City of Ukiah is serious about water conservation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 4, 2009 at 7:45 amFrom the Ukiah Daily Journal:
If you waste precious water during this particularly dry period in Ukiah’s history, you might just have the City of Ukiah’s Water Conservation Coordinator Brandy Wood to deal with.
“Normally the way that I know someone is wasting water is just through phone call from a neighbor or person passing by or some of our staff or myself might notice it,” said Wood, who also mans the city’s water conservation hotline in addition to making house calls. “We just do a doorhanger, unless they’re there and then I’ll just to talk to them.”
Wood, who just earned her degree in environmental science and has worked with Real Goods in the past, said that though mandatory conservation measures were now in effect for the city, education was still the strongest tool in their toolbox.
“We just want to let people know,” she said. “Generally when someone is wasting water they’re not intentionally doing so. It’s just not a thought that has come to their minds. Our intent is to educate them and let them know what the voluntary measures are as well as now we have the mandatory measures. Education would be the first step.”
Read more from the Ukiah Daily Journal by clicking here.
This summer, kids can dive into water conservation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 1:55 pmFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
When the weather warms up, there is nothing more enticing for kids than water – whether it be running through the sprinklers, wading in a kiddie pool or playing with the hose. The problem is that our current water shortage is giving parents pause about indulging children’s aquatic aspirations. Here are some ways to teach your kids about water conservation while still letting them have some fun:
Explain yourself: Saving water can seem like an abstract concept for many kids, says Chris Robbins, water conservation supervisor for the city of San Diego. When he gives talks to school groups, he brings along a big jug of water. He asks the kids to pick up the 1-gallon container so they can feel how heavy it is. He asks them to think about how hard it would be to have to carry the jug a long way to help them realize that water is a precious resource and not something to be wasted.
Find out more tips for teaching kids about water conservation from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Water restrictions gain traction: Regulations would limit water usage, but councilwoman questions how they will be enforced
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 6:51 amFrom the Glendale News-Press:
In response to the growing statewide water crisis, the City Council on Tuesday authorized changes to the city’s water conservation ordinance — paving the way for regulations limiting outdoor watering to three times a week in August.
The new regulations take effect Aug. 1, at which point utility officials are expected to ask for and get their three-day-a-week watering restrictions to reduce usage citywide by 10%. Watering would be restricted to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for no more than 10 minutes a day. Watering irrigation would also be banned between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Glendale Water & Power pushed for the water restrictions to help it stay within a reduced allotment that went into effect Wednesday from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies up to 70% of Glendale’s water.
Glendale joins cities across the region in enacting or preparing for water restrictions. In June, the Crescenta Valley Water District, another Metropolitan client, increased its water rationing, limiting outdoor watering to only two days a week.
In order for the city’s conservation efforts to produce the necessary reduction and keep the utility from incurring heavy penalties from Metropolitan, officials stress that all residents must comply with the regulations. “We have to have 100% compliance,” said Peter Kavounas, assistant general manager for water services. “I think people will respond. I think we will get there.”
Read more from the Glendale News-Press by clicking here.
Three Valleys passes conservation ordinance
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 6:50 amFrom the Contra Costa Times:
The Three Valleys Municipal Water District recently approved a conservation ordinance to limit water usage by Cal Poly Pomona, Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut and the Firestone Scout Reservation. Water irrigation hours as well as runoff will be curtailed, according to the ordinance. The three entities will also have to reduce their water usage by 10 percent from 72,000 acre feet to 64,000 acre feet.
The district board approved the measure by a 6 to 1 vote. Board member Xavier Alvarez voted against the ordinance
Board president Bob Kuhn said he voted for the ordinance because of the state’s water shortage as well as to help the entities get a grant from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “There’s no doubt in my mind there’s a water shortage in Southern California right now,” Kuhn said. “It’s more or at least 50 percent man-made but there’s a shortage.”
Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.
Lack of money for rebates halts Inland distribution of water-saving toilets
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 6:43 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
Western Municipal Water District’s participation in a program that this week will finish delivering 1,500 water-saving toilets at no cost to Riverside County homes, hotels and commercial buildings is in limbo because of doubt about whether Western will receive promised rebates.
