This is just one post in the Conservation Category

L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan, to include water restrictions and a recycled water program

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 15, 2008 at 6:48 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

With vital and often-distant water sources shrinking, Los Angeles officials today will revive a controversial proposal to recycle wastewater as part of a plan to curb usage and move the city toward greater water independence.

The aggressive, multiyear proposal could do much to catch the city up to other Southern California communities that have launched advanced recycling programs.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s effort could cost up to $2 billion and affect a wide range of daily activities. For example, residents would be urged to change their clothes’ washers, and new restrictions would be placed on how and when they could water lawns and clean cars.

Financial incentives and building code changes would be used to incorporate high-tech conservation equipment in homes and businesses. Builders would be pushed to install waterless urinals, weather-sensitive sprinkler systems and porous parking lot paving that allows rain to percolate into groundwater supplies.

Just to meet a 15% increase in demand by 2030, officials say 32 billion gallons a year will have to be saved or recaptured — enough to cover the San Fernando Valley with a foot of water.

Prohibitions during the 1990s drought — banning residents from washing driveways and sidewalks, letting sprinklers flood into gutters and watering grass in midday — would be enforced again, with additional restrictions. One part of the proposal would limit lawn watering to certain days of the week.

“This is a radical departure for the city of Los Angeles,” said Department of Water and Power General Manager David Nahai. “I think overall this plan is going to be a beacon for other cities.”

In fact, cities facing the same challenges, including Long Beach, have already moved to curtail residential and commercial water usage and punish waste. Orange County and other Southern California agencies are also recycling treated sewage water back into the drinking supply.

Los Angeles’ plan — a copy of which was made available to The Times — would invest in projects to capture and store rainfall and clean up a sprawling, contaminated water supply beneath the San Fernando Valley. About $1 billion would be allocated for reclamation, including a politically sensitive plan to use treated wastewater to recharge underground drinking supplies serving the Valley, Los Feliz and the Eastside.

Read the full text of this story from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

The Daily Breeze adds this:

The effort to drought-proof the city and its more than 4 million residents comes as regional leaders try to find ways to deal with dwindling supplies from Northern California, the Sierra and the Colorado River.

“L.A.’s future depends on our willingness to adopt an ethic of sustainability. If we don’t commit ourselves to conserving and recycling water, we will tap ourselves out,” Villaraigosa said. “This plan makes a basic promise to our kids. We are going to recycle and conserve enough water to meet 100percent of new demand.”

To encourage Angelenos to save, the plan recommends ticketing water wasters, offering more financial incentives for efficient appliances and synthetic turf, and installing “smart” sprinklers that turn off when it rains. But the groundwater reclamation is Villaraigosa’s boldest proposal.

Acknowledging the failed recycled water program that was killed by then-mayor James Hahn in 2001, David Nahai had this to say:

DWP General Manager H. David Nahai said recycled water is becoming more common. Orange County has a similar recycled water system, while residents in London, Israel and even downstream from Las Vegas all drink reclaimed water. “We’re going to do this in a completely different way,” Nahai said. “We can’t afford to fail at this. Our plans are very ambitious; we’re talking about a sixfold increase in recycled water.”