Laguna Beach & Santa Margarita Water Districts: There's No Comparison

Is Laguna Beach CA the most water wise American city?

The facts contradict that claim and reflect otherwise.

My hometown of Laguna Beach is attempting to win the annual National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, an unprecedented 4th straight year for the competition.

Winners from 2020—2022 in cities with under 25,000 residents, the official reports don’t line up, aren’t in accord with usage reality. The alternate facts alleged to procure the conservation crown aren’t sustained by our own formal State filings.

Nothing could be more classic dissembling and governmental promulgation of outright mendacity, slick glossy propaganda, than this water use-related, voluntary pledge campaign.

Like New Year’s resolutions, only about 10% of any population sample adhere to such pledges by the end of any given year.

OC Register’s investigative journalist Teri Sforza’s August 2022 column “Who Are OC ‘s Biggest Water Savers or Wasters?” peeled back the curtain (albeit inadvertently) on the hypocrisy that my hometown exhibits year, after year, after year. [1]

Inexplicably, no one at the Challenge competition judging positions apparently compares the usage reality, the results to the promised land, pollyanna pledges. Another feel-good marketing ploy with no scientific cross-referencing to debunk and de-mythologize these shallow, warm and definitely fuzzy kudos.

Pretentious Laguna, "all show, no go" according to stats self-reported by our water district to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), was in the bottom 1/3 of OC’s 24 water utilities from 2020---2022.

Bluff and blusterous Laguna wasn’t even close to being the #1 water conservation achiever in the OC while boastfully parading itself around. One thing the competition doesn't address is a simple fact: Though having millions of $$$ in surplus every year, our leaders are disinterested in earmarking that money for our water systems. We just fix things as they go broken, put bandaids over them while awaiting the next catastrophe.

Already very well paid, all mid to upper level staff get automatic 5% bonuses disguised as exceptional performance incentives---for doing nothing more than their jobs. This is the City Manager's stealthy way of controlling them.

One city very high on the waster list (#3, see OCR graphic above) that has turned it around since 2020 is San Juan Capistrano (SJC). Both its water delivery and wastewater systems were in disrepair, dilapidated, antiquated. They suffered from years of deferred maintenance, and truth be told, previous neglectful councils and management that always seemed to find other priorities.

To the rescue came innovation personified, Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD), who through formal contractual annexation agreements with a seller-motivated SJC eventually became owners and operators after the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) certified the completion of the transfer in August of 2021.

As I write, according to the same data stream reporting that Ms. Sforza cited, SJC is closing in on Poseur Laguna. A supposed +7.9% waster from June 2020 to June 2022, SMWD has begun turning SJC around in the other direction to the tune of ≈12.3% in the past year, hence now about -4.4%.

One of SMWD’s rock star endeavors, its July 2022 "Drought Outreach & Program Response Plan," really only in its nascent phase, is just the beginning regarding use reduction efforts and accomplishments. The 2020 baseline is now in the rearview mirror and rapidly receding.

This dramatic shift has been accomplished via a resourceful, dedicated staff, in parallel with SMWD’s assertive rehabilitation, retrofitting and modernization of SJC’s water utilities (drinking, recycled and waste system) as a backdrop.

SMWD’s General Manager, Dan Ferons, is, btw, not just any leader. He’s hired (or promoted from within) outstanding staff. He’s worked at the District for over 35 years and been GM for a little over a decade.

SMWD has been a legitimate perennial winner in open governance and transparency on his watch.

Dan came up through the ranks and is an award-winning engineer himself, including the coveted, prestigious American Society of Civil Engineers (Outstanding CE in Government), Los Angeles Section Annual Award in 2013. [2]

To me, as an outside observer, Dan's personal style can perhaps be summed up as: “Don’t just BE the smartest person in the room. Hire the brainiest and most creative to help the District conscientiously get where it wants to go and remain there industry-wise. Tops.”

Overseeing management at SMWD is a savvy and alert Board of Directors. I’ve watched a few of the marathon budget workshops in an attempt to understand something often esoteric and cloaked to me. The BOD keeps an especially tight grip on finances, treats both current expenditures and future, Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) as if it were their own money being disbursed.

This is what responsibility and accountability when coupled looks like. When I don’t understand something (which happens unfortunately all too often to a Liberal Arts major), I write or call the staff contact point and post haste get responses.

This friendly public access methodology is part of SMWD’s stated dedication to industry leadership, undoubtably part and parcel regarding its deserved numerous awards. Staff aren’t paranoid or suspicious (yeah you, Laguna), always personable and civil.

Unlike Laguna, or for a few other public agencies I won’t mention, I’ve NEVER had to fill out a California Public Record Act request (Cali’s version of the federal Freedom of Information Act) to acquire data.

Getting info from my own hometown of 52 years, Laguna, is frustrating and difficult, the proverbial “like pulling teeth” process. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a hostile "Why do you want to know?"

Am I envious, jealous of cities that SMWD serves, upset that my town constantly under-performs, fights disclosure? Damn right I am. I hold my home town to the highest of standards. "Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there." Poet/writer Gary Snyder

Laguna wins a few hokey, chintzy, non-peer-reviewed awards that are “all hat and no cattle,” superficial and let’s face it, has a borderline baseless water use image while others (like SMWD) go quietly about their daily business as embedded in their mission statement. [3]

I’m posting this in Laguna Beach Patch, but the general public might want to browse not just their provider but other SOC districts and compare, view their programs.

As water becomes more of a hot button topic, don’t let your interest and curiosity stop with the end of our rainy season.

[1] https://www.ocregister.com/202...

[2] https://mailchi.mp/smwd/virtua...

[3] https://www.smwd.com/306/Your-...

About the author:

Roger E. Bütow is a retired general contractor and prolific journalist who founded his eco-protection watchdog NGO, Clean Water Now, in 1998. http://www.clean-water-now.org

He’s currently a free-lance professional land use consultant and environmental compliance advisor specializing in water-related issues.

His expertise and contact information can be viewed at LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com

He has resided in his home town of Laguna Beach since 1972.