In the past three months, the Mission Inn, UC Riverside and March Air Reserve Base received a total of 1,000 of the toilets, and 500 went to Corona, mostly to multifamily residences such as apartments.
One low-flow toilet will save about 2 gallons per flush or 4,800 gallons a year, according to Clay Monroe, water conservation coordinator with Riverside Public Utilities.
But the program was suspended because of the uncertainty of reimbursement from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said Tim Barr. He’s the water use efficiency manager for Western, which covers 527 square miles serving 853,000 people in the Jurupa Valley, Corona, Norco, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake and Temecula. Besides Riverside, the city of Corona also worked closely with Barr to promote the project.
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
Soledad sets rules for conserving water; Drought conditions force lawn-watering restrictions in city
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 1, 2009 at 6:08 amFrom the Salinas Californian:
In Soledad, a brown lawn could become conservationist chic.
On Tuesday, the city issued its first-ever mandatory water-conservation measures, limiting when residents can water their yards and asking customers to cut back usage. “It was just time to do something,” said Cliff Price, Soledad public works director.
Though the community isn’t running out of water, the drought coupled with high demand during hot weather stretches the city’s ability to pump water to replenish storage facilities.
Read more from the Salinas Californian by clicking here.
Metropolitan Water District starts conservation crackdown
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 1, 2009 at 6:00 amFrom the Ventura County Star:
Today is the day to take a good look at your lawn and figure out how much water it really needs. You might turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, too. And washing down your driveway should have stopped some time ago.
Starting today, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is forcing its water purveyors to cut back distribution by 15 percent or pay a hefty penalty. This means in Thousand Oaks, customers may be asked to limit watering their landscaping to three days a week. Repeat offenders could be fined. Already in Simi Valley, anyone watering their lawns during the daytime faces fines. In Agoura Hills, customers will have to pay for any water they use over their allotted amount. In Camarillo, they are drilling a new well in hopes of offsetting the 15 percent reduction.
“Everyone needs to step up,” said Eric Bergh, resources manager for Calleguas Municipal Water District, which supplies all or part of the water to most cities in eastern Ventura County with water from the state. “I think we are going to see a reduction in water use.”
Read more from the Ventura County Star by clicking here.
With the Shower Manager, meeting the new California water restrictions can be less challenging and result in big savings
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2009 at 6:46 amFrom PR.com:
Global Network Solutions, LLC has developed a new fully-automated means to cut showering times and water usage, providing users an effective way to save money on water and the energy used to heat that water. An added benefit to families with teens is the elimination of family hassles over showering times.
It is called the Shower Manger and here’s how it works: Using a magnetic sensor the head-of-household pre-programs one of three full-flow time settings, 5, 8 or 11 minutes. As the water is turned on, the bather will receive a full-flow of water (let’s assume an 8-minute setting) for 8 minutes. At the 7-minute mark, the unit emits a beeping sound which alerts the bather that in 60 seconds the unit will cut water flow by 2/3. This cut or restricted flow leaves just enough to finish rinsing, but not enough to encourage continue showering.
A 5-minute reset interval prevents the user from overriding the system. The unit is microprocessor controlled, fits to existing showerheads, and installs in minutes. No special plumbing/ no electrical connections. It is powered by a small battery.
Water providers say that showering uses as much as 22% of the water consumed inside the home. A family of four can be washing down the drain hundreds of dollars annually with runaway showering. In many families, the unit can pay for itself in less than 12 months.
A quick way to calculate the potential savings is to visit: http://www.ShowerManager.com/savings
The Shower Manager is an exclusive product of Global Network Solutions, Denver, Co and is sold only on the Internet at http://www.ShowerManager.com
For UNLV professor, groundbreaking work in soil, water field
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2009 at 6:14 amFrom the Las Vegas Sun:
Dale Devitt is, as the joke goes, out standing in his field. This particular field (Devitt has several) is riddled with buried experiments in the form of tubes of soil, some with grass on top, some without. This is a sort of demonstration farm and outdoor laboratory on the far north side of town.
Devitt, who runs UNLV’s Center for Urban Water Conservation, is trying to determine whether turf can filter pharmaceuticals out of reclaimed water (read: processed sewage), trapping it before it can enter the ground water. (The answer, so far, appears to be yes, but Devitt cautions that the experiment still has two years to run.)
