(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)
By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency
My mother has a favorite saying, “We all make our own hell.” Of course, what she means is that we are all ultimately accountable for the situation we find ourselves in, and it’s up to each of us to find our own solutions. When it comes to water resource management, we’re lucky to have so many options, from infrastructure improvements to leak detection, to resource management via AMR/AMI and data integration. But what if those options weren’t available? Or, even worse, illegal? That’s the case in Fresno, CA, where water meters are banned by a city charter, and residential water use flows unfettered and unrecorded, propelling Fresno to the top of the urban water users in the country. In her article, “Without Meters, Fresno Water Beyond Measure” Sasha Khokha details how Fresno has become a water meter no-man’s land. Due in no small part to a history of cheap water provided by state and federal projects, citizens of this central valley community are adamant about their right to unmetered water.
In the 1990s, while head of the city’s water department, Martin McIntyre initially succeeded in implementing a voluntary residential meter program. Although 8,000 customers agreed to install meters on their property, a “vehement group of taxpayers convinced city leaders to incorporate a ‘no meter policy’ into Fresno’s city charter.” As a result, meters were actually banned for single-family residential units and McIntyre’s department was forced to remove every single one of those 8,000 meters.
But change is coming. California legislature now requires that any city using water from federal dams must install meters by 2013—this new law deftly trumping Fresno’s existing city charter. In the meantime, water will flow unchecked, and Fresno residents will most likely continue to use—on average—290 gallons per home. The city is not completely at the mercy of unrecorded water users. Fresno employs a small group of “conservation specialists” who check leaky sprinkler systems, malfunctioning showerheads, and, even, faulty toilets. These specialists come armed with wrenches and low-flow showerheads, and their efforts do help raise awareness of the need for water conservation.
Fresno is not alone. Many cities in and out of California are only partially metered. And while water meters (and their high-tech cousins AMR and AMI) are not a cure all, one wonders how we can have any effective demand reduction strategy when we cannot even measure how much water is being used.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Water Buffaloes in the Delta
(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)
By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency
It’s a dilemma that faces many water purveyors: how to balance urban and agricultural water needs, while protecting and maintaining environmentally delicate water sources. One need only look to northern California’s Sacramento Delta for a real-world example of just how difficult it is to manage competing demands while protecting a finite resource.
In California, there has long been tension between the relatively water-rich north and the arid south. Surrounded by desert and charged with supplying water to dense urban areas, southern California depends on remote water sources to meet demand. In fact, almost 20 million state residents get at least some of their water from the Sacramento Delta—a small patch of land in the north where the ocean and rivers meet. But the Delta provides more than just drinking water; its resources support a large chunk of California’s agribusiness, and it just happens be the home of the endangered Delta Smelt. Unfortunately, the Delta is under siege—not just from urban and rural consumers, but also from rising sea levels and never-ending drought.
And while climate change, species protection, and ears that every predicted earthquake catastrophe known as “the big one” hold some sway, it’s clear that California’s big water players, known as “water buffalos,” will not sit idly by as decisions are made about the water they depend on for survival. These water buffalos—comprised of agribusiness as well as large urban centers and commercial interests—are focused on keeping the water flowing, and their needs sometimes trump future planning.
It’s a precarious situation, and the Delta’s survival depends upon how the parties involved will manage competing demands and interests. Recently, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration came up with the Deltavision Blue Ribbon Task Force in an attempt to develop a workable plan to protect the Delta and maintain the state’s water supply. The current Task Force suggestions include using recycled water for irrigation and industry, the construction of additional desalination plants, and new infrastructure in the form of reservoirs and peripheral canals. The Task Force also calls for stricter oversight of water rights permits to insure that the agricultural industry is not using more than its allocated water share.
What do you think? Can the situation in California be used as a test case for other communities similarly stuck between urban, rural, and environmental interests? And can an entity like the Delatavision Task Force really make a difference?
By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency
It’s a dilemma that faces many water purveyors: how to balance urban and agricultural water needs, while protecting and maintaining environmentally delicate water sources. One need only look to northern California’s Sacramento Delta for a real-world example of just how difficult it is to manage competing demands while protecting a finite resource.
In California, there has long been tension between the relatively water-rich north and the arid south. Surrounded by desert and charged with supplying water to dense urban areas, southern California depends on remote water sources to meet demand. In fact, almost 20 million state residents get at least some of their water from the Sacramento Delta—a small patch of land in the north where the ocean and rivers meet. But the Delta provides more than just drinking water; its resources support a large chunk of California’s agribusiness, and it just happens be the home of the endangered Delta Smelt. Unfortunately, the Delta is under siege—not just from urban and rural consumers, but also from rising sea levels and never-ending drought.
And while climate change, species protection, and ears that every predicted earthquake catastrophe known as “the big one” hold some sway, it’s clear that California’s big water players, known as “water buffalos,” will not sit idly by as decisions are made about the water they depend on for survival. These water buffalos—comprised of agribusiness as well as large urban centers and commercial interests—are focused on keeping the water flowing, and their needs sometimes trump future planning.
It’s a precarious situation, and the Delta’s survival depends upon how the parties involved will manage competing demands and interests. Recently, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration came up with the Deltavision Blue Ribbon Task Force in an attempt to develop a workable plan to protect the Delta and maintain the state’s water supply. The current Task Force suggestions include using recycled water for irrigation and industry, the construction of additional desalination plants, and new infrastructure in the form of reservoirs and peripheral canals. The Task Force also calls for stricter oversight of water rights permits to insure that the agricultural industry is not using more than its allocated water share.
