Letter: Don't lose chance to get surface water

I have Hillcrest water (ground water) and I hate it. It tastes gross. It’s ultra-hard. Sometimes it’s brown.

My parents have “city water” (surface water). They converted from private well water. They paid a hook-up fee when they converted, but are pleased with the water. They no longer need a water softener, and the water tastes fine.

Hillcrest water users now have the same opportunity to hook-up to surface water. The hook-up fee will cost $19.80 a month for us without water meters, and $17 a month for those with meters. These fees are fixed and will last 20 years.

Metered surface water costs with the surcharge should average $45 a month.

There are petitioners protesting the surface water hook-up fee. A signature on the petition protests not only the fee, but the hook-up itself.

Other people, such as my parents and my friends in Tierra Buena, have already paid to hook-up to surface water. It is unfair to ask them to pay again.

If 51 percent of Hillcrest homeowners sign protests, we will lose our chance at surface water.  Since the city is already losing money with groundwater upkeep, it will sell the system to a private company. Water meters will still be installed, due to state mandate.

The arsenic and nitrate problems will have to be fixed due to federal mandate. Our bills will probably be more than $45 a  month – for the same nasty, ultra-hard water.

If you have signed a petition, please retract. The deadline is Monday.

Elaine Jessee
Yuba City