Devitt can look around and point to past projects. There’s a stand of trees, for instance — desert willows, mesquites, oaks and so on — most of the popular landscaping choices around Las Vegas. This was one of the first experiments Devitt ran out here. It compares the water usage of tree species. Mesquites, for instance, use more water than oaks, which use more water than willows. It sounds simple enough, comparing trees not only with one another but also with turf and shrubs, but it was groundbreaking work for a simple reason: The money has always been in agricultural research — not landscaping.
Read more from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.
Should Pasadena require rain gardens as mitigation for drought landscaping?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 29, 2009 at 4:04 pmFrom the Pasadena SubRosa blog:
Rain gardens provide one way to counter the unintended negative effects of water conservation on the groundwater table and local ecology. A rain garden captures rainwater from roofs and diverts the water from a gutter downspout into a two-layered bed of soil with a sublayer of sand and gravel and a top layer of plants or vegetables. Rain gardens are designed to be esthetically pleasing and enhancing to urban property values and are relatively inexpensive.
Rain gardens only have to be about 10% of the hard surface area of a property to be effective according to civil engineers Kenneth Potter and Alejandro Dussaillant of the University of Wisconsin. What is counterintuitive is that smaller rain gardens are more effective than larger rain gardens. Borrowing from nature, watering a large surface such as your lawn results in rapid evaporation and absorption by plants and less net recharge to the water table. Urban rain gardens function much as do dry streambeds and prairie potholes in recharging the groundwater.
Read more from the Pasadena SubRosa blog by clicking here.
How much recharge occurs from watering lawns?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 29, 2009 at 6:17 amFrom the Pasadena SubRosa blog, the conversation on whether landscape irrigation recharges groundwater or not continues:
Last Week Pasadena Star News Public Editor Larry Wilson started a running discussion going at the JFleck at Instain blog on the question of how much groundwater recharge occurs from watering lawns?
http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/?p=3737#comments
The answers ranged from zero for those mostly amateurs trying to expound from Albuquerque on the Raymond Basin in Pasadena, to about 25%, or 7,000 acre feet of water (enough to supply 14,000 households or about 35,000 people) according to David Powell, a retired water engineer residing in Pasadena based on prior studies.
To put this in perspective, the City of Pasadena is mandating a 10% cutback in water use which is about 3,500 acre feet per year (enough to supply 7,000 households or about 17,500 people). So the calculation of groundwater recharge is a big deal.
Read more from the Pasadena SubRosa blog by clicking here.
How can I care for my lawn while saving water?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 28, 2009 at 5:06 pmFrom the San Diego Union Tribune’s Smart Living section:
Sure, the water situation is dire and lawns may soon be a thing of the past in San Diego County. But you’re not ready to give up on your patch of green yet. With many cities, including San Diego, imposing water restrictions, it’s a no-brainer that lawns won’t be as lush as in summers past, but all is not lost. Here are some tips on how to care for your lawn while still using less of the wet stuff.
Click here to read more from the San Diego Union Tribune.
New washing machine uses only 1 cup of water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 26, 2009 at 6:19 amFrom AlterNet:
The appliance, which could save billions of litres of water a year, has been developed at the University of Leeds.
It uses less than 10 percent of the water of conventional machines and 30 percent less energy by replacing most of the water with thousands of tiny reusable plastic beads to attract and absorb dirt under humid conditions.
Xeros, the company behind the technology, will start selling the machine to commercial customers such as hotels and dry cleaners before taking the idea to ordinary household consumersOnly a small amount of water and detergent is needed to dampen the clothes, loosen stains and create the water vapour that allows the beads to work. After the cycle is finished, the beads fall through a mesh in the machine’s drum and can be re-used up to a hundred times.
Read more from AlterNet by clicking here.
Lake Elsinore: Water district boosts rates despite opposition
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 26, 2009 at 5:45 amFrom the North County Times:
Residents in the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District who lavish water on their properties will face stiff monthly charges under a revised rate structure and price increases adopted by the district’s board Thursday.
While nearly all of the district’s customers will see some sort of an increase when they receive their bills for July around the beginning of August, those who use water indiscriminately will pay much more than they have been.
