City Council and SSA work to sustain local water

Natasha MunasingheStaff WriterAs the Santa Monica City Council adopted the Sustainable Water Master Plan (SWMP), the goal of which is to have water self-sufficiency by the year 2020, the Samohi Solar Alliance (SSA) is working to improve water sustainability on campus.According to City Council member Kevin McKeown, the SWMP was passed in order to make Santa Monica a more environmentally friendly city and will cost Santa Monica an approximated $871,856.“During my time on the City Council we successfully sued a number of big oil companies for having leaked a contaminant into our groundwater supply,” McKeown said. “With the settlement, we built reclamation facilities that restored the fresh water, and [this] let us reduce our dependence on water brought in from the Colorado River and Northern California through the Metropolitan Water District.”According to McKeown, Santa Monica has the capability to fulfill about 70 percent of its water needs through local fresh water. McKeown said that the City Council hopes all of Santa Monica’s water will eventually come from local sources.“Imported water is becoming more expensive,” McKeown said. “Pumping water long distances takes large amounts of energy, so when energy costs go up, so do the costs of water. Looking forward to 2020, our local groundwater is projected to cost less than half [of] what we’ll have to pay for outside water.”According to an article in the Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica will look towards new sources of water like ground water, storm water, gray water and reuse.SSA member Daniel Milton (’15) said he supports the City Council’s decision to become locally water dependent.“It’s fantastic that Santa Monica is trying to keep the water we buy local. We don’t want to be dependent on other states for our water, the same way we don’t want to be dependent on out of state or country produce,” Milton said. “A great deal of the world, especially developing third-world countries, don’t have access to clean water while we here are extremely wasteful with our water.”McKeown said the new plan will not have a negative effect on Santa Monica residents.“We can become water self-sufficient, economically and without any wrenching changes in local lifestyle,” McKeown said. “We can do this by decreasing demand and increasing local water production and retention.”According to McKeown, the plan will not affect Samo’s water supply because the school is under the jurisdiction of Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and not the Santa Monica local government. However, McKeown said there are many ways Samo can become water independent.“I’ve been very gratified by the significant increases in cooperation between our separate public entities on environmental matters, particularly in recent years under the current SMMUSD School Board,” McKeown said. “Just as we have worked together on energy, recycling and transportation issues, I’m sure we’ll be eager partners in water independence. For Samo, that may mean increased awareness and sensitivity to water consumption, including that used for landscaping and other outdoor uses.”According to Milton, SSA is trying to make Samo more frugal when it comes to water consumption.“We at SSA definitely support water conservation,” Milton said. “The urinals at Samo are waterless and save a lot of water and money. Hopefully something else like this could be implemented as well, nothing too drastic but still saving water and money.”nmunasinghe@thesamohi.com