LA Times Opinion: It’s a drought

Today’s LA Times Opinion section had a great article on conserving water. Titling this year’s extra dry conditions as “Drought III” (drought I being 1977, drought II being the late 80’s & early 90’s), Patt Morrisson writes: Drought III is on track to be the worst water crisis in 30 years, and what are we being asked to do to pitch in? Eh … not much.

Morrisson continues: The DWP is on record: We’re “prepared;” we have reserves. And like a proud papa, the DWP brags about us. We use the same amount of water we did more than 20 years ago — and we have a million more people. Good on us. But a lot of that savings comes from passive code changes like low-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads.

We don’t even notice, which is swell, but that also gives us a notion of false plenty. At the same time, the DWP is forced to turn to the Metropolitan Water District for more than twice as much water than it needed from the agency last year. Which makes us more dependent than usual on other people’s water, just as we are on other people’s oil.

For the record, the Aqua Blog Maven agrees!

The North County Times (San Diego) issued this opinion today: … there’s no good reason to wait on the authority’s actions to make water conservation efforts a routine part of our lives. The Water Authority already offers a list of conservation tips on its Web site (http://www.sdcwa.org/manage/conservation-springtips.phtml). Because an estimated 60 percent of residential water use goes toward landscaping, the tips are heavy on suggestions for reducing outside water use. Many of the tips for cutting indoor water use, like taking shorter showers, are ones most of us have heard before, but they serve as useful reminders.

As residents of Southern California, we should all use water as if we’re just one year away from a severe drought, because there’s a good chance we are. Depending on what happens in coming months, this may be that year. Consider this your first drought alert.

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