Directors said they had no choice but to charge customers more as a result of the much greater costs the district is encountering in buying water. “We’re trying to manage this water district so it doesn’t go into bankruptcy,” Director John Lloyd said. “If we don’t figure out a way to absorb these rate increases (in the water the district buys), we’re going to go into bankruptcy.”
At the same time, the directors emphasized that the district has been mandated by the agency from which it buys water —- Western Municipal Water District —- to cut back its water distribution 10 percent or face draconian price penalties. Hence, district administrators came up with a five-tier rate structure that rewards customers who conserve and have moderate water use while punishing those who waste water with sharply higher rates.
“We live in a desert; we’re in a drought,” said Director Harvey Ryan, who listened in on the meeting from Massachusetts through a conference call. “Water is a commodity that’s going to be as precious as oil.”
Read more from the North County Times by clicking here.
Going against the flow: City program provides free water-use analysis in conservation push
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 24, 2009 at 7:10 amFrom Stockton’s Record:
Julie Low’s toilet earned applause from a city worker carrying a clipboard. “Now this is a good toilet,” the man gushed, admiring its 1.6-gallon flush.
But outside Low’s north Stockton home, there was work to be done. Sprinklers watered her flagstone patio. A mountain spring - it looked like one, anyhow - gurgled from some rocks along her driveway with nary a sprig of green to nourish. “Oh, my goodness,” Low said, genuinely surprised by the test, since the sprinklers normally go off at 4 a.m. “Look at all the water wasted. It’s like a river.”
But since Mike King’s visit last week, Low, 74, has already adjusted her sprinklers and fixed the broken pipe that was the source of the mysterious “spring.”
For the first time, the city is offering free surveys to anyone interested in reducing water waste. The idea is not to condemn but to critique your water habits constructively.
Read more from The Record by clicking here.
Mandatory water restrictions in the works for Glendale; Council is expected to vote for plan that would limit how often lawns may be watered
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 24, 2009 at 7:07 amFrom the Glendale News Press:
Outdoor watering will likely be limited to three days a week under a revised mandatory water conservation proposal that gained traction Tuesday with the City Council.
Mandatory 10% conservation, which still must be approved by the council next week, is recommended by the utility to help it stay within a reduced allotment from the Metropolitan Water District of California, which supplies up to 70% of Glendale’s water.
In response to the growing statewide water crisis, Metropolitan is reducing shipments by 10% on July 1 to all of its member agencies. The utility will levy heavy penalties on agencies that exceed their allotment.
“We now need to start treating water like the valuable resource it is,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman.
Read more from the Glendale News Press by clicking here.
Walnut Valley water wasters face mandatory low flow
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 24, 2009 at 6:52 amFrom the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:
The Walnut Valley Water District has passed a strict set of laws and penalties for water wasters. Among the toughest penalties approved Monday is a law allowing the district to restrict water flow to its worst offenders by placing a gadget on water lines to limit flow to one gallon per minute.
Walnut Valley serves customers in Walnut, Diamond Bar, Industry and Rowland Heights.
Bob Muir, spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said about one-third to one-half of the districts under MWD have used this type of flow restraint as a last resort if someone is habitually wasting water.
Water agencies all over the region are passing similar laws to to reduce the amount of imported water Southern California water districts receive, Muir said.
Read more from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune by clicking here.
City ratchets up ‘Save Our Water’ campaign
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 23, 2009 at 12:10 pmFrom Sonoma News:
With recent temperatures rising into the 90s - what is more normal for June - additional water is being used in the Valley and concern for reaching the 25-percent mandatory water-usage cutback by the end of fall is also rising.
For this reason, the Sonoma County Water Agency and its retail contractors including the City of Sonoma and Valley of the Moon Water District, are participating in a statewide “Save Our Water” campaign. On June 1, a State Water Resources Control Board order required the SCWA to involve agricultural and municipal Russian River water users in reaching the overall water-conservation goal of 25 percent in Sonoma County and 50 percent in Mendocino County for the period of April 6, through October 2.
Read more from Sonoma News by clicking here.
