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LA WATCHDOG - The politically appointed Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved the $298 million Stormwater Capture Parks Program. However, it “is not cost effective as a water source of supply, and as such would have an unreasonable rate impact on DWP customers” according to Dr. Fred Pickel, the Ratepayer Advocate.
This Program is also part of an elaborate scheme to divert Ratepayer money to the City’s defunded Department of Recreation and Parks to refurbish seven of its parks in the Valley, and, indirectly, to City’s General Fund to help balance the budget and pay for budget busting labor contracts.
While there is limited publicly available information on the Program, it will consist of building infiltration galleries under seven city parks in the Valley to capture 1,800 acre feet of stormwater a year that will be used to help replenish the underlying San Fernando Groundwater Basin.
The DWP Board failed to consider the adverse impact on Ratepayers. The capital cost of this $298 million Program is $165,000 for each acre foot. This will cost Ratepayers about $10,000 a year over the next thirty to forty years, or about ten times the cost of untreated water from the Metropolitan Water District. And this does not include any operating or maintenance costs.
The Department “claims” to have $165 million from other governmental sources, including around $90 million from Measure W (Safe Clean Water LA) that was approved by voters in 2018. Even after deducting the inefficient use of taxpayer money, the capital costs would be around $75,000 an acre foot and cost DWP Ratepayers around $4,500 a year.
To help justify this inefficient use of $298 million of Ratepayer, Measure W, and other taxpayer money, DWP has claimed there are many “mutual benefits.” This includes an estimated $50 to $100 million in park improvements, according to City insiders, money that should be coming from the funded Department of Recreation and Parks.
The Program is “intended to help alleviate localized flooding, improve downstream water quality, and provide recreational, social, economic, and environmental benefits for underserved communities.” But we have not seen any quantitative analysis of the widely touted cost-benefit ratio.
As it is, DWP Ratepayers are already doing their fair share. This year, Ratepayers will contribute over $700 million to the City’s coffers through the Utility Users Tax and the transfer from the Power System. The City is also failing to pay its bill in a timely basis, costing DWP $130 million.
It is not hard to see how City Hall is using Ratepayer money that is funneled through the defunded Department of Recreation and Parks to pay for the City’s budget busting labor contracts. So much for transparency.
The grossly negligent Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved the Stormwater Capture Parks Program despite the adverse findings of the Ratepayer Advocate. It will expose DWP, the City Council, and the Mayor to litigation and ridicule and will be another reason why voters will reject numerous financially oriented ballot measures in November, including the $1.2 billion increase in the County’s sales tax.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
