Water Woes

It's only one year.  The real water wasters are the water managers who drained Folsom and the other lakes before coming to their senses and actually looking at the damage they were causing.  Just about any of the water districts up in the hills have decent levels because they were not the mindless bureaucrats "just following orders" with the seasonal releases.  There always was plenty of water, just not plenty of sound resource management.  Why should I have to pay the price for their screw-ups? 

All they have to do is put in a moratorium on any new hook ups and I'll know they are serious in conservation. 

BTW, when water authorities threaten us with rate increases in order to control use, just who gets all that extra money they collect?  We have a drought and they charge more, and get rich?   Now THERE is a good business plan.  Especially when it's not like we, customers, can just go buy our water from another vendor. 

Critical infrastructure, like water, electricity, gas, needs strict regulation.  Where is the regulations for their mismanagement of water flows that got us into a mess with just one year of low rain.  And speaking of low rain amounts, we are about 50% of normal.  Really, we can't handle even one year of 50% normal rain without all the drama we are being fed?  The authorities what to get more money while delivering less product and we are all drinking their kool-aide....   

After spending a week in Long Beach last week,  You'd never know there was a water shortage of any sort.   That area just pulled out of a major rain storm when I arrived.  The ground was still saturated.     Yet,  sprinklers were flowing, water running down the gutters daily.  Even the shower in my hotel room with no way to slow the ridiculously heavy flow was almost enough to make you want to scream.      I think the mindset there isn't quite in sync with us up north.

     

It's only one year.  The real water wasters are the water managers who drained Folsom and the other lakes before coming to their senses and actually looking at the damage they were causing.  Just about any of the water districts up in the hills have decent levels because they were not the mindless bureaucrats "just following orders" with the seasonal releases.  There always was plenty of water, just not plenty of sound resource management.  Why should I have to pay the price for their screw-ups? 

All they have to do is put in a moratorium on any new hook ups and I'll know they are serious in conservation. 

BTW, when water authorities threaten us with rate increases in order to control use, just who gets all that extra money they collect?  We have a drought and they charge more, and get rich?   Now THERE is a good business plan.  Especially when it's not like we, customers, can just go buy our water from another vendor. 

Critical infrastructure, like water, electricity, gas, needs strict regulation.  Where is the regulations for their mismanagement of water flows that got us into a mess with just one year of low rain.  And speaking of low rain amounts, we are about 50% of normal.  Really, we can't handle even one year of 50% normal rain without all the drama we are being fed?  The authorities what to get more money while delivering less product and we are all drinking their kool-aide....   

Who's getting rich of this?  I'd really like to know which companies are going to benefit from this to the "rich" level and then I'll go invest in them.  But I don't think that is happening.

One of the issues was that going in to February, we were at closer to 20% of normal rain at a time when the chance of big storms coming through was diminishing.  We got lucky with 2 really big storms in February.  And BTW, this drought started at the end of last winter so it is stretching more than a year now.

Through my own experience of reducing my water use, I don't feel like my lifestyle is being shortchanged.  I think before this I just didn't have a focus on water use, and now that I do, life is no different for me, except I use less water.

-Allen

I sadly think that our rain for this year is thru & we are (and will continue to be) in a world of hurd for another 9+ months.

I sadly think that our rain for this year is thru & we are (and will continue to be) in a world of hurd for another 9+ months.

In Santa Cruz we often get rain in April, but not our "fill the reservoirs, gully washer" type events.
Last weekend the MBAP allowed backyard burning of yard waste and I was on it Sat & Sun, since the burn season will likely end April 1st, and I kinda doubt the conditions will be right (over a weekend) again before it closes.

Through my own experience of reducing my water use, I don't feel like my lifestyle is being shortchanged.  I think before this I just didn't have a focus on water use, and now that I do, life is no different for me, except I use less water.

-Allen

And that is exactly why the water managers created this 'perfect storm'; (probably been waiting for years for a good drought to spring their plan) You use less product, will have to pay more in all sorts of water conservation projects (just wait, rates are going up to pay for all their projects they have in mind) and in the meantime will hit the rate payers with a surcharge.  So where is that surcharge money going?  Who gets THAT??!!  More money, less water.  Great formula. 

