Dan Masnada: Scare tactics and water merger

Proposed districts if the consolidation of Castaic Lake Water Agency and the Newhall County Water District are finalized via legislation.
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It’s unfortunate that Dr. Gene Dorio has chosen to engage in shameful scare tactics to garner support for his opposition to both the Chiquita Canyon Landfill expansion and the Castaic Lake Water Agency/Newhall County Water District merger (“Avoid ‘Love Triangle’ of Support,” June 6 in The Signal).

His commentary is a conglomeration of incorrect conclusions and unfounded speculation.

First, Chiquita Canyon is not the second coming of Love Canal, as Dorio “fears,” and is not contaminating our local groundwater supply. It never has over the four decades it has been in operation. And continued monitoring of groundwater quality will ensure it never becomes an issue.

Second, the so-called violation Dorio cites in the 2016 SCV Water Quality Report was procedural in nature and not a water quality incident in any respect. In other words, he was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Third, Dorio expressed his concern that the water merger “…would put control of water in the hands of an elected board of directors” and that campaign contributions could affect (director) votes and “…divert water…from citizens to developers.”

Apparently, he doesn’t understand or forgot that Castaic Lake Water Agency and Newhall County Water District are already, as he puts it, in the hands of elected directors. And more to the point, those directors are the same ones that will constitute the board of the merged water entity.

And even more to the point, those same directors have historically exercised their public trust responsibilities in a manner that has provided water to all their customers, both equitably and reliably.

There are more mischaracterizations, all in a vain attempt to draw a connection between the landfill expansion and the water merger, portraying it as a “Love Triangle” that “…could potentially produce a health-care disaster.”

Potential disaster – pretty strong words from a doctor implying a likely catastrophe. I wonder if Dorio plays it this fast and loose when it comes to treating his patients who expect straight talk and solid diagnoses, not wild guesses and groundless innuendo.

 

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