[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 4/17/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 17, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

Turf wars: Does grass always have to be greener?

The Contra Costa Times

 

Couple turn home into artificial ecosystem

The San Francisco Chronicle

 

Martinez water conservation program on hold

The Contra Costa Times

 

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Turf wars: Does grass always have to be greener?

The Contra Costa Times – 4/16/09

By Denis Cuff

John Gioia's homeowner association warned him last fall — during the drought — to water his front lawn more to meet the community standards for lush and green.

 

The association also has a 20-year-old rule that won't let him replace his front lawn with rosemary, meadow grass and other drought-resistant plants.

 

"It doesn't make sense that we have these old rules in homeowner associations that discriminate against low water-using plants in a state struggling with water shortages," said Gioia, a Contra Costa County supervisor.

 

Two of California's biggest urban water districts agree, and have teamed up to sponsor state legislation that would bar local homeowner associations from requiring lush lawns in droughts and prohibiting homeowners from replacing lawns with less-thirsty plants.

 

Assembly Bill 1061 bill sailed through its first test Tuesday with unanimous approval from the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

 

The East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California teamed up to support the bill, which could apply to millions of Californians living in planned unit developments.

 

"It shocked me to hear that some homeowners are getting warning letters because they're trying to comply with our rationing," said Andy Katz, an EBMUD board member from Berkeley.

 

Under the bill, homeowner association rules would be "void and unenforceable" if they restrict compliance with local landscaping ordinances or conservation measures.

 

Many environmental groups endorse the bill, while a group representing homeowner associations opposes it unless changes are made.

 

Ron Kingston, a lobbyist for the Community Associations Institute, said the bill is written so broadly it could disrupt homeowner groups' authority to review an individual homeowner's landscaping plans that spell out the type, number and placement of plants.

 

Many people chose to live in developments with association rules because they like the appearance of common landscaping, architectural design and colors, he said. "We recognize the state's interest in conservation, but we to need to preserve the right to review plans," Kingston said.

 

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, co-sponsors of the bill, said the measure would not strip homeowner associations of review rights, but would bar them from cutting off water-saving options for individuals.

 

Gioia, a former EBMUD board member, said his homeowners group in Richmond hasn't penalized him, and he's found sympathy on the association board for amending its rules. But the process for changing rules is cumbersome, and figures to be even longer because board members want to look at other rule changes besides landscaping, he said.

 

Passage of the state law could provide him a quicker path to legally replace his lawn with drought-resistant plants, Gioia said.#

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12157982

 

Couple turn home into artificial ecosystem

The San Francisco Chronicle – 4/17/09

By Peter Fimrite

 

Early spring rain funneled off the roof of Laura Baker's Berkeley home and flowed into a downspout that connects to a gutter, which directed water into planter boxes containing her prized willow trees.

 

The excess water was transported in pipes under the planter boxes to a pond that is home to a menagerie of wildlife, including frogs, dragonflies, mayflies, hawks, turkey vultures and other birds.

 

Baker, 62, and her husband, Lewis Lubin, 56, have turned their Roble Road garden into an artificial ecosystem with a drainage network that saves water and provides wildlife habitat.

 

"We're astonished about how easy it was to do this," Baker said. "We feel it is just unconscionable to think about wasting water at this point. Once you become conscious of that and change your mind-set, it just gets easy."

 

The couple used only 147 gallons of water a day during the last East Bay Municipal Utility District billing period. That's 100 gallons a day less than the average used by the utility's 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

 

While some people may save even more, Baker and Lubin have done it without drastically changing their lifestyle. Their water savings occurred even though their home is nearly 3,000 square feet with a garden that covers almost 2 acres.

 

The couple have planted native plants, trees and grasses from one end of their property to the other, an area covering two lots where homes burned to the ground in the 1991 East Bay hills fire.

 

Drip irrigation is used on some of the new plants. Others are planted in areas where water naturally accumulates and they are later transplanted. Baker said the native plants don't need any watering once they are established because they have evolved over the eons to handle the California climate, which typically has little to no rain from late spring to fall.