I am in El Dorado County.  EID water (El Dorado Irrigation District)  I went to their meeting on Monday.  I asked why they are declaring a drought.  They are NOT declaring a drought.   I then asked why they are asking us to conserve and threatening us with a surcharge if we don't.  They said it was because of the rest of the state. 

I asked what EID charged for a new hook up.  EID charges between $18,000 and $32,000 to connect a new customer to their water system.  Every new home is going to pay that fee.  So now we have a housing bubble; no new homes being built, no new hookups and meters at roughly $20K each.  This after a good couple decades of robust construction.  Like a drug addict, they need their cash flow.  I know exactly what they 'need'.  They need us to conserve so they can sell that water to other water districts.  And if we don't, they will slap us with a surcharge, even though, in their own words, we are not in a drought. 

From EID's own website;
EID Board Asks For Voluntary Water Conservation, Stops Short of Declaring Drought So Far

Yeah, I hear you Jerry.  My local water company, San Jose Water Company, is proposing a 44% increase in rates for the next 3 years to "recover lost profits".  The rate increases for the past decade have outpaced inflation by almost 2X.

-Allen

Part of the 'problem' is with the feds.  For decades, we had fresh, free running water.  Then the 'govamint' steps in and tells the local water companies they have to cover and line their water storage instead of having ponds and open canals.  That may be what is needed in other, more densely populated communities, but in rural areas, like El Dorado County where we live on acreage and agriculture, it ends up costing a fortune in order to build up that kind of water system, and it's just not needed. 
How to arid countries like Israel make their water available and cost effective?  They use a lot of desalinization. 
If the money for the twin pipelines through the delta were instead used for desalting sea water, the costs wouldn't be any worse and there would be no shortage of the raw material.  Our government does things the way they do in order to perpetuate their existence, not to reduce it.     

That being said, none of this points to there NOT being a drought problem (or a potential for a drought problem) this year.

-Allen

I'm down in SLO county but we're trying to do our part. Low flow shower head with a reduction washer for even less flow. Wife and I shower together  and only once every other day or so unless we're doing serious labor. Just got a newer more efficient washer and we only do completely full loads of clothes. Fixed a small leak I found on an outside faucet. We came up with a fairly clever way of recycling any wasted water in the garden this year. We've got a raised bed/retaining wall kind of setup. I buried heavy black plastic 4' under the soil in a bowl shape and ran a piece of 4" diameter pvc through the retaining wall to the collection point in the plastic. Any water that filters down more than 4' runs through the pvc into a collection trough that we use for the potted plants. Our grass is completely brown already and the runoff from our washing machine goes to the rose bushes.

Our usage is extremely low and even though I rent and don't pay for water I'm glad I can do something. Meanwhile my neighbor (shared plot but separated fenced off yards with a main house & a separate granny unit) has beautifully green grass that gets probably an hour of watering a day and decided to wash their car, truck and MOTORHOME this last weekend. Apparently the water isn't separately metered for the different houses and now my landlord is talking about wanting to charge me for water usage. Needless to say I am less than pleased.

Rain Barrel Rebates. Has anyone installed rain barrel collection systems? I had been thinking about it for over a year. They last week I got a letter from the ACWD. They are giving rebates for installing rain barrels. The rebates are $50/barrel, 2 barrel max. Other counties are participating too.

I ordered 2 from Amazon. Should be here tomorrow. I'm about to install the diverter in a few minutes.

Here's the link...

Rain Barrel Rebates

All you need is some rain to collect now.

All you need is some rain to collect now.

Yeah, I was thinking that once I get the barrels set up it wont rain until at least December. lol

We purchased and installed a circulating pump with a timer for our hot water line.

Between the hours of 4:AM - 7:AM and 5:PM to 7:PM we have hot water instantly saving the waste of running the tap until the water warms up.

Really nice on cold mornings.

Easy install and available online or at Depot, Longs, Ace, etc.

All new homes should be required to have these in Calif.