Members of the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District are glad to read that The Bee acknowledges that science should drive policy concerning the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We have been advocating the same point for years with little traction.
For too long, the district's efforts to define its role in the debate and respond to inflammatory and unsubstantiated claims were met with a serious lack of interest or, even worse, skepticism. Now, we're encouraged that the facts about the Delta debate are reaching a larger audience.
Unfortunately, The Bee's editorial took us to task for hiring a public relations firm to counter the well-funded, aggressive misinformation campaign being waged by state water contractors. As an organization of mostly engineers, technical and operational experts, we're in unfamiliar political territory and inexperienced at telling our story in that arena. But too much is at stake for Sacramento for us to just sit back and allow others to create a political environment that forces Sacramento ratepayers to subsidize water infrastructure and treatment for other parts of the state.
The Bee's editorial challenges all parties to be more proactive. In fact, over the years, the district has invested millions of dollars in water quality research for the Sacramento River watershed. We were instrumental in creating the Sacramento River Watershed Program and secured several grants to fund the Sacramento River Toxic Pollutant Control Program.
We have long promoted the need for more research to determine the actual impact of our discharge on Delta species and are supporting the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's current efforts to conduct the only definitive, relevant research on ammonia. We stand ready to participate in efforts to understand and sustain the Delta ecosystem.
Mary K. Snyder, district engineer for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, is responding to the Dec. 31 editorial "A half-million on spin, not science / Public relations is no substitute for research on ammonia in Delta."