January 11, 2018 -- The head of Santa Monica's environmental task force on Tuesday strongly criticized the City Council for allowing $56.4 million to be drained from the City’s water fund to help finance mega-projects not related to water use.

“I was mortified,” Mark Gold, the head of the Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment, said of learning water money would be diverted.

Gold appeared before the council as it was considering -- and then approved -- a five-percent hike in the rate for using the municipal water system ("Santa Monica Prepares Five Percent Hike in Water Rate," January 8, 2018).

“To ask for ratepayers to cover any of the costs of groundwater remediation or additional water treatment is unethical given that a large pot of money exists to do exactly this,” the letter said.

Read More:   https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/January-2018/01_12_2018_Environmental_Leader_Blasts_Santa_Monica_Council_for_Use_of_Water_Funds.html