Pasadena citizens group wants city to buy more imported water in lieu of “enacting a tough water enforcement ordinance together with an unpopular water rate hike”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 23, 2009 at 6:36 amWayne Lusvardi with the group, Citizens for Responsible Government delivered a “citizen resolution on water rates and enforcement” to the Pasadena City Council last night. The first half of the resolution deals with the finances of the water department; this is the second half:
And, Whereas, the costs to administrate the City’s proposed ordinance for water enforcement personnel and a water court are reported to be about $1 million; and
Whereas, the cost to buy imported water to meet 10% of the City’s water demand may be roughly the same as the administrative costs of water enforcement, as possibly indicated by a recent purchase of raw water from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from Folsom Dam by the San Diego County Water Authority; and
Whereas the Chief Financial Officer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has ironically called the current state drought as “California’s Wettest Drought” due to the environmental endangerment of fish species beyond the control of the water ratepayers of the City of Pasadena;
THEREFORE, we respectfully recommend that the Council and Mayor investigate the possibility of just buying imported water in lieu of enacting a tough water enforcement ordinance together with an unpopular water rate hike.
(Note that this resolution was submitted to the City Council, not necessarily passed by the council.) Read the full text of the resolution at the Pasadena SubRosa blog by clicking here.
Making every drop of water count in La Verne
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 23, 2009 at 6:30 amFrom the Pasadena Star News:
With water reserves at an all-time low, the city of La Verne has initiated a conservation challenge to its residents. The 20-gallon challenge asks community members to voluntarily conserve 20 gallons of water each day by cutting back on shower time, watering the lawn and fixing leaky faucets. And that goes for everyone in the house.
“We are just trying to encourage and reinforce that water reserves are always going to be an issue in Southern California,” Public Works Superintendent Jeannette Vagnozzi said. “If you live in this climate you need to adapt to this lifestyle.”
On average, a La Verne household consumes 36,000 gallons of water every two months. If every resident saved 20 gallons of water a day, that will conserve 650,000 gallons of water every day, officials said. “That is a significant amount of water,” Vagnozzi said.
Read more from the Pasadena Star News by clicking here.
Santa Cruz prioritizes water conservation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2009 at 7:16 amFrom the Central Coast Mercury News:
Santa Cruzans are tightening their belts, faucets and hoses, according to the water department, meeting and surpassing city water restrictions that were put into effect last month. In May, restrictions were placed on the days of the week and the times of day water users can irrigate to achieve a 15 percent reduction in water use.
This time last year, the city’s water treatment plant was producing about 12 million gallons per day. Since last month, city water customers have saved about 100 million gallons of water.
“By and large, people have accepted and are watering along these guidelines,” said Toby Goddard, the department’s water conservation manager. “Their efforts have resulted so far in a 17 percent reduction in water demand systemwide.”
Goddard said the city is not only receiving the cooperation of individual homeowners, but also compliance by large customers, including golf courses, required to reduce by 25 percent. As of this month, golf courses have reduced use by more than they are required.
Read more from the Central Coast Mercury News by clicking here.
Saving water may be a must for Glendale residents; Past voluntary conservation effort yielded results, but it didn’t do enough, water official says
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2009 at 7:08 amFrom the Glendale News-Press:
Residents will either have to reduce household water use by 10% or limit outdoor watering to certain days, according to a revised Glendale Water & Power mandatory water conservation proposal.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider both options before deciding which one to bring back for introduction as an ordinance next week in order to help keep the city within its reduced water allotment from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Mandatory conservation, if approved by the council, would take effect in August, a month after Metropolitan, which supplies up to 70% of the Glendale’s water, reduces shipments to its member agencies by 10% as a result of a statewide water crisis.
Last June, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an official statewide drought and directed all water agencies to significantly increase water conservation efforts and implement stricter ordinances. At the time, Glendale Water & Power had enacted a 10% voluntary conservation effort, but that has yielded average cutbacks of only 4%, officials said.
“We got some conservation, but we didn’t get enough,” said Glendale Water & Power General Manager Glenn Steiger.
Read more from the Glendale News-Press by clicking here.
Drought doesn’t mean you have to paint your lawn green
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 20, 2009 at 6:58 amFrom the Contra Costa Times:
Water restrictions in place in the East Bay area or proposed throughout California aim to conserve water during drought years, but that’s no reason to immediately tear out the flower bed, plant a cactus garden or paint your lawn green. Conserving water is good public policy in an arid environment like ours, and common-sense, water-saving tactics that require little investment can help homeowners and businesses save water, preserve the lawn and garden, and avoid higher bills and penalties for over use.
