and it’s a good thing! The IPR pilot project is still on track, although a little late. Thumbs up to Councilmember Kevin Faulconer for voting to honor the already issued contract.
From the Voice of San Diego…
The City Council voted 5-3 (on July 7th) to reject Councilwoman Sherri Lightner’s request to revoke a $438,000 contract that’s a key part of the city’s examination of recycled sewage as a drinking-water source.
Lightner, Carl DeMaio and Tony Young voted in favor of revoking the contract; Donna Frye, Todd Gloria, Marti Emerald, Ben Hueso and Kevin Faulconer supported maintaining it.
Faulconer, who has opposed sewage recycling in previous votes, served as the swing vote. His spokesman said yesterday that Faulconer didn’t support reneging on an already issued contract.
While some sewage recycling proponents worry that Lightner’s request signals an end to their once solid majority on the council, Lightner said she does support the concept so long as it comes with “fiscal responsibility and public health protections.”
Click Here for the Voice of SD article.
CLICK HERE for a more in-depth story about the vote and water resue that I just came across from the SD Union-Tribune. Here’s part of it…
“More than a decade after San Diego started looking at how to turn wastewater back into tap water, the proposal remains in a political quagmire and city officials have lost a major chance to win federal stimulus money for it.
The City Council took a small step yesterday to preserve the latest water-reuse effort, which supporters call reservoir augmentation and critics dub “toilet to tap.” The council kept a $420,000 contract to study one part of the plan.
But the overall project’s future is increasingly tenuous. Before the City Council’s makeup changed in December, the concept was backed by five of the eight council members. Now three are opposed, four are in favor and Sherri Lightner says she is unsure.”
