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To encourage water conservation as drought conditions persist, North County water district offer discounted rain barrels to area residents. Photo: Solana Center

Water Districts Offer Discounted Rain Barrels

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Due to the persistence of California’s unprecedented megadrought, capturing rainfall when it occurs is a conservation priority. Several water districts in North San Diego County are offering discounted rain barrels.

To encourage water conservation as drought conditions persist, the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, Carlsbad Municipal Water District, San Dieguito Water District, and Santa Fe Irrigation District, are offering discounted rain barrels to area residents.

Collecting rainwater for future use saves both potable water and consumer costs. Capturing rainwater also reduces irrigation runoff that can carry pollutants into local waterways and beaches. This is especially true in the “first flush” of the rain season currently underway.

Capture the rain

Fifty-gallon barrels are on sale for $97, with a final cost of $62 after a $35 rebate from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Rebates on rain barrels and other water-saving measures are available at www.SoCalWaterSmart.com.

Rain barrels ordered through November 30 will be available for pick up at the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation at 137 North El Camino Real in Encinitas. Visit the Solana Center’s website for more information and to place your order.

Rain barrels conserve water for Watersmart landscape maintenance

Although San Diego County’s average rainfall in normal seasons is just under ten inches annually, even light rain can provide enough water for later use. A roof with a 2,000-square-foot surface area can capture 300 gallons from only a quarter inch of rain.

Rain Barrels-Drought-Water Conservation

Stored water can be released gradually into Watersmart landscaping between winter rainstorms, building up the soil sponge and ensuring that native plants get adequate water during the winter months when they need it most. If you need additional water in the summer and capture enough of it during the winter, you may be able to use your stored water for supplemental irrigation.

Rain barrels are inexpensive to purchase and easy to install. Practice pest management and use screens to prevent mosquito breeding. With minimum maintenance and common sense, the water can be kept safe.

(Editor’s note: The Olivenhain Municipal Water District, City of Carlsbad, San Dieguito Water District, and Santa Fe Irrigation District, are four of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)

How Can California Boost Its Water Supply?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Over and over again, drought launches California into a familiar scramble to provide enough water. Cities and towns call for conservation and brace for shortages. Growers fallow fields and ranchers sell cows. And thousands of people discover that they can’t squeeze another drop from their wells.

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They Used to Call California Ocean Desalination a Disaster. But Water Crisis Brings New Look

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

For decades, environmentalists have decried ocean desalination as an ecological disaster, while cost-savvy water managers have thumbed their noses at desal’s lofty price tag. But as the American Southwest barrels into a new era of extreme heat, drought and aridification, officials and conservationists are giving new consideration to the process of converting saltwater into drinking water, and the role it may play in California’s future.

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Fallbrook, Rainbow Would Save on Water Bills by Leaving San Diego Wholesaler, Report Finds

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Farmers and other ratepayers in Fallbrook and Rainbow could see an average saving on their water bills of more than $20 a month by joining the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, according to a new report.

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Public Input Wanted in Drought-Resistant Water Supply

/in , , /by /Spectrum Newsby Sarah Pilla

California is entering this next year with a water deficit, that is unlikely to recover with an average year of precipitation. With reservoir levels and groundwater levels dropping, the Metropolitan Water District is innovating new ways to reduce our reliance on imported water. Metropolitan Water District plays an integral role in how we get our water in Southern California. They’re responsible for importing water from the Colorado River system and the State Water Project in Northern California, which is then distributed to water agencies around the southland.

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High Court to Hear Water Dispute Between Navajo, Government

/in , , /by /AP News

The Supreme Court says it will hear a water dispute involving the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation. The high court said Friday it would review a lower court ruling in favor of the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The government signed treaties with the Navajo Nation in 1849 and 1868 that established the reservation. It was later expanded westward to the Colorado River, which forms the reservation’s western boundary.

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The Scary Big Picture of Having Less Water

/in , , /by /Water FMby Greg Baird

As a society we constantly hear the “drought warning.” Then we endure some water conservation efforts and a couple of years later everything seems to go back to normal. As a result, we have become numb to the word “drought.” Wildfires are brutal and get our immediate attention, but we expect they will also burn out.

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International Water Researcher Highlights Colorado Basin’s “Disappearing” Groundwater

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Chris Outcalt

For the past 20 years, two small satellites orbiting 250 miles above Earth have tracked a stark reality about the nation’s groundwater supplies, including across the parched Colorado River Basin: The water underground is vanishing. The NASA satellites began gathering data in 2002. Since then, Colorado River Basin groundwater has depleted much faster than water storage in the nation’s two largest reservoirs, according to research that underscores concerns about the increasingly tight water supply in the drought-stricken West.

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Proposal to Place Solar Panels Over LA Aqueduct Advances

/in , /by /Whittier Daily News

A proposal to place solar panels over the 370-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct in an attempt to reduce evaporation and add capacity for renewable energy for residents was approved by a council committee this week. Around one-tenth of the water in the aqueduct is lost from evaporation each year due to the length of travel for water to make it through the aqueduct, according to the office of Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who introduced the motion. O’Farrell is the chair of the council’s Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and River committee.

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Dried Up: Threats to Colorado Snowpack Pose Risks Far Downslope

/in , , /by /The Hillby Sharon Udasin

As unseasonable fall warmth bakes the Rocky Mountain hillsides, veteran snowmaker Tony Wrone has come to terms with the fact that these are no longer the winters of his youth. “Last year, we had a real hard time because it was so warm in November,” Wrone, who began making snow in Keystone, Colo., in 1996, told The Hill. “Back then, I think we opened one year there around Oct. 18 or something like that,” said Wrone, a snowmaking manager at the Aspen Snowmass resort.

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