KEEPING THAT AGGIE GRASS GREEN … the official UC Davis colors may be Blue and Gold, but the lawns on campus will remain decidedly green after UCD exercised its option to join the Woodland-Davis surface water project for $20 million … clearly, this is something UC Davis has the right to do and its timing is perfect … let others build the lemonade stand with all the cost, red tape and potential for failure such a venture involves, then jump on board once the stand is up and running and about to serve lemonade … no one said the folks in Mrak Hall weren’t smart … go Ags …

HAPPINESS ALL AROUND … oddly, despite daily dire predictions about the lack of adequate water and an official drumbeat telling us to “conserve, conserve, conserve,” the current mayor and the former mayor are hailing the prospect of UC Davis siphoning off a substantial number of gallons of Davis’ share of the surface water project … “It’s great news,” said Mayor Dan Wolk … “I don’t think (UCD) would be jumping into a project that wasn’t good. It’s just been a good week for water.” …

Indeed, the folks at UC Davis know what they’re doing … they would never jump in with both feet until and unless it had been approved by 400 committees and at least 14 vice chancellors … of course, what’s a good deal for one side is not necessarily a good deal for the other … only time will tell if the city of Davis will miss all that water it happily sent UC Davis’ way …

Added Mayor Emeritus Joe Krovoza: “The beauty and elegance of the UC Davis decision is that now the major users of Yolo County groundwater are involved in the surface water project.” … well, with all due respect to beauty and elegance, I was under the impression we needed every precious drop of water we could wring out of this project that soon will triple our water rates … but if the mayor says it’s a good week for water and the former mayor says it’s a good week for water, well, I guess we should all be dancing in the street …

WATER FOR SALE, GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT … when the surface water project starts delivering Sacramento River water to local taps, Woodland has dibs on 18 million gallons a day, while the city of Davis is slated for 12 millions gallons a day … (Woodland residents apparently have bigger bathtubs than we do) … with UC Davis now in the picture, the campus will lay claim to 6 percent of the project’s water, which doesn’t sound like a big deal until you read the fine print and realize that all of UC Davis’ allotment will come from Davis’ 40 percent share of the project’s water …

For the mathematically challenged, that 6 percent of the project’s output means UC Davis actually will be receiving 15 percent of Davis’ portion of that coveted river water we will all be paying so dearly for … given that there’s supposedly a severe shortage of water out there, it’s hard to understand why city officials are so positively giddy about the prospect of allowing UC Davis to take 1.8 million gallons of water a day while dropping the city of Davis’ allotment to 10.2 million gallons a day …

Forget the amount of cash changing hands, I thought we entered into this project to bring the town more water, not more money … I don’t know about you, but since we now apparently have water to burn — or at least to sell — I plan to turn on the sprinklers, pour myself an extra-tall glass of pure Davis well water, and take a long, relaxing shower … who knows, I may even flush the toilet …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

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