San Diego – Recent Rainfall Does Not Relieve Need for Conservation.
December 2nd, 2008 categories: Local San Diego News You Can Use, Market and Forecast Updates For San Diego, San Diego Mortgage Banks and Loans Info, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News
San Diego Water Supply
Finally San Diego got some rain. Over 2 inches of it in most places last week. But don’t let this lull you into thinking that the need for water conservation has somehow ended. It hasn’t.
The reservoirs are very low, there are going to be cutbacks in the supply of water we purchase, the water rates are going up again and we will not be able to fill the need for water.
So what does all this mean to you the consumer here in San Diego? It spells the greater possibility of M-A-D-A-T-O-R-Y water restrictions.
For a lot of years running, San Diego, in fact all of California’s population has been exploding. Developments of every sort are filling up the land. People have been migrating in large numbers to California. Meanwhile, we have not added one sustainable drop of water to the supply.
It has to strike you ( sooner if not later ) that with our droughts and no other means for water, at some point there won’t be enough to spread around. Thinking you might need to shower with bottled water from Costco. Not going to happen.
There must be ways to cut back on consumption voluntarily or the alternative way, if there is any hope of stretching supplies. So it’s either we do it voluntarily or it will be mandated. The former would be preferable to having your water supplies cut off or greatly curtailed.
Here are some ideas to help you -there are a lot of other ways to cut down your water usage.
- When running water to get to the hot water – don’t let that water go down the drain. Capture it in buckets for use on your plans for your landscaping.
- Turn off the water when brushing your teeth.
- Fix leaking faucets or toilets that continue to run.
- Take shorter showers.
- In all flow restrictors on all faucets and showers.
- Replace the old toilets with new low flow toilets.
- Cut your yard watering down by one half.
- Use a car washing service that recycles their water use.
- Use the dishwasher only when full – same with the clothes washer.
- Replace a portion on the lawn with drought resistant plants and use mulch around trees and shrubs to keep the moisture from elaborating.
We must all take this seriously if we are going to affect the outcome anytime soon. It is not going to easier by delaying this. We either cut back or they will cut out. You get to choose. I hope you will choose wisely.
Hi William,
As you already know, we don’t have water shortages in the Seattle area but we do have other compensating issues. I once lived in Marin County near San Francisco when we experienced severe water problems. We were on water rationing where there was no washing of cars, watering lawns or even flushing the toilet after every use.
I remember traveling to Orange County and was shocked to see that water was not an issue at all. They were filling Lake Mission Viejo at the time and water was running down the streets from lawn sprinklers. I could hardly believe I was in the same state.
With your growing population you are right about your water issues. It’s time to pay serious attention to this valuable resource.
Hello Greg, Thanks for commenting. The city is working on the final draft of a plan for mandatory water cutbacks. Our only hope of avoiding the harsh cutbacks this summer will be if we are lucky enough to get some heavy snow pack in the Sierras. While there is a least of modicum of a chance, my belief is that rationing will actually come to fruition and our citizens of San Diego county are going to see some tough measures that will at the very least will be uncomfortable. Because San Diego has to buy most of its water and environmentalists have opposed the one bright spots on water supply issues,Desalination plants , we will see in time whether citizens will insist on new some new ways of obtaining water. I suppose it will take some pretty severe restrictions before folks rally around the idea that we have plenty of water all around us and need to approve ways to access it. I have written about the Carlsbad Desalination plant in previous posts here and even after they have been put through the paces and received final approval to bring the plant online in 2009/2010, they are still being besieged with lawsuits by environmental groups to stall construction. We need to get on with it and build more of these desalination plants so that we rely less on purchasing the ever diminishing supplies from other areas. In the meantime, San Diego will feel the pinch pretty hard and that may bring on the change that is needed of the old paradigms. Thanks again for sharing your experience here with my readers.
I have read a few of your posts and they are all interesting and informative…keep up the good work.