Wright announces candidacy for North Yuba Water District
Aug. 23—Yuba County foothills resident Alton Wright officially announced his candidacy Monday for the open board seat for North Yuba Water District Division 1 in the upcoming Nov. 8 general election.
If he obtains the two-year seat, Wright will represent Forbestown, Challenge, and parts of Brownsville, Woodleaf, Clipper Mills and Strawberry Valley. Wright is slated to compete against Douglas J. Neilson and Renee Wood for the position.
As a candidate, Wright's campaign for the board seat is heavily focused on preventing further sales of water from the foothills and preventing wildfires in the area.
In a statement, Wright criticized North Yuba Water's desire to sell the foothills' water to southern districts which he said leaves little to protect against wildfires.
"We all know how the open Forbestown Ditch saved our towns in the 2020 North Complex Fire. Now, North Yuba Water District (NYWD) wants to put in a 10-mile above-ground plastic pipe that is easy to damage while they sell most of our water south, leaving little left to fight future wildfires," he said.
If elected, Wright also promises to resolve issues with the Forbestown Ditch, an unlined, open canal that conveys water for use by the district and its customers.
Critics of the district's current board have claimed that the ditch has not been properly maintained since the district took over management of the ditch from South Feather Water and Power Agency, the Appeal previously reported.
Wright plans to maintain the ditch with "an economically realistic, mixed-engineering solution."
As a longtime resident of the foothills, Wright has been an active advocate for residents' water rights. In 2015, he led a protest against a proposed increased water rate which would have helped fund the construction of a pipeline to replace the Forbestown Ditch, the Appeal previously reported.
"I led the effort that defeated an unfair NYWD rate increase that kept money in the people's pockets," Wright said.
He is also campaigning to improve drinking systems and fire hydrants, develop water storage solutions for wildfire defense and repair and expand irrigation systems, according to a statement.
"On November 8th, please vote for Alton Wright for common sense, conservative spending and a 'take care of us first' attitude," Wright said.
