City Responds to Water Plan Criticism

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Fresno city officials have fired back against an opinion piece written by former County Supervisor Doug Vagim in the Frenso Bee. <br /><br />The tension comes just a day before the Fresno City Council will vote on whether or not to approve the $429 million dollar water infrastructure plan. Vagim says the plan builds an unnecessary treatment plant for surface water the city doesn’t have. <br /><br />&quot;What they are doing is wrong,&quot; Vagim said. &quot;It’s the wrong timing. It’s like building that baseball stadium all over again. If they build it they will come. If they build these water plants water will not come but people will have a lot higher rates.&quot;<br /><br />Mayor Ashley Swearengin says it’s true the drought has impacted water supplies especially last year. But they are thinking long term. <br /><br />&quot;We know that on average over the last 60 years the City of Fresno has had entitlement for 110,000 acre feet of water. So we planned our surface water facilities to be just under that to make sure we have enough water each and every year on average,&quot; Swearengin said. <br /><br />Vagim has also voiced concern about the impact on families. The plan will double water rates for households. <br /><br />&quot;They are just making stuff up to go after the pocketbook of people in this community,&quot; Vagim said. <br /><br />He has proposed expanding the Northeast treatment plant at a smaller cost. But city officials say that doesn’t address overdraft and groundwater contamination. <br /><br />&quot;Over the last 50 to 60 years the city has been depleting its groundwater to the point where now, just today we received a letter from the state that notified us that we have about half of our wells that are at the point of contamination or near that point,&quot; Swearengin said. <br /><br />The City of Fresno’s <a href="http://www.fresno.gov/pdf/pio/Op-EdFactCheck.pdf" target="_self">full response</a> to Vagim’s opinion piece can be found on their website. <br /><br /></div>