[Vision2020] Unfunded Water Liability was re: Water-Mart

[Nils Peterson]

On 5/2/06 4:09 PM, "deaconjames at verizon.net" wrote:

So I read this in the paper today: „Diane French of the Palouse Water  
Conservation District said retail development at the proposed scale  
would increase water use in Moscow by about 7.6 percent, a violation  
of the 1 percent annual growth limit.‰

Is this true? 7.6%? That figure seems awfully high. I don‚t see how a  
Super Wal-Mart would use too much more water than the regular Wal- 
Mart we already have, and Icertainly can‚t see it using 1/13th of the  
total water consumed in Moscow.

--
I believe that this figure was based on the Developer's proposal,  
where they chose to describe a full build-out at 1.5 million sq ft of  
retail and named the amount of water that would require. You might  
check this PDF from the developer, submitted Jan 26  http:// 
www.nosuperwalmart.com/pdfs/AppforRezone.pdf , look at page 6 for the  
numbers.

More interesting in Diane's testimony, and easy to lose in the list  
of numbers she read was a concept: Unfunded Water Liability.  The  
idea is that there are unbuilt lots in the city (annexed, zoned,  
platted, and ready to be built) that are each entitled to hook to  
city utilities with no further review other than a building permit.

Diane examined the residential lots, because the water use of the  
unbuilt commercial lots is harder to predict (compare restaurant to  
auto parts store for possible water demand). Counting the unbuilt  
residential lots, and examining the zoning for each lot, Diane's  
report computed the water that those lots could claim -- the  
"unfunded liability"

Those on this list who like to problemitize things will enjoy  
thinking about Diane's data being based on the most recent tax data,  
which might miss buildings now under construction, lots that have  
been created since the last tax update, lots that are underbuilt  
relative to their zoning (eg one residence on an R4), and other  
problems with getting perfect data.

But, problems aside, Diane found 19% unfunded water demand from those  
residential lots. Look for Diane's testimony to be posted here soon:  
http://nosuperwalmart.com

Now, dear reader, return to our previous water discussion. Consider  
the options we have to secure that water: Lake Carscallen,  
pressurized irrigation, grey water reclamation, and conservation. In  
that former conversation, the conservation options included ideas  
like securing water for new development by retrofitting existing  
wasteful water appliances elsewhere.

What shall we do to address this problem?


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