[Sosfbay-discuss] Article: Time to cut back on water in Santa Clara Valley

[JamBoi]

As if Wes' points needed any further illustration. 
now this from the SCVWater District:

Green is Health!

Drew

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6128589?source=rss
Article: Time to cut back on water in Santa Clara
Valley
Time to cut back on water in Santa Clara Valley
DISTRICT ASKS RESIDENTS TO TRIM 10 PERCENT
By Paul Rogers and Julie Sevrens Lyons
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:06/ 13/2007 01:37:14 AM PDT

Citing a dry winter and problems with supplies from
San Francisco Bay's delta, the Santa Clara Valley
Water District Tuesday asked its 1.7 million customers
to voluntarily cut their water use by 10 percent.

The request takes effect immediately and will continue
until the end of the year. It marks the first time
since 1994 that the San Jose-based district has asked
for voluntary conservation. 

South Bay residents can meet the target by watering
lawns at night instead of in the day and by installing
low-flow shower heads, water-efficient toilets and
washing machines, said district spokeswoman Susan
Siravo. The district provides rebates of $100 or more
to help purchase water-saving appliances. 

The decision follows similar requests this spring by
water agencies in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles,
Santa Cruz and other areas. Santa Clara Valley water
officials have said in recent months that cutbacks -
voluntary or mandatory - were unnecessary in the South
Bay because the area is blessed with large groundwater
aquifers, which are full after more than a decade of
rainy winters. 

But the decision two weeks ago by state officials to
shut off the massive pumps at the State Water Project
near Tracy to protect the delta smelt, a two-inch
endangered fish, provided a wake-up call.

"That definitely was the trigger," Siravo said. "We
are not sure what's going to happen with the pumps in
the near future. We felt this was the proper time to
ask people to conserve." 

California is a state with a Mediterranean climate.
Much of it, including San Jose, receives about 15
inches of rain a year, the same as Morocco. For the
last 15 years, Northern Californians have gotten off
easy with year after year of normal or above-normal
rainfall. 

The last time there was mandatory water rationing in
Santa Clara County was during the 1987-1992 drought,
when a 25 percent reduction was imposed in 1991.

Siravo said mandatory rationing is not on the table.
"That hasn't been discussed as of yet," she said. "It
could change." 

Although the state Department of Water Resources
turned on the delta pumps on Sunday, they remain at 10
percent flows while biologists wait for the endangered
smelt to complete an annual migration away from the
lethal intake systems. 

Santa Clara County gets roughly 50 percent of its
drinking water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta. The other half comes from local groundwater
sources.

In addition to rebates for water efficient appliances,
the district - which estimates it will lose $6 million
in water sales from the voluntary cutbacks - offers
free water audits of homes and businesses. It also has
set up a water conservation hotline at (408) 265-2607,
extension 2554. And it has posted water-saving tips at
www.valleywater. org.

It's unclear yet whether people in other areas are
embracing voluntary conservation. But water districts
are working hard to put the best face on their public
relations efforts. 

Consider:
The East Bay Municipal Utilities District asked for a
10 percent voluntary cutback from its customers on
April 24. In May, its customers consumed 233 million
gallons of water a day - the same as last May and more
than in 2005, when consumption totaled 205 million
gallons a day. But district spokesman Charles Hardy
said his agency had hoped to reduce water use by
10,000 acre-feet by Oct. 1, and already it has cut
3,400 acre-feet toward that total. 

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which
supplies water from the Hetch Hetchy system to 2.4
million people in San Francisco and the Peninsula,
asked for a 10 percent voluntary cutback on April 11.
District officials reported Tuesday that water use in
their district from May 29 to June 4 was 11 percent
lower than the same week in 2004, a somewhat dry year.


But 2004 saw the highest demand for water in the San
Francisco PUC service area than any time back to at
least 1993. The agency's customers used more water
this March and April than they did in March and April
of 2006, 2005, 2003, 1998 and 1995, all of which were
wetter years. But they used more water this March and
April than in March and April of 1994, a similarly dry
year to 2007. 

"It's early in the season," said Michael Carlin,
assistant general manager of the San Francisco PUC.
"This is a long process. Saving water is like keeping
money in the bank for us. This voluntary reduction is
very real." 

In Santa Cruz, where it is now against the law for
residents to water their lawns from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
conservation is something many residents are thinking
about once again, said Toby Goddard, the city's water
conservation manager. 

So far, no tickets have been issued.

"We receive daily reports of people who are either
watering at the wrong time or wasting water," Goddard
said. "We try to get their attention and have them
correct the situation." 
____________ _________ _________ __
Contact Paul Rogers at progers at mercurynews .com or
(408) 920-5045.

___________________

JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

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"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)


       
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