this minority gets its way, it makes it more likely that the State will intervene and impose tough regulations over the use of our water. If that happens we all lose. Vote No on Measure V. Submitted by: /s/ Tom Hoffman, President, North San Joaquin Water Conservation District Rebuttal to Arguments Against The District's deceptively worded argument against Measure V demonstrates that they can't be trusted. The District says, "If the City of Lodi or a county service area provides your water you will not be charged by the District." That's because the District charges the City and the CSA's. At a rate that's five times higher than private wells pay! The charge will be passed on to you in your bill! The District says it held hearings and "only 17% of well owners disagreed with the charge." That's misleading. 17% of well owners filed written comments and 100% of them opposed the charge. Customers of Lodi and other agencies weren't allowed to comment, even though their rates will increase. The District is counting everyone who didn't participate as a yes vote, and calls that "the democratic process!" The District says that "poor drafting" means it can impose the charge in future years. Read the Impartial Summary. Read the initiative! It says, "No groundwater charges may be imposed ... in any future fiscal year." What could be clearer? It's true the District wasted $100,000 on lawyers fighting this election instead of respecting the people's right to vote. Because they know the charge is unfair. With families hurting from higher prices on gasoline and food, we can't afford this new tax that will subsidize wine growers and Stockton developers, but not help the families paying it. Reduce your water bill and put an end to the unfairness. Vote YES to repeal the groundwater charge. Submitted by: /s/ Bryan Pilkington, Teacher/Rancher /s/ Dale Carver, Rancher /s/ Ruth M. Brown, Farmer /s/ E.L. Tavarez, Apple Valley Orchards /s/ Oscar Goehring, Rancher