League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Brian A. Schmidt Answers Questions Candidate for Director; Santa Clara Valley Water District; Division 7

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What are three top issues facing the Water District and what are some of the solutions that you believe will address the problems?

1. Manage the drought response in ways that meet our short-term needs while fostering long-term changes: for example I led the doubling of water conservation rebates for lawn removals, causing near-permanent demand reductions. While we can't be the best in California on per-capita consumption, we can be the best in terms of responding to the drought. Accelerating our transition to potable reuse of wastewater is the drought-proof, local alternative to more dependence on the Delta water exports and to the environmental damage of ocean desalination. I am the one candidate willing to say this publicly and not hide from a backlash.

2. Incorporate and expand the environmental nature of everything that the Water District does. I have and will prioritize Shoreline restoration, which will protect against sea level rise and allow the tidal wetland restoration of much of the South Bay Saltponds that could not be done in the absence of protection near land. These wetlands are the Everglades of the West, and we can bring them back. In addition, I support including climate change effects on water demand as part of our revised water management planning in the next fiscal year. I am facilitating potential involvement in Green Bonds and Community Choice Aggregation as follow-up to our successes with climate divestment and policy for carbon neutrality in 2020. I support using increased Watershed Stewardship funding for the environment and not just flood protection, which is an issue I specifically called out in budget revisions last spring and said I expected to see in the future.

3.Making sure everyone's voice is heard and their money is well-spent. I will continue improving transparency: keeping evening meetings, empowering our advisory committees, getting all materials on the website and include online audio for our committee meetings, not just video of Board meetings. I will continue my policy of informal communication with a dedicated Facebook page, blog postings, and online dialogs. I support intense public consultation as a way to avoid expensive delays, and will continue to work on that for the Almaden lake-creek separation and the Rinconada Water Treatment Plant overhaul. I will continue to support efficient and timely expenditure of funds at the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan JPA, where I am the Vice Chair.

2. What experience and training do you have which would help the Water District meet its goals?

My experience in water supply issues dates back to my academic work on water law in the late 1990s. Something that I uniquely have is professional experience in flood protection and also in watershed restoration - the other two co-equal goals of the Water District.

One of the things that I am most proud of is that even before I served on the Water District Board for the first time in 2010, I spent five years working directly with, and occasionally against, the Water District. I was the chair of the Environmental Advisory Committee and served on the Performance Audit Committee, and appeared before the District Board many times.

I am the District's representative to the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) and a board member of the ACWA Region 5 regional affiliation. I am the vice chair of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority and the vice chair of the Valley Habitat Plan Implementation Board. I serve on the planning committee for the California Water Policy Conference and on the board of the Santa Clara County Emergency Operational Area Council.

I am an environmental attorney with a Stanford Law School J.D., took every water-law related course I could, and have published academic and professional articles in field of water supply and water law. I was formerly on staff at the local non-profit, Committee for Green Foothills, and also at EarthJustice and Natural Resources Defense Council.

3. How will you balance your constituents' needs and interests with residential, agricultural and business needs of the entire county while safeguarding the environment?

I want to integrate more closely the water systems of our county. That is one of the lessons of the drought, that the isolated water systems are the ones that have done worst.

I came up with and told others the idea of increasing water conservation and water recycling through use of the State Water Project property tax in areas like Mountain View and Palo Alto, which are places that receive little water from the State Water Project. I strongly disagree with the idea of removing the property tax, an action providing little benefit except to the wealthiest, one that isolates North County water systems, and one that can actually reduce water conservation and hinder water recycling. My solutions help instead of harm.

Another major approach for our future that I am emphasizing is the potable/drinkable reuse of wastewater. This is "astronaut water" like they use on the International Space Station, and it's been done for years in Orange County, Singapore, and elsewhere. We can get half or more of water supply from this local, drought-proof source, and have built much of the needed infrastructure in San Jose. I've drunk this water myself. By educating ourselves and using this water only when communities accept it, we can respond to this drought on a long-term basis in a way that balances the needs of the entire community.

4. What is your evaluation of the financial condition of the Water District and how would you ensure that maintenance of infrastructure remains a District priority?

The Water District is in strong financial condition due to better maintenance of of physical infrastructure compared to the other water wholesaler in our County, the San Francisco PUC system. Thirty years ago, SFPUC and our water cost the same, but now their water costs much more, because we did a better job of timely maintenance.

Other factors play an important role in the current, strong financial condition:

1. Voter approval by 74% vote in 2012 of the Safe Clean Water Measure B, providing stable funding for water supply, flood protection, and environmental restoration of streams and the Bay. I played a leading role in the Measure and helped secure environmental funding and support.

2. Employee payroll reductions through elimination of over 100 positions down to a headcount of 730, done without layoffs. Also employees are now paying for part of their medical costs.

3. Reform and reduction of the planning and design costs relative to construction costs - I pointed this out as being a problem in 2011 and it was verified in a subsequent audit. These costs have been reduced, allowing us to deliver more for the same amount of money.

Continuing all this will keep the infrastructure in strong condition. Two of our three water treatment plants have finished major, 50-year renovations recently and we're nearly ready to renovate the third. We are in good shape for future years.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 1, 2014 21:32
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