Fix county's water systems

County commissioners voted 4-1 against consolidating Douglas County's eight water systems on Thursday.

Commissioners said they didn't think the timing was right to raise fees on water users for some water systems in order to fund solutions for other systems with real problems. But they didn't offer an alternative, either.

We believe that means the issue will return. There may be some consolation to the folks living in the East Valley Water System, whose water rates would have been increased by an average of $25 a month.

The real issue is what will happen in Job's Peak Ranch, where only 55 of more than 120 approved homes were built.

Ironically, it was construction of a water system at Job's Peak Ranch that was one of the arguments in favor of its approval.

The county hoped the new system would be able to serve Sheridan Acres, fixing a longstanding issue with that water system. When the water coming out of Job's Peaks' wells turned out to be literally carbonated, and the bottom dropped out of the real estate market, the fix exacerbated the problem.

Now with the prospect of water bills going sky high, there won't be many takers for lots in the remaining half of the development, further increasing the load on the remaining 55 owners.

We believe that some form of consolidation will return. Maybe it won't include Lake Tahoe, which was an option when this process began maybe it won't include East or West Valley's water systems.

But whatever the solution, the problem is still there.