A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 22, 2009
2. Supply –
Governor gets firsthand look at water shortage
The
If only briefly, lawmakers shine light on water issue
Water district sues feds over Stanislaus rules
Fixing the Delta is critical
San Diego Union-Tribune
Drought crop damage $58.4 million
Saving water may be a must
City hoping everyone will conserve water
Ukiah Daily Journal
Making every drop of water count in La Verne
Water focus of council study session
Woodland Daily Democrat
Water-wise choices
Spouting off about lame city limits on fountains
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Governor gets firsthand look at water shortage
The
By Bethany Clough
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met Friday with a group of frustrated farmers on the edge of a dry, dusty field in Mendota -- and then asked for federal disaster money to help them.
He also promised to deliver help from the state.
In an unusual request, Schwarzenegger asked President Barack Obama to declare
The governor's visit focused on the west side of
The governor's visit Friday was in response to a request by Mendota Mayor Robert Silva during Schwarzenegger's visit to
Later Thursday in a private meeting with local mayors, Silva talked about his city's issues and asked the governor to see Mendota firsthand.
"They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and I think that is true," Schwarzenegger said Friday in Mendota.
"I think you made enough noise yesterday that it made an impact."
A small group of farmers talked with Schwarzenegger on a dusty patch between two fields on
After listening to farmers' concerns about water, layoffs and hard times, Schwarzenegger met privately with local elected officials at
The executive order Schwarzenegger signed will bring money for food to local governments and nonprofit groups for people affected by the water problems.
The order follows Schwarzenegger's February declaration of a state of emergency due to drought conditions.
His executive order also eliminates a one-week waiting period for workers who are laid off as a result of the water shortage.
Schwarzenegger also signed a letter to the president during a news conference after the meeting Friday, requesting him to declare a major disaster in
The letter did not include an amount, but it requested money for unemployment assistance, food, crisis counseling and legal services.
Requests for a presidential disaster declaration are rarer for droughts than for other natural disasters.
In 2007, the governor of
The request noted
It was not clear Friday exactly how much money could flow to
During the meeting, Schwarzenegger also threw his support behind a proposal by the California Latino Water Coalition to build two temporary gates in the
Department of Water Resources director Lester Snow said Schwarzenegger encouraged the department to expedite the plan and get permits quickly.
If all goes as planned, construction could start next year, Snow said.
Schwarzenegger said he would fight for a long-term solution to the water problem.
He and Snow downplayed the possibility of a panel informally known as a "God Squad." Actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez, who also is a member of the California Latino Water Coalition, suggested Thursday that such a panel be formed.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the panel could make exceptions to the act. But Schwarzenegger said such panels have not been effective in any of the six instances when they've assembled before to address different issues.
Although such a panel could roll back delta water delivery reductions, Schwarzenegger said it would slow negotiations with the federal government regarding a long-term solution.
The visit was welcome by farmers such as Todd Allen, who farms 600 acres in Firebaugh. Of 375 acres of wheat he planted, just 40 made it to harvest.
"It came up and died because I didn't get the normal water in March," he said.
Allen said he can't afford to dig wells because he's stuck with payments on land and for equipment he bought in past years.
"I'm losing money," he said. "Without water, I'm nothing."#
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1484985.html
If only briefly, lawmakers shine light on water issue
Vote to block more water for habitat is closer than most estimates.
By Michael Doyle
Legislatively, the Valley lawmakers failed. By a 218-208 vote Thursday afternoon, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, that would have blocked a federal decision steering more irrigation water into fish habitat protection.
Rhetorically, Nunes and his allies insist they put a useful spotlight on a region they believe has been ignored too long.
"It's OK to value fish, that's OK," Nunes said during House debate, "but understand you're starving families while you value fish." The vote Thursday was closer than some expected, with 37 Democrats joining all but two Republicans in supporting Nunes.
Democratic Reps. Jim Costa of
Republican Rep. George Radanovich of Mariposa also voted for the amendment.
The amendment offered to a $65 billion spending bill would have prohibited federal funds from paying for a set of rules issued June 4 called a "biological opinion." The National Marine Fisheries Service rules in question cut Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water diversions by up to 7 percent to protect endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead.
