Behind these and all other debates looms the question of how to protect and sustain the quality and supply of water. More development means more jobs and consequently more money for an area hit hard in the recent nation-wide recession. It also means more people and the subsequent need for more housing, educational facilities and roads, requiring money, land and water, in turn affecting agricultural land prices and the desirability of this area as a tourist destination, and on and on. In matters of the natural environment, all issues are crossover ones. Monterey County is environmentally diverse.
Water is the most critical commodity to assure our community's quality of life.
Preservation of the diversity of species is a highly accepted value. This county embraces the restoration of species from the successful restoration of the bald eagle to the Central Coast to the preservation of the sand gila. We in Monterey County are in an environmentally good place for the future. These two projects are finally coming on-line as a result of many years of people talking about seawater intrusion. I'm very concerned about water, both salt water intrusion and lack of water.