Your Local Tax Dollars in Action

You probably don't know about the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, but your tax dollars do. This government entity deals with many important issues relating to water throughout our region. It is one of many "special districts"in California—local government agencies with a narrow focus on a specific issue. There are many upsides to creating such agencies—one of the many downsides is that in many cases no one really keeps an eye on what they do. In any event, the SGVMWD board meets tonight—check out their agenda here. Thanks to the city of Arcadia for sending me an email about the SGVMWD's free water management class:

The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District is offering a free Water Efficient Management Course for landscape management professionals and serious garden enthusiasts. Classes will meet on January 10, 17, 24, 31 and on February 7, 2007 from 6:00-9:30pm at the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupation Technical Center located at 1501 Del Norte in West Covina. Seating is limited and spaces are filled on a first come, first served basis. Please call the Upper District at 443-2298 to make a reservation for any or all of the classes.

Class topics are as follows:

January 10 - Irrigation System Troubleshooting
January 17 - Controller Programming
January 24 - Irrigation Scheduling
January 31 - Plant Identification Part I
February 7 - Plant Identification Part 2

Classes feature hands-on training, field demonstration exercises and…refreshments.

I personally would have no problem if they opted to save even more water by spending some of our taxes to make some of these "refreshments" alcoholic for the benefit of all concerned, but I digress.