Trust is key to water decision

My name is Will Arnold and I am a Davis resident since birth. For the record, I am the campaign manager for Yes on Clean Water for Davis, the committee in support of a yes vote on Measure I.

When I was asked to run the campaign, I was aware of the tremendous amount of work our city leaders and community members had put into studying the project and recommending the best path forward. What I did not know is how much I would personally learn about our community’s water issues.

Prior to the campaign, I was relatively unfamiliar with the state of our well system, federal clean water guidelines, or the work being done to address these issues. But since then, I have learned a great deal.

Did you know that in his 1973 State of the City address, Mayor Maynard Skinner first proposed that Davis look into acquiring water from the Sacramento River?

Did you know that Davis and Woodland are the only two cities in the Sacramento Valley region larger than 20,000 people that still rely 100 percent on underground water?

Did you know that the water in our deep aquifer is between 6,000 and 8,000 years old?

I mention these facts to emphasize that providing clean, reliable water to our community is an incredibly complex issue, one that requires time and, in some cases, expertise to fully understand.

As with any issue this complex, one’s decision often boils down to a matter of trust. Both campaigns have asked the question “whom do you trust?,” and I again ask it here.

Among the yes side you have every local elected official, including Congressman John Garamendi, state Sen. Lois Wolk, and a unanimous Davis City Council, Board of Education and Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Also supporting a yes vote are all three local newspapers (The Davis Enterprise, the Sacramento Bee and The California Aggie), the vast majority of our citizens’ Water Advisory Committee, and a host of UC Davis water experts.

Among the no side you have Sue Greenwald, Mike Harrington and the Yolo County Taxpayers Association.

So I ask again: Whom do you trust?

Will Arnold

Davis