Food for Thought
Like our use of gasoline, natural gas, electrical power (Did you know 50 percent of the electricity on the national grid is generated by coal?) and oil-based products like plastic, we Americans use water with reckless abandon. Yet, water is becoming a scarce commodity in the Bay Area these days, made worse by the drought conditions we are experiencing.
I have lived through a drought where there was no water coming from the taps at our house. Believe it or not, this was in soggy southwest Ireland (normally 60-plus inches per year) that was drought-stricken in the summer of 1984. Our well went dry like everyone else’s in the area, and the reservoir for the nearby town was empty. Water was trucked in three times a week and everyone was limited to filling containers with ten gallons each time. This went on for several weeks before the drought broke. One thing we learned is that you can get by with a tiny fraction of what you usually use. It’s amazing how far you can make ten gallons go when you have to. (We also learned how to get by without electricity, which gets blown out for days on end by frequent hurricane-force storms.)
Facing the reality of dwindling supplies since 2007, some California counties have imposed compulsory conservation measures, such as Santa Cruz County where they are limiting residential outdoor use to certain hours. (I have read that this has been very effective in reducing demand there.) Here in our county, the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) has been pushing voluntary conservation measures, and last year asked residents to reduce their use by 10 percent. However, the SCVWD has recently reported that usage only dropped by 4 percent since their 2007 request and is asking for further voluntary reductions. The SCVWD intends to launch a public awareness program next week. Given current conditions, we would all be well advised to pay close attention to this issue and make adjustments. It’s not that hard to conserve water with a small effort, and if we don’t do something voluntarily now, it won’t be long before restrictions or rationing might be imposed.
In the longer term, the SCVWD believes that given the current supply network and the rate of growth of the county, we will not be able to meet demand in 30 years without serious conservation efforts. And this is based on normal average rainfall projections. However, with prolonged drought conditions, we could already be in trouble now. That’s why it is important that everyone does what they can in their own homes to reduce usage now.
My bigger question is: How should we deal with the matter if voluntary conservation methods fail to measure up to what is required and the situation worsens? Unlike gasoline and electricity, humans must have water to survive. Therefore, some sort of restrictions or even rationing may have to be imposed and residential development may have to be put on hold indefinitely to control population growth in the Santa Clara Valley. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us if we yielded to necessity and made a concerted volunteer effort now?
Watering lawns is often cited as a waste of water. Perhaps it is. But I often wonder just how much rainfall that would otherwise percolate downward and recharge the aquifer, is instead absorbed by tree roots, drawn up into the canopy of the trees and discharged into the atmosphere as water vapor, the #1 greenhouse gas.
Maybe this craze to plant thousands of trees has a downside too?
It’s not just water shortages and energy shortages, but also our oceans are being over-fished. Look at the salmon problem.
Don’t look to our elected officials or business leaders for answers, or to even be a role model. The problem is too many people for the amount of resources on our planet.
Nancy Pelosi – five children
Arnold Schwarzenegger – four children
Dave Cortese – four children
Pete Constant – five children
Scott McNealy – four children
Al Gore – four children
George H.W. Bush – five children
Jimmy Carter – four children
Ever hear of birth control?
Growing rice in the Sacramento Valley in the summer makes no sense.
Lawns are huge water consumers.
Piping grey water throughout ther city and requiring it’s use for irrigation can help.
Turn off the shower as you soap up.
Jack, thanks for the post. Watering lawns and gardens is, by far, the biggest residential use of water. However, it’s much easier to turn off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth than it is to replace a thirsty front lawn with native plants. The changes that make the biggest impact are also the most expensive up-front: re-landscaping, replacing top-loaders with front-loading washers, replacing toilets. Low-flow showerheads are relatively inexpensive, but can take some getting used to. When you do water outside, be sure to do it in the evening instead of in the heat of the day.
And, of course, over the whole state, agricultural use of water dwarfs all other uses. It’s hard for residents to believe that they’re making a difference when cotton farmers pour federally-subsidized water all over their fields.
