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Thomas Elias: Water picture mirrors the late ’70s

Posted by: Maven on June 5, 2009 at 6:32 am

From the Ventura County Star:

We are starting to see the summer water picture for California — and it’s looking a lot like the late 1970s. Or, to put it another way, it’s beginning to look a lot like Bolinas almost did.

That’s right, chances are much of the rest of California will soon be following the plan put in place and later rescinded by Bolinas, the funky town not too far north of San Francisco in coastal Marin County. Best known for its populace of aging hippies, artists, lawyers and others seeking refuge from crowded urban life, Bolinas was rescued by an unexpected late-March storm that suddenly refilled its key reservoir.

Bolinas isn’t often first with anything. But because it has no access to supplies from the state Water Project, the federal Central Valley Project or the San Francisco-owned Hetch Hetchy reservoir system and aqueduct, Bolinas uses only local supplies.

Before the unexpected late-season rains, the key Bolinas reservoir was at risk of running dry before the next rainy season, likely to start in November or December.

So, Bolinas adopted California’s toughest water rules: Residents were to use no more than 150 gallons per day, 4,500 per month. That amounted to about a 25 percent cutback from normal usage of about 208 gallons per day per water hookup. Violate the rule once or twice and nothing much would happen to residents. But supplies could be cut off on a third violation.

The Bolinas rules are now in abeyance, but they were only a little bit tougher than what many other places might soon be seeing, despite a few late rains.

Read more from Thomas Elias and the Ventura County Star by clicking here.

June 5, 2009 · Filed Under Uncategorized

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