Tacoma water sent out a letter in August of 2015, asking residents to help meet the goal of reducing water usage by 10% . The letter states, “we can save 1 billion gallons of much needed water.”

The residents were asked to let their lawns go dormant and to reach out to family and friends to do the same.

The letter ends by saying, “the drought is among the worst we’ve ever experienced. Let’s work together to conserve our water supply.”

This letter was sent out just one month after the making of an infamous video showing elected officials, including Mayor Strickland and Gov. Inslee, giving PR-like comments supporting the methanol refinery that would have used 10-14 million gallons of fresh water per day.

Note the amount of water needed – this is the original estimate of water needed before the citizen outcry. Then, with just a stroke of the pen, Northwest Innovation Works reduced the usage to 10.4 million gallons per day, without any explanation about how that would occur.

The methanol plant proposal was a wake up call and a blessing in disguise. Now, with the Water Protection Petitions, we will be prepared for the next super-huge fresh water user that wants our discounted water rates, while residents continue to subsidize business use of our water.

What? You say, did I read that right? Yes you did. Super-huge water users get discounted rates. As an example, US Oil & Refinery Co. uses 0.62 million gallon of water a day at a discounted rate much less than what residents pay. Surely, the oil refinery is making plenty of money and can afford to pay the same rate for fresh water as residents. But perhaps that is another initiative for another time.