Saving Water

The rain is finally here!   I’m glad because this year it has been particularly dry in Southern California.  The last heavy rain was in February 2008.  The lack of rain, combined with warm Santa Ana winds, is causing brush fires in Orange County and Los Angeles areas. It wasn’t like 2004 or 2005 when there were plenty of rainstorms in fall and winter.

With the drought, water is becoming a premium around here.  Yet I see people still set their water sprinklers of their homes for a long time, wasting so much of it.   The City is also guilty of over watering the parks!  The park behind my house had its sprinklers on for hours, and some of them were watering the road instead of the plants.

From City of Anaheim billing paper:

SAVING WATER …  A BETTER WAY OF LIFE

It may come as a surprise to you that over the past several years, imported water supplies to Southern California have been cut by 290 billion gallons. That is enough water to meet the needs of Anaheim water customers for 12 years. Current conditions are so dry that even normal rainfall this coming winter will not be of much help in breaking the drought. YOU CAN HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE by reducing your water use, particularly outdoors, where homeowners use up to 70% of their water. If everyone in Southern California cut back watering by just one day a week, we will save enough water to supply residents and businesses in Anaheim, Burbank, Long Beach and Pasadena for an entire year.

That figure, 70% of people use their water for lawns or filling up pools, is quite distressing.  Many people here can afford the premium on water here, so money is probably not the way to deter people from wasting a lot of it.  Understanding the need to conserve is the key.  More people need to spread the word and realize we need to start saving water now.

Tags: conservation, water, weather