In addition, your municipal suppliers or water districts may offer rebates for water-conserving hardware, such as smart automatic sprinkler controls, which can extend the savings and help conserve a vital resource.
In some instances, saving water is as simple as grabbing a broom to sweep off the driveway or walk, replacing leaky sprinkler heads or setting the mower blade at a higher level to let the long grass actually do the hard work of shading the soil to reduce evaporation rates.
Most cities require that automatic shut-off nozzles be attached to hoses for washing cars or watering the landscape. The devices are inexpensive and can be picked up at nurseries and hardware stores.
Read more water conservation tips for homeowners and businesses from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.
Water hogs should pay higher rates, says editorial: Rancho California Water District’s attempt to be fair ripe for abuse
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 18, 2009 at 6:28 amFrom the North County Times, this editorial:
By now, pretty much everyone knows that Southern California is a semidesert disguised as a giant oasis, with our palm trees and water-gulping lawns. But knowing and changing have long been two different things.
No more. The region’s major supplier is tightening the taps and requiring local water districts to do the same, cutting overall use by 10 percent.
In two weeks, the water district that serves Temecula and much of Murrieta will impose new restrictions on use, and soon after will drop the other shoe —- a series of water pricing “tiers” that will hit heavy water users where it hurts: their bills.
The theory behind both ideas is sound, but in practice, Rancho California Water District is setting itself up for failure.
Read the rest of this editorial from the North County Times by clicking here.
Ventura County official sees water rates continuing to rise
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 17, 2009 at 6:49 amFrom the Ventura County Star:
Water rates in Ventura County and throughout Southern California just keep rising, with no relief in sight for at least the next two years, the county’s director of water and sanitation told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
In April, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California raised its rates by 19.7 percent, effective Sept. 1, with another 21.5 percent increase planned for January 2011. Metropolitan sells water to agencies all over Southern California, including the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which in turn sells it to public and private water agencies in most of Ventura County. Only Ventura and the Ojai Valley do not get water from Calleguas.
Customers in most of the county, then, can expect to see their water bills climb dramatically in each of the next two years, unless they use much less water.
Read more from the Ventura County Star by clicking here.
Ontario council set to approve tighter water conservation measures
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 16, 2009 at 6:52 amFrom the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
A mandatory water conservation plan with stricter guidelines and monetary penalties is expected to get approved tonight by the City Council.
The ordinance, which is broken into four stages, will help the city manage its water supplies, Councilman Jim Bowman said. “It certainly raises the level of awareness in the community - we are in a dire water situation throughout the state of California,” Bowman said.
Earlier in the year, the council urged its residents and businesses to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 10 percent, he said.
Read more from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin by clicking here.
Car maintenance expert shows how to wash and polish a car with 1 pint of water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 14, 2009 at 10:29 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
Water rationing won’t take the shine from home detailers if Mel Craig has his way. He wants to teach the world to wash and polish a car with 16 ounces – 1 pint – of water.
It sounds impossible, but it can be done, with the proper instruction and tools. Craig demonstrated the techniques recently to a class of do-it-yourselfers at his state-of-the-art The Total Pros Auto Detail Training Center in Oceanside.
His school, sponsored in part by Meguiar’s car-care products, is licensed by the state as a vocational school. It is one of three nationwide that focuses on professional training, not just sales of products, Craig said. He teaches a five-day course to become a professional detailer, a monthly two-day “boot camp” to get an overview of the business and a monthly “Do It Yourself” class for anybody who wants to learn correctly how to maintain the finish of a vehicle, inside and out and under the hood.
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Don’t penalize water savers, says editorial
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 14, 2009 at 10:23 amFrom the Whittier Daily News:
Yes, last week was an extraordinarily drizzly one. It was June gloom squared. No, that paltry precipitation will have no effect on the ongoing drought throughout much of California and the West. Nor will it end the certainty of rationing of various kinds from the top on down, from the mammoth Metropolitan Water District to the little water companies in our canyons and flatlands, from commercial concerns to your own front yard.
