Swanson: Water merger: Law without democracy

Thanks to The Signal for its editorial last week on the water merger bill, Senate Bill 634.

I recently moved into the Newhall County Water District area, and was not following the merger that closely before, but I have real concerns with it now.

1. I don’t understand how a publicly owned water district can be dissolved without giving the people in it a chance to vote on whether they want it dissolved or not. Who determined that? Where is the democracy?
2. I have found in my lifetime that bigger is never better. Big banks, big pharma, big oil, these are not better. These have led to an increase in costs and a loss of safeguards for the public.

How is a big water monopoly controlling all the water in the Santa Clarita Valley – where it goes and how much it costs – going to be better?

I think it is not. To quote the Bard, “What is the city but the people?”

Alas, have we learned nothing in all this time?

Valerie Swanson
Newhall