Meet our Heroes

Debbie Peterson * 2023

When Debbie Peterson, former Grover Beach mayor, and author of the Integrity 101 series of books about good governance, heard in September 2023 that her water rates would double in four years, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in Grover Beach. Then it came to her that if she couldn’t afford it, it was likely others couldn’t either. She started asking questions.

Before long, 4,000 people in Grover Beach were also questioning the project – a wastewater treatment plant to process Pismo Beach wastewater and inject it into the drinking water aquifer under Grover Beach and Oceano. Without their permission, the people of Grover Beach would gain a wastewater treatment plant. They would pay twice to repair streets that would be torn up again for pipelines and wells – streets they had repaired by approving a bond in 2014 that currently adds 10% to their property tax bills.
 
Concerned citizens asked Debbie Peterson to lead their efforts and in ten short months GROVERH2O accomplished the impossible, gathering thousands of signatures for the 2024 Citizen’s Ballot Initiative, G-24 to Repeal the Water Rate Increase, and other initiatives that would give Grover Beach voters and residents more say at City Hall. The collective whistleblowers audited water bills, bringing refunds to water customers when the city implemented increases early and again in the reduction of some of the increased charges for the Central Coast Blue Project when it was put on hold. The group went on to present an engineering study to the County, which it is now implementing, that will improve management of Lopez water to provide 1,000-1500 additional acre-feet of water a year, an amount equivalent to Grover Beach’s annual use.