The federal agency ordered the reduction in pumping, which amounts to about 330,000 acre-feet a year, after concluding that current operations were killing too many fish. The agency also directed that more water be stored behind Shasta Dam, among other changes.
The agency was compelled to complete its 844-page biological opinion by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who was appointed to the bench by former President George H.W. Bush. Wanger determined last year that the agency's previous plan failed to adequately protect fish.
"I appreciate the frustration of my friends who live in the Valley, who are undergoing very serious economic times" said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, "but to throw out this biological opinion makes nothing better." Rod McInnis, Southwest regional director of the fisheries service, added when the biological opinion was issued that "what is at stake here is not just the survival of species but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies that depend on them." Many of the 37 Democrats voting for the amendment were from rural areas, but they included the party's second-highest ranking members, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of
The
"This isn't a solution to the problem," Nunes said, "but it's all we can do." The Nunes amendment was one of several dozen offered to the appropriations bill funding the Commerce and Justice departments and other agencies. Many were a foregone conclusion, being familiar from past battles. Conservatives, for instance, failed by a 323-105 margin to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., which aids the poor.#
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/268/story/908709.html
Water district sues feds over Stanislaus rules
By Alex Breitler
Concerned over what may be a "drastic" reduction in this region's water supply, the Stockton East Water District filed suit Friday against the federal government challenging new rules to protect fish.
The lawsuit alleges that the rules, published by the National Marine Fisheries Service on June 4, are in violation of the Endangered Species Act because they do not rely on the best available science.
The rules require greater flows down the
Water from the Stanislaus has never been completely reliable, but officials have said the new rules mean even less will be available.
"There will be virtually no water to the contractors except in a very few circumstances," said Jennifer Spaletta, an attorney representing Stockton East. "It's predicted that the reservoir is going to go bust very often."
A spokesman for the Fisheries Service declined to comment Friday; a spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, which is tasked with managing Stanislaus flows under the new rules and is also named in the suit, also declined to comment.
The lawsuit is the second filed in protest of the rules.
Spaletta said that while the arguments in the two lawsuits are similar, Stockton East's is focused solely on its area of concern: the
The new rules are supposed to protect declining fish from
So the feds wrote new rules, and the result is more litigation.
"This was their do-over, and they didn't do it right," Spaletta said.#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090620/A_NEWS/906200333/-1/NEWSMAP
Fixing the Delta is critical
By Ellen Hanak and Jay Lund
Opinion
Now in a third year of drought,
We believe there is a solution to the crisis in the Delta — the hub of the state's water supply and the focus of years of conflict — that balances the state's need for both a reliable water supply and a healthy ecosystem. But it's one that requires compromise. For
The most recent flare-up in this troubled region began in 2004, when the populations of several key fish species crashed, including the endangered delta smelt. In 2007, the fish crisis became a water supply crisis: To protect the delta smelt, a federal judge restricted the operations of water export pumps at the Delta's southern edge. In 2008, he made a similar ruling to protect Chinook salmon. Yet the numbers have continued to tumble for smelt, salmon and other species, raising the specter of additional cutbacks. Compounding these environmental woes, the fragile levees that help keep Delta waters fresh face a high and increasing risk of failure from earthquakes and floods. A catastrophic failure of Delta levees could shut down the pumps for months or even years.
Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area depend on the Delta pumps for nearly a third of their water supplies, and Delta water irrigates nearly a third of the farmland in the
The solution water exporters have been pursuing, with the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, is to build a canal around the Delta to convey
In broad strokes, the exporters' approach is consistent with the conclusions of our recent study of the Delta crisis. We found that ending water exports altogether would be the best prospect for native fish, but at significant cost to the state's economy. A peripheral canal around the Delta could improve conditions for the fish by allowing the return to more natural, variable flows in the Delta. The increasing demand for water by cities and farms has created a Delta in which water flows are often fatal to fish.
A canal would also be the least costly solution for water users, by reducing the threat of catastrophic levee failure and improving water quality for human use. In contrast, continuing to pump large volumes of water through the Delta is bad for the state's economy and is the worst alternative for native fish.
In 1982,
Even if a canal is built, it is unlikely that as much water will move south in the future. Because native fish populations deteriorated over a period when water exports increased significantly, long-term export reductions will probably be needed to help bring the Delta ecosystem back to health. The health of fish and the volume of water exports also will depend on the successful expansion of fish habitat in the Delta.
