You are now in San Diego County category.

Dear Drought Fighter: Short Shower Savings Add Up

Q: Why are we asked to limit showers? Are the water savings significant or is it more to conserve energy in heating the water? Dennis C., Solana Beach

 

A: Changing showering habits can absolutely reduce water and energy consumption. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that showering accounts for 17 percent of total indoor water use at the average home — and that’s a lot of water when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of families countywide. Because the energy used to transport, treat and heat water is also significant, shorter showers conserve that resource as well.

Carlsbad Plant Brings Ocean Water to Your Tap

Jennifer Jones held out a plastic cup of water to a visitor.

 

The water was crystal clear and tasted fresh and pure, as if it had been poured from a bottle of spring water. There was nothing to suggest that as recently as one hour earlier, that water had been pulled from the ocean by powerful pumps.

 

Jones, a spokeswoman for Poseidon Water, was taking a reporter on a tour of the new seawater desalination plant on the Carlsbad coast, which officially went online Dec. 23 after a 15-year planning, permitting, design and construction process. The $800 million plant is expected to provide between 7 and 10 percent of San Diego County’s drinking water for at least the next 30 years.

El Niño Inspires Hope of ‘Major Dent’ In Drought, But Empty Reservoirs Point to Long Recovery

After months of warnings by some officials that El Niño and winter rains were far from certain, the bounty of storms plowing through Northern California has opened hope that there could be a huge improvement in the state’s severe drought by spring.