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SAWHORSE
In California, Saving Water Is All Over the Map
http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-california-saving-water-is-all-over-the-map-1418062558
ROCKLIN, Calif.—With this state’s drought entering its fourth year, orders for urban water districts to curb their use have met wildly uneven results, with some places barely conserving at all and others soundly exceeding statewide averages.
In the latter category is this Sacramento suburb, which since Jan. 1 has cut its water use by one-third—by ripping out grass,letting some parks go brown and closing three water parks. “It was really a sad and hard decision,” Carol Ann Whiteman, public services business manager for Rocklin, said of closing the parks where children go to cool down every summer.
In San Diego County’s Santa Fe Irrigation District, meanwhile, year-over-year monthly water use actually rose 9.4% in October after dipping 1.5% in September, according to State Water Resources Control Board estimates. District spokeswoman Jessica Parks said the Santa Fe district has a challenge reducing water use because its service area includes many “landscaped estate lots,” but she added that the district has cut water demand 20% overall since 2007 through conservation and other measures, and plans to do more.
By contrast, the Placer County Water Agency that includes Rocklin cut use by 13.5% and 11.4% during September and October, when the statewide urban average was reductions of 10.3% and 6.7%, respectively.
State officials in July ordered the more than 400 urban water districts to curb their use because voluntary cutbacks of 20% called for by Gov. Jerry Brown last January failed to produce much savings. Now some places are tightening the screws: The Las Virgenes MunicipalWater District in Southern California plans to put households on strict water budgets in 2015,imposing financial penalties should they exceed them.
Water use in the Las Virgenes district, which also has estate-sized homes, dipped 1.6%
in September and 6.8% in October, amid a series of conservation measures including rebates to replace lawn grass.Las Virgenes spokesman Jeff Reinhardt said one reason usage hasn’t gone down more is that some communities place restrictions on homeowners, such as banning the use of artificial turf. “We even offered people signs [promoting water conservation], but some cities don’t allow yard signs,” Mr. Reinhardt said.
State water officials say the agencies are generally headed in the right direction and that they plan to monitor implementation of the mandates over the next few months to determine iffurther restrictions are needed.
The moves to conserve come as a series of storms have drenched California in recent weeks, giving water managers hope that drought conditions may ease if the wetweather continues. Still, with reservoirs standing at as little as one-fifth of capacity entering the critical rainy season, the urban conservation measures are more important than ever, said Max Gomberg, senior environmental scientist at the State Water Resources Control Board. “Every drop matters,” Mr. Gomberg said.
Rocklin,for its part,is showing other cities how to do it—with a 32% reduction in annual municipal water use through September, compared with the same period last year, according to city records.
One reason is that the city of 60,000, at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was an early adopter of conservation measures. Rocklin began replacing turf on medians and other open landscaped areas with more drought-tolerant plants and shrubs 16 years ago after a drought, said Ron Patten, the city’s landscape maintenance supervisor. The new vegetation, along with installation of more efficient irrigation equipment, uses 40% to 50% less water, he said. “The impetus for it is water savings,” Mr.Patten said.
Since 1998, Rocklin has ripped out 1.3 million square feet of grass, with an additional 300,000 square feet planned for replacement by 2016—in all, the equivalent of 28 football fields. Through September of this year, the new landscaping consumed 42.9 million fewer gallons of water, or 17.6% less than by the same time last year, city records show.
While many residents say they like the new landscaping, closure of Rocklin’s three water parks was less popular.Mayor Scott Yuill said the so-called “spraygrounds” were “a pure waste of water.” But Michelle Fritsch, a 40-year-old mother of two, said the move meant keeping her young children indoors more. “You’re not going to come out in the heat unless there’s water,” said Ms.Fritsch, a teacher who lives in neighboring Roseville.
The city hasn’t been the only water saver here. Since 2013, the Springfield at Whitney Oaks seniors community has used state grants to outfit 168 ofits 868 single-family homes with new irrigation controllers that operate sprinklers more efficiently, said John Cara,landscape chairman.Mr. Cara, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, practices conservation at home, taking three-minute “Navy showers.” His wife, Debbie, hasn’t quite bought into that part of conservation, he said. “She told me she is an Army wife, but not in the Army,” said Mr. Cara, 71.
Sierra College, meanwhile, has installed low-flow shower heads and waterless urinals, said Colin Irwin, the Rocklin school’s deputy director of plant operations.With 33 new urinals saving as much as 40,000 gallons a year each in flushes, he said, the community college plans to replace 100 more. It has seen its water bill drop by more than 12% from last year, he said.Mr. Irwin said there is more support for such conservation steps these days than when he began replacing turf on the campus 15 years ago. “Some people,” he said, “thought I was being subversive.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-california-saving-water-is-all-over-the-map-1418062558
ROCKLIN, Calif.—With this state’s drought entering its fourth year, orders for urban water districts to curb their use have met wildly uneven results, with some places barely conserving at all and others soundly exceeding statewide averages.
