EID in Trouble

By John P. Fraser

As an EID director, I would apply my 30-plus years experience in water district operations, administration and water law to assist in pointing EID in a positive direction.

The last several years I have devoted a great deal of time working with a group of devoted El Dorado County people wanting to see EID succeed rather than bring it to its knees. Some of the major undertakings that I have personally been involved in with this group are:

• The purchase by EID of Project 184 from PG&E. Cost: $1.00 plus a payment from PG&E to EID in the amount of $15,000,000.
• The change in the law that will place 2 water district representatives on the County Water Agency board of directors along with 3 members of the county board of supervisors.
• The recall of EID director Bill Bergmeister and the election to the board of George Osborne.

I will strongly support restoration of the domestic irrigation water rate to fulfill the promise made by EID to its water users long ago.

EID is in need of additional drought protection. I would continue to work to achieve this added storage in order to meet an ever growing range of needs on the South Fork of the American River.

Protection of our area of origin water rights will be one of my highest priorities. We must assure that our needs are met before more transfers of American River water, as now contemplated by SMUD and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to the Elk Grove area in Southern Sacramento County, are even seriously considered.