Whenever you turn on your sink to fill a glass, you can’t avoid the small frown that graces your face when you see the clouded water that pours out. However, that frown pales to the outright grimace you experience when the water actually touches your taste buds. Living in Davis has made some of us buy stock in Brita.
Luckily for us, and our taste buds, the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency is well on its way to getting approval for the proposed Surface Water Project. All you need to do is vote yes on Measure I on Mar. 5. If passed, the project would replace the groundwater that currently supplies Davis with treated water from the Sacramento River.
Stop the presses! This project will cause an increase in rent, furthering the financial burden on college students. While the actual rent increase is at the landlords’ discretion, everyone can expect to pay slightly more.
But let’s think about cost for a minute. The current water quality in Davis has led people to buy all sorts of water filters for their homes. Brita pitchers can cost upwards of $40, and the replacements filters, depending on how many people are using them, can cost nearly $20 per month.
This Surface Water Project is worth supporting. As the population in the area increases, the new project will provide a new source of clean, treated water. Furthermore, the project will drastically improve the quality of water reaching our homes, and will even improve the quality of treated wastewater.
Residents will not need to fork over money for expensive water filters, and just think of all that extra room you will have in your fridge once you don’t need that massive Brita pitcher anymore…
Here at The Aggie, we dream of a time when we can flush our fish down the toilet, and they will have clean, healthy water to live in and grow strong in. Is that too much to ask? (But seriously, don’t do that. Flushed fish that survive can become highly invasive to natural ecosystems.)