In the latter category is this Sacramento suburb, which since Jan. 1 has cut its water use by one-third—by ripping out grass,letting some parks go brown and closing three water parks. “It was really a sad and hard decision,” Carol Ann Whiteman, public services business manager for Rocklin, said of closing the parks where children go to cool down every summer.
In San Diego County’s Santa Fe Irrigation District, meanwhile, year-over-year monthly water use actually rose 9.4% in October after dipping 1.5% in September, according to State Water Resources Control Board estimates. District spokeswoman Jessica Parks said the Santa Fe district has a challenge reducing water use because its service area includes many “landscaped estate lots,” but she added that the district has cut water demand 20% overall since 2007 through conservation and other measures, and plans to do more.
By contrast, the Placer County Water Agency that includes Rocklin cut use by 13.5% and 11.4% during September and October, when the statewide urban average was reductions of 10.3% and 6.7%, respectively.
State officials in July ordered the more than 400 urban water districts to curb their use because voluntary cutbacks of 20% called for by Gov. Jerry Brown last January failed to produce much savings. Now some places are tightening the screws: The Las Virgenes MunicipalWater District in Southern California plans to put households on strict water budgets in 2015,imposing financial penalties should they exceed them.
Water use in the Las Virgenes district, which also has estate-sized homes, dipped 1.6%
in September and 6.8% in October, amid a series of conservation measures including rebates to replace lawn grass.Las Virgenes spokesman Jeff Reinhardt said one reason usage hasn’t gone down more is that some communities place restrictions on homeowners, such as banning the use of artificial turf. “We even offered people signs [promoting water conservation], but some cities don’t allow yard signs,” Mr. Reinhardt said.
State water officials say the agencies are generally headed in the right direction and that they plan to monitor implementation of the mandates over the next few months to determine iffurther restrictions are needed.
The moves to conserve come as a series of storms have drenched California in recent weeks, giving water managers hope that drought conditions may ease if the wetweather continues. Still, with reservoirs standing at as little as one-fifth of capacity entering the critical rainy season, the urban conservation measures are more important than ever, said Max Gomberg, senior environmental scientist at the State Water Resources Control Board. “Every drop matters,” Mr. Gomberg said.
Rocklin,for its part,is showing other cities how to do it—with a 32% reduction in annual municipal water use through September, compared with the same period last year, according to city records.
One reason is that the city of 60,000, at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was an early adopter of conservation measures. Rocklin began replacing turf on medians and other open landscaped areas with more drought-tolerant plants and shrubs 16 years ago after a drought, said Ron Patten, the city’s landscape maintenance supervisor. The new vegetation, along with installation of more efficient irrigation equipment, uses 40% to 50% less water, he said. “The impetus for it is water savings,” Mr.Patten said.
Since 1998, Rocklin has ripped out 1.3 million square feet of grass, with an additional 300,000 square feet planned for replacement by 2016—in all, the equivalent of 28 football fields. Through September of this year, the new landscaping consumed 42.9 million fewer gallons of water, or 17.6% less than by the same time last year, city records show.
While many residents say they like the new landscaping, closure of Rocklin’s three water parks was less popular.Mayor Scott Yuill said the so-called “spraygrounds” were “a pure waste of water.” But Michelle Fritsch, a 40-year-old mother of two, said the move meant keeping her young children indoors more. “You’re not going to come out in the heat unless there’s water,” said Ms.Fritsch, a teacher who lives in neighboring Roseville.
The city hasn’t been the only water saver here. Since 2013, the Springfield at Whitney Oaks seniors community has used state grants to outfit 168 ofits 868 single-family homes with new irrigation controllers that operate sprinklers more efficiently, said John Cara,landscape chairman.Mr. Cara, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, practices conservation at home, taking three-minute “Navy showers.” His wife, Debbie, hasn’t quite bought into that part of conservation, he said. “She told me she is an Army wife, but not in the Army,” said Mr. Cara, 71.
Sierra College, meanwhile, has installed low-flow shower heads and waterless urinals, said Colin Irwin, the Rocklin school’s deputy director of plant operations.With 33 new urinals saving as much as 40,000 gallons a year each in flushes, he said, the community college plans to replace 100 more. It has seen its water bill drop by more than 12% from last year, he said.Mr. Irwin said there is more support for such conservation steps these days than when he began replacing turf on the campus 15 years ago. “Some people,” he said, “thought I was being subversive.”