" I don't like this at all. This is the problem with bottled water companies. They take our water and then sell it back to us at 100 times the cost. And how can it have no affect on the wells and aquifers? I would think that any amount of water being taken out would have some affect. "

" "Every month 30,000 people are entering California and not one of them brings a gallon of water." California Governoer Earl Warren spoke these words at the start of the Lake Berryessa project on September 25, 1953. Summary As a follow-up to the 2002- 2003 Grand Jury investigation on water utilization in Napa County, the 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury focused on the degree to which the County and its water districts are prepared to deal with infrastructure and population growth, drought and other natural disasters, and recycled water utilization. The Grand Jury also looked at service and cost differences between larger and smaller water districts. Napa County’s water issues can be characterized as follows: ¯ Demand continues to increase as the County’s population grows. ¯ A prolonged drought could reduce supply below the level required to meet demand. ¯ Water needed to fight major forest fires could temporarily exhaust local water supplies. ¯ Recycled water utilization is limited to agricultural and recreational uses. ¯ Excepting the Milliken-Sarco-Tulocay (M -S-T) Creeks area, supply adequate to meet current demand. There is little or no reserve capacity. ¯ A major earthquake could wreak havoc with the water pipeline infrastructure. ¯ Capacity for delivering water along the valley floor is constrained by pipeline capacity and allocation. The Grand Jury concluded the following: ¯ Extending the use of recycled water is the best method to meet some of the ongoing water needs of Napa County. ¯ The smaller water districts are at a severe disadvantage in their ability to meet the needs of an increasing population. ¯ Water users in the M-S-T Creeks area need immediate assistance. Now 5 years after these Grand Jury recommendations, the City proposes to allow commercial use of this water for profit by a company; to be drunk by people outside of Napa County—before using this water for its residents in the adjacent M-S-T area. Just last week we were told that the State is cutting back on its water supplies to the County. So how can anyone in good conscience think that such commercial use of our precious water is acceptable and will have little impact? What has the County and City done to facilitate the use of the surplus recycled water that is currently discharged into the River? Where is the comprehensive plan needed to protect our citizens? "

" Water from under Napa Pipe Lands... get your effervescent sludge now :/. I imagine after construction starts down there, it might get even tastier. "

" The 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury focused on the degree to which the County and its water districts are prepared to deal with infrastructure and population growth, drought and other natural disasters, and recycled water utilization. Napa County’s water issues can be characterized as follows: ¯ Demand continues to increase as the County’s population grows. ¯ A prolonged drought could reduce supply below the level required to meet demand. ¯ Water needed to fight major forest fires could temporarily exhaust local water supplies. ¯ Recycled water utilization is limited to agricultural and recreational uses. ¯ Excepting the Milliken-Sarco-Tulocay (M -S-T) Creeks area, supply adequate to meet current demand. There is little or no reserve capacity. ¯ A major earthquake could wreak havoc with the water pipeline infrastructure. ¯ Capacity for delivering water along the valley floor is constrained by pipeline capacity and allocation. The Grand Jury concluded the following: ¯ Extending the use of recycled water is the best method to meet some of the ongoing water needs of Napa County. ¯ The smaller water districts are at a severe disadvantage in their ability to meet the needs of an increasing population. ¯ Water users in the M-S-T Creeks area need immediate assistance. Now 5 years after these Grand Jury recommendations, the City proposes to allow commercial use of this water for profit by a company; to be drunk by people outside of Napa County—before using this water for its residents in the adjacent M-S-T area. Just last week we were told that the State is cutting back on its water supplies to the County. So how can anyone in good conscience think that such commercial use of our precious water is acceptable and will have little impact? What has the County and City done to facilitate the use of the surplus recycled water that is currently discharged into the River? Where is the comprehensive plan needed to protect our citizens? "

" What would Napa's water taste like without the tang provided by a healthy dose of copper sulfate? Hmmm. Perhaps I'll have to get out my #3 key shovel and start digging for "liquid gold" in my backyard. "

" Anybody who thinks a water deal in Napa will have little impact ought to explore what is happening in McCloud, California, where the town's relationship with Nestle, Inc. has caused some controversy. How much $$$ will Calistoga be kicking to the City of Napa? "

" More damn tanker trucks on 29. Oh boy. Why can't the bottle it in Napa City? "

" Crystal Geyser "declined to identify" their current source. Sure they did, because they truck it in from Sonoma County and they don't want anybody to know that. Sort of like the wineries that truck in their grapes from the central valley and sell the wine as a "Napa Valley" product. Crystal Geyser should move their entire operation to Napa. Calistoga already has Calistoga Mineral Water. "

" Once again we have an article without some real meat. So, let's put this story into some numbers we can all understand, then stand back and ask the question, "who is really benefiting from water that we all have a right to?" 100 acre-feet are equivalent to 32,585,143 gallons, which is 123,348,143 liters, or 246,696,286 half-liter bottles (500ml). Sold individually for $1 a 500ml bottle, you are looking at $246 million for this water. Sold by the 24-bottle case for between $3.99 and $5.99, you are looking at between $41 million and $61.5 million... minus pumping, trucking, bottling and shipping costs. Crystal Geyser stands to profit hugely from a basically free natural resource that we all rely on everyday to continue basic human life. How much is Napa County profiting by allowing Crystal Geyser to pump out something that is a public right, then selling it back to us the public, for a huge profit? Our tax dollars and monthly payments to the City of Napa should ensure that we receive safe, clean drinking water in our homes. How are we benefiting by paying Crystal Geyser an inflated price for something that Napa County should be delivering to our faucets? Juliana Inman must obviously not remember the uproar created when the Carneros Inn was being built, about where they were going to get their water? Only 1 percent of the world’s water is available for drinking. Fresh water is a scarce resource that should be conserved and used sparingly, not sold to the highest bidder. 1 in 5 people in the world are without access to fresh drinking water... wake up Juliana! "

" I didn't care to read the comments below. But did anyone consider that the Napa Sanatation department is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to where they plan on exracting water? Kennedy Park also received their water to water the golf course from recycled gray water from the sanatation department. What Human Resorce department is hiring these people? "

" Dollars and Sense: You make a good point that the big company will win big again. The one thing I will say is this, just because you have water on your property does not mean you own the water rights. It is the state water resources right to that water. If the city has tested the water and it proves to be good water then the city should tap into it for future city uses and say thank you to Crystal Geyser for finding this precious resource for us. "

" Doesn't this set a precedent so that each and every person in the City can start a water drilling and trucking operation? I thought that I heard that these guys were already unanimously shut down by the planning committee and now the city council is going to give them the green light. Something smells a little fishy here. Maybe part of the deal is that all city officials get a unlimited free supply of napa pipe calistoga bubbly. "