I have long appreciated EW’s healthy suspicion of our local institutions and the motives of those in power. But I think your skepticism was misdirected in your recent article (“A Quiet Place for Water,” EW 6/3) about EWEB’s soon-to-be built water storage tanks near 40th and Patterson.

EWEB bought that property in the 1950s and has been clear ever since that at some point additional water storage capacity would be sited there. Former EWEB Commissioner Sandra Bishop bought the house next door in 2019 and soon  launched an effort to delay or kill the project. Last year, I reviewed her complaints during a site visit with the other EWEB commissioners and key staff. It looked like a classic NIMBY case to me. EWEB commissioners were right to unanimously support the project recently. It makes our local drinking water (and fire suppression) infrastructure more resilient.

Steve Mital

Former EWEB Commissioner