Public Water, Now?
Well, they're back! A local group of activists called Public Water Now thinks that doing the same thing over again will have a different result. That thing involves yet another ballot measure asking Monterey Peninsula voters if we want to buy out the privately owned local water company, California-American Water (Cal-Am), and turn it into a publicly owned utility. After two failed attempts in recent years, PWN seems to think this time will be different. They may have a point. In the two years since their last attempt, Measure O, failed, Cal-Am took Peninsula ratepayers for a ride with a wholly unethical rate increase. During the drought Peninsula water customers did their best to conserve water, resulting in less water passing through our water meters which in turn resulted in less money flowing into Cal-Am's bottom line. Cal-Am never claimed that they were losing money, but they did argue before the California Public Utilities Commission that their profits were not as