Ultimately, price signals are the most efficient way to encourage conservation; look at how expensive gas has changed driving habits. But huge price increases are very disruptive (as we see with that expensive gas that has changed driving habits.) Furthermore, the extra money we pay has to go somewhere. Some smug Prius drivers may be happy with $4.99 per gallon gas, but are they just as happy enriching Exxon/Mobil? The SCVWD is run by an elected board which is already committed to nearly 10% per year price increases for the foreseeable future. I doubt the voters would support even higher water rates in the name of conservation.
Jack,
Continued development in San Jose is a major part of the equation. Plans for North San Jose include approximately 32,000 new residences. At 2.5 individuals per household, that amounts to about 80,000 new water consumers, roughly equivalent to a 13% increase in our population.
Our politicians, planners and developers speak out of both sides of their mouths when they champion water conservation. Ya’ just can’t have it both ways!
For years, Monterey County has closely controlled its growth. Anecdotally, folks who live in one-bathroom homes can wait several years to get a permit to add a second bathroom.
Until I see growth restrictions, I’m unwilling to make much of a personal commitment to reducing my water consumption.
The state of New South Wales, Australia, is dealing with drought conditions there by encouraging farmers to switch to a useful, profitable low-water crop—hemp. Hemp can replace many products made from wood and oil.
On the home front, I came to the realization that I had just been turning on the shower and waiting for it to get hot, but actually running the cold water doesn’t help the water get any hotter, so now I just run the hot until it warms up. And we catch that water in a bucket, 2-3 gallons, which can be used for watering plants, flushing the toilet, etc.
We also use a bucket to collect kitchen water used for washing off vegetables, etc., which we use for plants.
European style hand showers are designed to work with lower water pressure. I stayed in an old hotel in SF a while ago where they had this kind of shower with an on/off control on the handle. This would make a very economical shower easy. How about tax breaks to install these?
European-style instant water heaters would also save water. There was a discussion about the pros and cons of these in the SF Chronicle a few weeks ago.
How about changing codes to allow capture of grey water, such as the outlet of the shower or washer, and reusing it for toilet flushing?
Certainly lawns are a waste of water. But on the other hand, we are being encouraged to plant bee-friendly gardens to build up native bee populations to replace the dwindling honey bees, so as to prevent the collapse of agriculture. But this does require a certain amount of water.
How about changing laws and encouraging the use of individual home-owner owned water tanks? The home water tank was once an icon of Australia. (It was common in SJ too, but mostly using artesian water, I think.) I notice that the city of Brisbane, Australia, also suffering from drought, is encouraging citizens to install water tanks:
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCCWR/LIB85/RAINFALL_WATERSUPPLY_FACT_SHEET.PDF
To avoid making things too complicated, perhaps home water tanks would not be used for drinking water, but for landscaping water and possibly also for washers, etc. When it rains you can collect rainwater. If it doesn’t rain, you could fill up your tank with recycled water from our state-of-the-art water recycling facility.
At present it is impractical to deliver recycled water to the individual user, but if you had a couple of 500 gallon tanks on your property, you could fill them from a tanker truck once a month, the same way they deliver home heating oil back East.
For people who think that big water tanks would look ugly, perhaps we could have a program where school children would decorate them with colorful murals.
I mentioned Australia a couple of times. They have much the same problem there so it’s worthwhile to see what the Aussies are doing—they might have some good ideas.
The entire western USA, except for the area between the Pacific and the Cascades up north, has a water problem. Stopping growth in one city or county does not solve the regional water problem. The Rio Grande no longer flows to the sea all year. Golf courses and other lawns suck up a gazillion gallons of water per week. Sprinklers all over our nation spray water that doesn’t get to the landscaping…it just flows down the drain. St, James Park along St. John street has had a leaking sprinkler for months. No-one fixes it, because whoever mows the lawn and HAS TO HAVE SEEN IT, doesn’t report it to anyone, ‘cuz “it’s not my job, man”.One of these days, all that will have to end.
#2 Greg Howe, how do you propose to stop growth? Would you like to live in a city without any economic growth, such as old manufacturing cities like Detroit? As long as jobs are being created, and there is economic growth, people are going to want to move to the area. If they can’t move here, they are going to move to Tracy and use just as much water as they would in San Jose.
The only solution is incorporate water conservation into new developments. The only effect of restricting growth in San Jose is housing prices spinning further out of control.