County Will Reject City Council Plan to Supply Russell City Water, Daily Review, Sept. 03, 1949
Daily Review, Sept. 03, 1949
Full Text:
Russell City residents, desperate for domestic water to replace that supplied by wells polluted by septic tank seepage, faced the bitter news today that Alameda county is unwilling to share with the city of Hayward the cost of bringing them Hotch-Hetchy water,
Councilman William O. Wilson today revealed that Supervisor George Janssen this week reported that the county will reject a plan, suggested by Hayward council, whereby the county and the city of Hayward would share the cost of taking water from Hayward's water system to Russell City.
The offer to supply Russell City with water, though it remains in the unincorporated area, was evolved last spring after a dysentary epidemic took the life of one Russell City child and made several others ill. An epidemic in Russell City is an epidemic in Hayward, Councilman Wilson said. "We cannot isolate ourselves from the residents of Russell City. Residents of Russell City work in Hayward stores, restaurants and homes. What affects them affects us."
These were the reasons that led Hayward to go contrary to its policy of requiring an area to annex to the city before it can secure Hayward water.
A connection to Russell City could be arranged, the council decided, if the county would pay a portion of the difference between the cost of installation of a six-inch line and the cost of installation of a 12-inch line from Hayward's main near the Swift plant on Winton avenue to the Hayward airport, plus a portion of the cost of bringing the water from the airport to Russell City. The plan was first presented to the board ten days ago.
The cost of installation of the six-inch line from Hayward to the port is being borne by the National Guard because it will serve the guard's million dollar unit at the airport. Cost to the guard will be about $30,000, Wilson said, and the larger line will cost approximately another $30,000.
The line could be reduced to six inches between the airport and Russell City and the area might be put into an assessment district or it might be arranged to refund the cost of the installation, either to the county or to property owners over a period of seven years.
However, hopes for such an as [sic] is frequently done with subdividers, according to Wilson.
Arrangement wore doused today with Wilson's report Janssen's announcement that the county "cannot go along."
"The city would not make any money selling Hetch Hetchy water, Wilson said. "It was only because of the hazardous health conditions in Russell City that the offer was made."
"If something is to be done about it, we will have to prove fast because the line to serve the National Guand will have to go in within the next three weeks."
The city council has not had an opportunity to discuss the situation since the county's rejection of the plan, he concluded.
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