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From:Mark Ang. <br />To:Kelaher, Selena <br />Subject:2525 Main <br />Date:Thursday, October 24, 2019 1:59:12 PM <br />Hello Selena, this letter is for both the Planning Commission and the City Council if you <br />would be so kind as to relay it to them. <br />To the Planning commission and the city Council, <br />There is an old saying that just because you CAN do something, it may not always be wise to <br />DO it. <br />Here is a story recently found in the Times. Earlier this century, someone thought that it <br />would be a good idea to int produce a small herd of bison to the Grand Canyon National Park. <br />Well, they thrived and eventually decimated the surrounding water supplies due to the bison <br />having few natural enemies. Being in a National Park, they were not allowed to be hunted to <br />thin the herd. So the Park Service tried to build fences around the watering areas. Wel, the <br />bison jhust knocked them down. <br />The allegory here is that when you disturb the natural balance of things, it is not always good. <br />My platform for opposing the 2525 apartments has been all along that we do not have the <br />water resources to allow unlimited building of the size that we are seeing being built. We <br />recently came out of an extended drought and all of a sudden, it is "party on"! <br />I understand that the stat e mandates this and that and they want more dwelling units, but they <br />have no helped by increasing water to our region. Of course, you could line both sides of <br />Main street with apartments from one end to the other but what will happen if there is another <br />drought next year. <br />I recently met with councilman Sarmiento and presented him with an article from USA Today <br />which stated that very quietly, the states of Colorado, Nevada and the government of Mexico <br />signed papers agreeing to limit the amount of water that was entitled to them from the <br />Colorado River. California had agreed to sign as well if necessary. This is due to the fact that <br />Lake Mead is not even 50% full after the drought. I believe that this was done quietly as Mr. <br />Sarmiento, who is also the president of the Orange County Water district, was not aware of <br />this agreement. That is our Tier 2 water supply which I recently found out is set to increase in <br />price in January. That most likely means that the supply is not assured. <br />So I am at a loss to understand why rational people would allow this building to happen, not <br />just in Santa Ana but the whole of Orange County. This is a gamble with our lives and our <br />future. And when you gamble, most of the time the results are not pleasant. <br />Here are some easily found facts from Google. It takes approximately 15,000 gallons of water <br />to fill the average pool. The average pool will lose the same amount each year to evaporation. <br />The average 1 bedroom apartment uses between 80-100 gallons of water daily. Do we really <br />have that much water available to existing residents? If we did, I do not see the need to raise