Water issue entire county's responsibility

EDITOR:

I have been to several recent meetings in which the subject of water consolidation became a hot topic. Because I live in Job's Peak, many who oppose the proposed consolidation characterize me as rich, claiming that my financial status should play a role in rejecting the county's plan. In actuality, I and most of my neighbors in Job's Peak have worked just as hard as anyone else to provide for our "later" years. We live on fixed incomes that cannot accommodate $600-plus water bills (the base amount the county estimates Job's Peak households would be), and our resources have been severely reduced by our country's woes.

But I am not asking for sympathy - or a "hand out." The fact that several of the problem districts concern more valuable properties is irrelevant to the core issue. Unless we are adopting a "to each according to his need" philosophy, sorting out just who should rightly be left "holding the bag" is the big question, a question that should be answered by considering who's responsible for the problem, not speculating on who's got the most money in the bank.

Over many years, Douglas County officials have allowed developers to build inadequate water systems. The homebuyers in these developments relied on county oversight, as that is the proper and expected role of the county. Why the county did not force the developers to meet their obligations is a mystery (although corruption comes to mind). I suspect that because these systems were "enterprise systems," the players contemplated dumping any future "fix-it" costs on clueless homebuyers. Keep in mind that the homebuyers weren't "clueless" out of a lack of due diligence. They justifiably relied on the word of the county that their water systems were fine and dandy.

And just who are those officials who made those representations? They are elected officials or hirelings who are long gone - even dead. And those developers? Most have disappeared, died, or gone bankrupt. Who, then, can be held accountable for making sure everyone involved has healthy and sufficient water? Plainly, it's the county. The county represented to every homebuyer that the house he or she was purchasing came with an approved water system. And it is the county that botched its chance to make the developers pay when it let them off the hook. The county must now take responsibility for its mistakes and/or misdeeds.

But who is "the county?" Anyone who lives in Douglas County, rich or poor, that's who. The truism that "elections have consequences," applies. County residents - not just those who unknowingly bought houses with deficient water systems - elected officials year after year who, for unknown reasons, permitted developers to produce substandard water systems. Thus, one way or another, county residents should bear the burden of fixing those systems.

The proposed consolidation is the most cost-effective, feasible way of accomplishing that fair and equitable goal. Opposing it aids and abets a wrong.

Virginia Starrett

Job's Peak Ranch