California American Water Co.’s effort to build its estimated $322 million desalination plant on the Monterey Peninsula has reached an important milestone with a state regulator and now sets the stage for what promises to be a contentious hearing in front of the full California Coastal Commission.
More than 30 years ago, if you were to visit San Diego County, you would be struck by the lush green lawns, beautiful gardens, and many folks washing their cars.
The county alongside the Pacific Coast appeared to be flush with water. But in all actuality, a major water catastrophe was already in the works.
From 1987-1992, California was hit with a megadrought, and San Diego, which was at the end of the fresh water pipeline, was in deep trouble.
The California Waterboards showed a state-wide drop in water usage and some regions of the state exhibited a drop of up to 17%.
The waterboard said at a statewide level in June of 2014 California residents used 131 gallons per capita daily (GPCD) compared to June of 2022 residents used 101 GPCD. In June of 2021 California residents used 112 GPCD.
Californians began paying more attention to their water use as summer arrived, but statewide conservation remains well short of what the governor has requested during the drought.
In June, municipal water consumption dropped 7.6% compared to the same month in 2020, marking a second straight month of savings, according to state data released Tuesday, and parts of the Bay Area did considerably better. The four prior months, however, saw increases in water use, sometimes by double digits.
This wealthy Los Angeles suburb is famed for its celebrity residents and meticulously landscaped homes. After a crackdown on water use, it is now gaining renown for having some of the brownest lawns in America.
“My kids are asking me, what is going wrong with this grass?” said Siran Galstian, whose once verdant lawn is dying. “I have tears in my eyes, because I love the grass and they like playing in it.”
As models predict another La Niña for the coming winter, which could lead to another dry year, leaders of water agencies and other groups from across California and the western United States met Tuesday to discuss how best to get commerce and industry to use less water.
While residential water use has declined, commercial and industrial users need retrofits, new equipment and new ways of doing business when it comes how much liquid “gold” they consume.
Tearing out our lawns is a good start toward wiser water use in Southern California, but it’s not enough.
To do the job properly, we must also be ready to collect the rain that will someday fall out of the sky, advocates say. And these people have a vision that not only stores increasingly precious rainwater, but puts it to use for everything from drip irrigation to aquaculture to waterfalls surrounded by lush plantings and the soothing music of running (albeit recycled) water.
If Gov. Jerry Brown’s drought strategy was defined by the “we’re-all-in-this-together” mantra of collective sacrifice, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approach has been guided by the more individualistic notion of “it’s not one size fits all.”
Newsom, despite the state facing a third year of exceptional drought conditions, has refused to follow in Brown’s footsteps by mandating that all residents cut their water use.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging Californians to find ways to reduce their water use in an effort to combat the historic drought and said upcoming conservation mandates are a priority.
The governor visited a water recycling facility Tuesday afternoon in Carson.
It was originally built as a demonstration project to recycle household wastewater and replenish groundwater supplies.
Californians emerged from the driest January, February and March on record with the biggest jump in water use since the drought began: a nearly 19% increase in March compared to two years earlier.
Despite the urgent pleas of water officials, California’s water use in March is the highest since 2015, standing in stark contrast to February, when residents and businesses used virtually the same amount of water in cities and towns as two years ago.
