California Water Crisis: We are in Dire Straits!

JUST SAYIN’-James Baldwin once exclaimed:  “God gave Moses the rainbow sign—No more water!  The fire next time!” 

Were he alive now, he would see just how prescient his words were (although, perhaps, for slightly different reasons). 

Don’t think for a moment that water rationing isn’t on the horizon!  It really is just a matter of time.  It is no longer only environmentalists who are sounding the alarm.  Officials representing every level of government, especially in California, are harbingers of the consequences of a drought that is currently upon us--not sometime in the future, but now!  What is worse is that contemporaneous scientists are saying, rather unequivocally, that our drought is not ephemeral but here to stay for at least a decade to come.  We cannot afford to ignore their warnings. 

If people do not voluntarily reduce their own personal and commercial water usage, it will be required of us.  There are a number of ways this can be accomplished.  Severe penalties can accrue for people who disregard the voluntary warnings that are being signaled now.  

People who have invested a good deal into their landscaping, which was perhaps designed to emulate the flora in other climates, might certainly complain that they will not be able to sustain (under water-rationing) their expensive gardens, but they will have to figure out a way to accommodate the ever-worsening drought.  Commercial and residential consumers will see added fees tacked onto their bills if they are out of compliance with the new regulations that are or will be going into effect once a variety of measures are implemented. 

According to Department of Water Resources Director, Mark Cowin, “This is not a coming crisis. . . .  This is a current crisis!”  Water departments throughout the region simply can no longer put off what must be addressed now.  There will be zero water allocations (that will be reassessed monthly) which means that the State Water Project “may be unable to make any [water] deliveries except to maintain public health and safety.”

Governor Brown declared only Wednesday that we will have to reduce our water usage by 25%!  According to his executive order, the following will take place: 

•  significant cuts to irrigating golf courses, school campuses, and cemeteries 

• 50 million square feet of lawns will have to be replaced by drought-tolerant landscaping (LADWP presently has a plan by which a client can get financial relief and assistance when replacing their lawns with native plant, drought-resistant, low-water use vegetation) 

• statewide consumer rebate programs to replace water-wasteful old appliances 

• water-efficient drip irrigation systems will replace the traditional sprinkler-head types 

• banning the watering  of “ornamental” landscaping on street meridians (where we often see water run-off now) 

• agricultural water users will find that rules against illegal diversions and waste will be strongly enforced 

San Francisco (and possibly Los Angeles and Long Beach in the near future) will be installing smart digital meters that can send data directly to the power company about the amount of water being used and can alert the consumer if over-consumption of water is a problem.  

There is also a new technology which can separate the meter read between use inside the house (or commercial property) and outside.  That way, the consumer will have an improved understanding of where their consumption is greater and thus obtain a better idea of how to moderate their usage. 

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It will take 11 trillion gallons of water for California to recover from this drought emergency!  The fact is that none of the other states in our nation facing drought conditions will have to deal with the kind of severity that California will. We must again be the leaders in this effort.  We cannot rely on what others may do.  The burden is on us to save us! 

Thus, we must all do our parts voluntarily, if possible.  Otherwise, we will be subject to mandatory regulations that will carry with them a variety of hefty penalties.  Below is a partial list of often “simple” measures that we can take at this difficult time to reduce our water burden on the State.  Keep in mind that many of these suggestions come with generous rebate programs from various levels of government: 

• sponge baths instead of daily showers; shower time can be kept to a minimum (turning off the shower heads while soaping up always helps—many other countries do this as a normal practice) 

• replace water-depleting toilets with low-water use models; “when it’s yellow, let it mellow; when it’s brown, flush it down”—you’d be surprised 

• hot-water returns which warm faucet water quickly, preventing waste 

• replacing inefficient appliances that use a lot of water:  dish washer, washing machines, refrigerators 

•  replacing old pool pumps with upgrades 

• using pool covers to keep water from evaporating as quickly 

Many of these efficiencies can be further rewarded with tax credits (see your tax advisor). 

In the meantime, even if our snowpack grew in depth, the proliferation of bark beetles (because of the dryness) has killed off many of our mountain-top trees whose roots have always been depended on to hold in the melting snow like a sponge.  What will happen without these vital trees will be evaporation of the snow, a situation which will, in turn, vastly reduce the amount of potable water we can consume at lower ground levels. 

Let us heed James Baldwin’s words.  Kicking the can down the road has only brought it back to our street, to our front doors.  We must take this problem seriously.  And whether you believe this issue is a product of global warming from personal, national, and international irresponsibilities or whether they can be blamed on natural earth cycles, the problem is here and if we are to survive (living our current lifestyles), we must act now in a positive, perhaps courageous, but most definitely a sensible and conscientious way! 

Just sayin’.

 

For more information, contact the following:

 

• LADWP Consumer Rebate Program: 800-374-2224
• California Friendly Landscape Incentive Program: 1-800-342-5397

 

(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Alliance. Jenkins has written A Quick-and-Easy Reference to Correct Grammar and Composition, Leticia in Her Wedding Dress and Other Poems, and Vignettes for Understanding Literary and Related Concepts.  She also writes for CityWatch. Views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of CityWatch.)  

-cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 28

Pub: Apr 3, 2015