 

"We've planted a meadow of native grasses and wildflowers, but mostly during the summer we let it go," Baker said.

 

"That's one of the great advantages of using native plants."

 

As the conservation chairwoman of the California Native Plant Society, Baker is well-equipped to save water on her garden. But she and her husband have taken conservation measures inside their home, too.

 

They use plastic buckets and tubs to collect all excess water in the kitchen sink and shower. They use water to get wet during showers, then shut it off until it is time to rinse. The dishwasher is run only when it is full. Water collected in the shower and sink is used to flush the toilets.

 

"We just don't let the water run anywhere," Baker said. "Any wastewater that we can, we use." The couple plans to install a gray-water system to replace the tub-and-bucket system when they have the time and money, Baker said.

 

The effort is their way of honoring the previous owner of the house, Albert Everett Wieslander, a prominent silviculturist who spearheaded a U.S. Forest Service survey of California native vegetation in the 1930s that is now widely used as a resource.

 

The large manzanita bushes he had planted in his backyard were famous among arborists and naturalists. But his home and most of his neighbors' homes were burned down in the 1991 fire. He died at the age of 103 while rebuilding the house.

 

Baker and Lubin purchased Wieslander's rebuilt home 16 years ago not knowing anything about their famous predecessor.

 

They also bought the burned out lot next door and set about creating a native garden on both properties. Baker said it was much later that they found out about Wieslander's pioneering work in the study of native grasses and plants.

 

Mixed in among the sneeze weed, caterpillar flower, coyote brush, cow parsnip and yellow sticky monkey flower is the remainder of Wieslander's manzanita.

 

"It's a wild, weedy look, but I love it because that's what California is," Baker said. "One of the other goals of our garden, besides beauty, is to provide defensible space. You don't have to have a denuded property in order to be fire safe."

 

Baker's garden connects with open space owned by Caltrans. An occasional fox or coyote can sometimes be spotted lounging by the backyard pond, which is fed by a little waterfall run by a recirculation pump perpetually flowing over a stone wall.

 

"All this is a work in progress," she said, standing beside the pond. "We're going to keep planting more."#

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/16/BA6R16U2KE.DTL

 

Martinez water conservation program on hold

The Contra Costa Times – 4/17/09

By Lisa P. White

MARTINEZ — A planned water conservation program in Martinez is temporarily on hold while the city addresses residents' concerns, including how changes in household size could affect usage and penalties.

 

The council is expected to review a revised program May 20. The conservation measures had been scheduled to go into effect May 1.

 

Martinez had tweaked its conservation program to conform with the drought management plan the Contra Costa Water District adopted earlier this month. The city, which provides service to about 10,000 water customers, buys untreated water from the water district.

 

In an effort to cut water use by 15 percent, the water district will charge its customers four times more for the water they use above a baseline amount. Martinez had planned to do the same by calculating single-family residential customers' baseline water usage in gallons per day by averaging water consumption over a three-year period from 2005 to 2007.

 

But during a public hearing Wednesday, several residents pointed out their households would exceed their historical usage thanks to children or parents having since moved in.

 

"I promise you, my 3-year-old boy is very messy. Those baths didn't exist four years ago," David Franco said.

 

The council agreed that additional people living in a residence should be grounds for a successful appeal.

 

Residents were confused, having received notices about the Martinez program weeks ago when the city planned to mirror the Contra Costa Water District's original call for a mandatory 25 percent reduction in water consumption.

 

The water district backed off that steep reduction after storms soaked the Bay Area in February.

 

Alan Pellegrini, water superintendent for Martinez, said he was unsure how the delay in implementing the conservation program might affect the city.

 

The water district is still asking its customers, including those in Martinez, to cut water consumption by 15 percent beginning May 1. Until the city sorts it out, Pellegrini urged residents to be conscientious about their water use.

 

"My message is please conserve. Please try to conserve 15 percent."

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12158303?nclick_check=1

 

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