As we reported in April, the giant MWD, from which most of us get most of our water, is expecting us to use at least 10 percent less water this summer and yet to pay more for the privilege. It’s charging its member agencies about 20 percent more for the water they receive.
That’s an unhappy double-whammy.
And it’s going to be followed by another, very soon. Next year, the MWD expects to raise its rates by another 20 percent. It’s the first time since 1991 that imported water has been rationed and the first time since 1993 rates have increased so dramatically.
It’s also a reflection of the reality of the cost of getting water from wet places to our dry place - and of the fact that one wet place in particular, the Colorado River, is not so wet anymore.
Water politics are absolutely the most complicated politics in the West. Even more so than, say, a Rush Limbaugh fan confronted with an avid reader of The Nation, the true believers representing the two main factions of those politics are adamant that theirs is the only point of view that matters and that is true. Everything else is scurrilous lies, from their opposite points of view. And it’s all a conspiracy, of course.
Read more from the Whittier Daily News by clicking here.
Peter Gleick: Is some California water use unconstitutional?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 13, 2009 at 7:42 am
From Peter Gleick at his blog, City Brights:
As of now, Sacramento has some new rules about water use. These rules, at least marginally, begin to address that city’s high level of residential use. The rules put some constraints on the time of day (and day of week, and method) that residents can water their lawns and wash their cars. This little step raises a far more serious and comprehensive question: What water use in California should no longer be considered constitutionally valid?
Water Number: 280. According to the Sacramento Bee, this is the number of gallons of water east Sacramento residents use each day for all uses (the comparable state average is 192). This is one of the highest water consumption rates in the nation. And about 65% of that water is used outdoors, mostly for lawns and landscapes.
The source of this water is taken directly from the Sacramento River and from groundwater wells throughout the North American Groundwater Basin, all of which feed the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. During the current water crisis, when reservoirs are low, deliveries increasingly limited, and solutions to the San-Joaquin Delta crisis (and other regional water crises) still out of reach, we need to re-evaluate what are “reasonable” and “beneficial” uses of our strained water resources.
Read more from Peter Gleick by clicking here.
Commentary: Water restrictions are not solutions for San Diego
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 11, 2009 at 12:36 pmFrom the San Diego News Network, this commentary by San Diego city councilmember Kevin Faulconer:
The city of San Diego had been considering a plan that would have capped water use based on past history. We avoided taking that step, but we were forced to adopt a plan that spells out when and how long people can water their lawns.
Unfortunately, the new restrictions, which took effect June 1, are not the long-term answer to the region’s water shortage.
We’ve just learned about further water reductions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that are expected to impact San Diego County homes and businesses.
Clean, pure water-One Water SystemsIt is more important than ever to move the region away from its reliance on imported water. To get there, we need to consider self-sustaining options such as desalination and expanding our recycled water system. We also need to increase the number of customers on the recycled water system. Most importantly, we need to change the way we use water.
Read more from the San Diego News Network by clicking here.
The importance of water conservation and early education
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 11, 2009 at 8:14 amFrom the Fenton Report:
You don’t need a degree in hydrology to conserve water. You just need a passion for the environment and a deep understanding of how critical the water shortage is. In fact, the World Bank reports that “80 countries now have water shortages that threaten health and economies while 40 percent of the world — more than 2 billion people — have no access to clean water or sanitation.” What can we do?
My first water conservation memories are from the 1940’s with my parents admonishing my two sisters and me not to waste water. My family was living in a remote area of Canada where water was in abundance but where most people didn’t have running water in their homes. There were times when my mother was forced to haul water from a well (which was the distance of a city block) to our home where she would bath her 3 little girls, then wash our clothes in the bath water and then use the same water to wash the floors.
It was this early lifestyle that led me into the world of conservation and restoration. In the 1980’s, my husband Dan and I spent many weekends driving the back roads of California. During those trips we could see the degradation of lakes such as Owens Lake in the Sierras and we learned that in 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began diverting Mono Lake’s (www.monolake.org) freshwater tributary streams to meet the growing demands of Los Angeles. The lake had lost 40 vertical feet of its original depth and the entire Mono Lake ecosystem was collapsing.
