Theron Sanders Sr.: Atwater loses its grip on water reductions

Atwater’s leaders are all over the place when it comes to our water storage. First, they pontificate on the seriousness of scarce water, then they shoot themselves in the foot by granting the local high school carte blanch water use. At the same time, their water cop prowls residential streets at 2 a.m., in search of violators to ticket.

The main issue is that the lush green grass at Atwater High School is in stark contrast to the parched yellow grass at every other school in the city. Now it becomes a certainty that with the high school having unlimited use of water, Atwater will fail to meet the 36 percent water reduction required by the state, resulting in a daily fine of $10,000. This shows how futile it is to expect city hall to act in a responsible manner.

How can our water crisis be solved when the city manager, city council and the water cop all act like feral cats, going in different directions? It seems the city council focuses on reelection. The city manager acts like his main job is to keep his job, and Atwater High wants what it wants, when it wants it.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Theron Sanders Sr.: Atwater loses its grip on water reductions."