Water District's Spurious 'Ad Hoc' Committee Pushes Billion-Dollar Desal Project

Note: The Surf City Voice website was destroyed by hackers in December, 2019 and is under reconstruction. This story was first published June 5, 2018 under the headline "Orange County Water District's Poseidon Obsession: "Spurious 'Ad Hoc' Committee Pushes Billion-Dollar Desal Project."

By John Earl

Surf City Voice

California law says that the Orange County Water District, which manages the Orange County Groundwater Basin, belongs to the 2.4 million people who live in its service area.

But some of the District’s 10 board members act like it’s all theirs.

The Brown Act, which protects the people’s right to check and address their local government agencies, would have them act otherwise.

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they …