I was determined, in my own small way, to help mitigate the damage that was being done by Southern Californians in our endless efforts to bring the tropics to the drylands – large, perfectly manicured lawns surrounded by lush tropical flower beds and trees.
Read more from the Fenton Report by clicking here.
A wake-up call on water use: A long-running resource issue finally trickles down to more consumers
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 12:39 pmFrom the Christian Science Monitor:
Move over, carbon, the next shoe to drop in the popular awareness of eco-issues is the “water footprint.” That’s the word in environmental circles these days. Just as the image of a heavy carbon foot made it possible for the masses to grasp the power of carbon-dioxide emissions, water footprint is the phrase now drawing attention to the impact of human behavior regarding water.
“H2O is the next CO2,” says Nicholas Eisenberger, managing principal of GreenOrder, a consulting firm that specializes in sustainable business. As a phrase, water footprint “will probably move more quickly through the public mind as it catches on,” he says, because water is more tangible than carbon.
Measuring how much water an individual, business, or government uses is a concept everyone can viscerally relate to, he adds, “because they put their hands on it every day, which is not the case, necessarily, with carbon.”
Why is “water footprint” coming to the fore now? And why does what is arguably humanity’s most vital resource need what some call a gimmick to connect people with its importance?
“You can’t control what you don’t measure,” says Laura Shenkar, principal of the Artemis Project, a water consulting firm. People take water for granted, she says, but the growing talk about climate change inevitably includes water. And recent droughts in the usually verdant southeastern United States have helped bring the issue to public attention.
Read more from the Christian Science Monitor by clicking here.
Feuer bills on water conservation and quality approved by Assembly
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 7:28 amFrom the California Chronicle:
The California State Assembly has approved two bills by Assembly member Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) that will improve water efficiency and quality during California´s third consecutive drought year. AB 49 will reduce California´s urban per capita water use by 20 percent by December 31, 2020, and passed the Assembly with a vote of 43-30. AB 1366 addresses the problem of excess salinity caused by residential water softeners by giving greater discretion to local water agencies where surface and groundwater supplies are particularly susceptible to salt contamination. It passed the Assembly on a bipartisan vote of 60-16.
“We must promote stronger water efficiency standards now, or we will face severe statewide water shortages and irreparable environmental damage,” said Feuer. “By setting targets on water supplies today, AB 49 will help ensure that Californians will enjoy safe, high quality water in the future.”
Read more from the California Chronicle by clicking here.
New water use rules go into effect Friday in Sacramento
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 6:06 amFrom the Sacramento Bee:
This week, Sacramentans are expected to start taking baby steps to conserve water. New rules on outdoor water use take effect Friday. The goal is to change the city’s thirsty habits and to align with watering rules that have become commonplace in California, as the state works to stretch a limited water supply.
The rules are permanent, and they start slowly. As of Friday, city residents will be banned from watering between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., when daytime heat causes more evaporation. That’s two hours more than under the old rules, which restricted watering between noon and 6 p.m. Residents still will be allowed to water only on alternate days based on address: odd addresses on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; even addresses on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday; no watering on Mondays.
Also starting Friday, it will be illegal to wash a car without having a shut-off nozzle on the hose. And cars can be washed only on designated watering days.
Sacramento has one of the highest per capita water consumption rates in the nation. Residents each consume about 280 gallons of water per day for all residential uses, compared with the state average of 192. About 65 percent of that usage in Sacramento goes for landscape irrigation, primarily lawns.
Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Metropolitan Water District rejects adding to rebate program account, orders audit
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 10, 2009 at 5:56 amFrom the Riverside Press-Enterprise:
Metropolitan Water District’s board ordered an audit after questioning the management of a regional rebate program for water-saving appliances that is $24 million in the red.
The board of directors, meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday, rejected a committee recommendation to pull money out of reserves to pay for a flurry of outstanding rebate claims incurred in the past few months, when the program had run out of money.
“This program has not been managed or monitored properly,” said board member James Blake, who represents the city of Fullerton. “We said when the money was gone, it was gone. We have not only used up the money, we are proposing to double or triple the money.”
Directors voted to have MWD’s auditor validate all pending claims to come up with an exact dollar figure, and to evaluate the best use of conservation dollars. No money will be spent until the audit is complete, according to the vote. A report is expected at the next board meeting, July 14.
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
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