What do you think? Can the situation in California be used as a test case for other communities similarly stuck between urban, rural, and environmental interests? And can an entity like the Delatavision Task Force really make a difference?
Monday, May 11, 2009
Wildfires and Water Conservation
(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)
By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency
There’s nothing like watching a water-dropping helicopter attack a seemingly impenetrable wall of fire blazing up in your own backyard to make you understand the power and fragility of water. Last week, drought conditions conspired with high winds to create a wildfire monster that threatened almost every corner of Santa Barbara—my and Water Efficiency’s hometown. As always, fire season in California—which officially starts this week—highlights the precarious situation many Southwest communities face: sprawling development in mostly desert locales with few local water sources. As ash fell in flurries and flames flashed in the foothills, water conservation morphed from smart resource management to an essential survival tactic.
As the fire whipped around the outskirts of the city’s center, officials called on residents to curtail water usage and practice conservation. With five air tankers (including the DC10) and 10 helicopters, it was easy to see that our local reservoirs—already adversely affected by extreme weather and increased demand—would be stretched to their limit. In fact, as local water utilities calculated the fire’s potential effects on water supplies, the call was put out for an immediate stop to all non-essential water usage, including car-washing, laundry, and landscape irrigation.
Of course, in Santa Barbara—as in many southern Californian communities—homes sit alongside wildland vegetation, and, as a result, irrigation and landscaping can alternately save or condemn your home. According to scientists at the Center for Fire Research and Outreach at UC Berkley, this wild-urban interface is where “wildfires post the biggest risk to people and structures.” Water deprived landscaping only ups the ante, and so smart irrigation techniques—including drought-resistant vegetation and xeriscaping—not only save water, but also can provide extra protection during wildfire season.
And for those of us in southern California, fire season is starting to feel like a year-round phenomenon. In Santa Barbara alone, the community has battled several large-scale blazes over the last three years, including the summer-long Zaca fire, last year’s Gap fire, and the devastating Tea fire that raged in our foothills just six months ago. For a great blow-by-blow account of the Tea fire, see John Trotti’s November blog, “Southern California Fires”.
What about after the fire? Janice Kaspersen, editor of Water Efficiency’s sister publication, Erosion Control, discusses just that in her blog “Fire Season: Planning for What Comes Next”. Janice includes a healthy list of some of Erosion Control's wildfire-related articles, which provide a nice background if you’re interested in learning about the relationship between water quality and soil erosion.
With 8,733 acres burned so far and an estimated cost of over $10 million, the Jesusita Fire will be legendary, but thanks to the heroic efforts of firefighters, complete devastation and annihilation was kept at bay. With evacuation orders lifted and most of us back in our own homes, the immediacy has faded, but I hope the lesson remains: Water conservation must be practiced in times of crisis, but every day we must strive to employ smart and efficient practices to conserve and protect our water resources.
By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency
There’s nothing like watching a water-dropping helicopter attack a seemingly impenetrable wall of fire blazing up in your own backyard to make you understand the power and fragility of water. Last week, drought conditions conspired with high winds to create a wildfire monster that threatened almost every corner of Santa Barbara—my and Water Efficiency’s hometown. As always, fire season in California—which officially starts this week—highlights the precarious situation many Southwest communities face: sprawling development in mostly desert locales with few local water sources. As ash fell in flurries and flames flashed in the foothills, water conservation morphed from smart resource management to an essential survival tactic.
As the fire whipped around the outskirts of the city’s center, officials called on residents to curtail water usage and practice conservation. With five air tankers (including the DC10) and 10 helicopters, it was easy to see that our local reservoirs—already adversely affected by extreme weather and increased demand—would be stretched to their limit. In fact, as local water utilities calculated the fire’s potential effects on water supplies, the call was put out for an immediate stop to all non-essential water usage, including car-washing, laundry, and landscape irrigation.
Of course, in Santa Barbara—as in many southern Californian communities—homes sit alongside wildland vegetation, and, as a result, irrigation and landscaping can alternately save or condemn your home. According to scientists at the Center for Fire Research and Outreach at UC Berkley, this wild-urban interface is where “wildfires post the biggest risk to people and structures.” Water deprived landscaping only ups the ante, and so smart irrigation techniques—including drought-resistant vegetation and xeriscaping—not only save water, but also can provide extra protection during wildfire season.
And for those of us in southern California, fire season is starting to feel like a year-round phenomenon. In Santa Barbara alone, the community has battled several large-scale blazes over the last three years, including the summer-long Zaca fire, last year’s Gap fire, and the devastating Tea fire that raged in our foothills just six months ago. For a great blow-by-blow account of the Tea fire, see John Trotti’s November blog, “Southern California Fires”.
What about after the fire? Janice Kaspersen, editor of Water Efficiency’s sister publication, Erosion Control, discusses just that in her blog “Fire Season: Planning for What Comes Next”. Janice includes a healthy list of some of Erosion Control's wildfire-related articles, which provide a nice background if you’re interested in learning about the relationship between water quality and soil erosion.
With 8,733 acres burned so far and an estimated cost of over $10 million, the Jesusita Fire will be legendary, but thanks to the heroic efforts of firefighters, complete devastation and annihilation was kept at bay. With evacuation orders lifted and most of us back in our own homes, the immediacy has faded, but I hope the lesson remains: Water conservation must be practiced in times of crisis, but every day we must strive to employ smart and efficient practices to conserve and protect our water resources.
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