Our analysis suggests that compromise is essential. Even with significantly reduced exports, a canal is still the best option for water users. The current drought provides
Hanak is director of research and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/19/fixing-delta-critical/?uniontrib
Drought crop damage $58.4 million
By Eiji Yamashita
Dry weather and pumping restrictions in the delta are continuing to take their toll on
"It's still going to get worse," said
While growers continued to manage their operations by switching crops and pumping well water, meager spring rains have parched the area's grazing land and hurt farmers who depend on pasture land to feed their livestock. Continued lack of water has also forced many growers to leave the ground fallow. Some were forced to abandon their crops mid-season.
The following figures on crop losses were released by
Rangeland: The annual survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service has concluded that the annual grassland production for 2009 is only 30 percent of normal here. The loss for the county's 243,183 acres of rangeland is estimated to be $1.87 million.
Alfalfa: The damage is estimated to reach $4.3 million. While 2,991 acres were not planted, 1,500 acres were abandoned after two cuttings (Alfalfa growers normally have six to seven cuttings a year. This means some growers lost two-thirds of their crop season, while others lost it all because they just didn't plant any amid zero allocation of federal water.)
Acala Cotton: The damage has been nearly $5.58 million, resulting from 5,160 acres being kept fallow.
Pima cotton: About 25,490 acres were not planted, resulting in a $31.9 million loss.
Tomatoes: 3,394 acres were not planted, resulting in a $8.2 million loss.
Wheat: 15,430 acres were not planted, resulting in a $5.8 million loss.
Corn silage: The estimated damage is 918 acres, resulting from 918 acres not planted.
The damage adds up to $58.47 million, indicating that this year's crop losses are already twice as bad as last year's.
Last year's crop loss figures topped $30.3 million at the end of the year.
There is a lot more ground fallowed this year than last year, just because growers didn't even try to plant because of lack of water, as opposed to trying to cultivate a partial crop as some growers did last year. By the same token, the crop damage estimate isn't expected to go up much higher for the rest of the year. But it won't stop increasing, either, Schweizer said.
During the last two years,
Some water districts, including Westlands Water District, rationed water supply to customers. Farmers, as well as municipalities drawing water from the California Aqueduct, saw drastic cutbacks in water supply.
The situation is drawing national attention, as thousands of people marched along the California Aqueduct in April protesting federal cutbacks in water supply.
Meanwhile, the western and southern parts of the county remain most affected by the court ruling.
But the lingering effect of the natural drought over the past two years has been felt on the east side of the county as well, Schweizer said.
"Farmers on the east side who get water from the
http://hanfordsentinel.com/articles/2009/06/20/news/doc4a3c7c938f371004908791.txt
By Alia Wilson
Santa Cruzans are tightening their belts, faucets and hoses, according to the water department, meeting and surpassing city water restrictions that were put into effect last month.
In May, restrictions were placed on the days of the week and the times of day water users can irrigate to achieve a 15 percent reduction in water use.
This time last year, the city's water treatment plant was producing about 12 million gallons per day. Since last month, city water customers have saved about 100 million gallons of water.
"By and large, people have accepted and are watering along these guidelines," said Toby Goddard, the department's water conservation manager. "Their efforts have resulted so far in a 17 percent reduction in water demand systemwide."
Goddard said the city is not only receiving the cooperation of individual homeowners, but also compliance by large customers, including golf courses, required to reduce by 25 percent. As of this month, golf courses have reduced use by more than they are required.
The
Bill Kocher, director of the Santa Cruz Water Department, said in a statement, "If the state gave awards to communities that respond to the call for water reductions in a drought, customers of the Santa Cruz Water system would receive
gold medals."
Residents with an odd-numbered address can water their lawns and gardens on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Those with an even-numbered address can water Sundays and Wednesdays. Commercial, industrial and public water customers can irrigate on Mondays and Fridays.
Watering can only occur before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m. All hoses must be equipped with a shut-off nozzle. Restaurants must serve drinking water by request only. Hotels and motels must offer guests the choice of re-using towels and sheets, instead of washing them daily.
Chronic rule breakers could be fined up to $500.
Having met the conservation restrictions, the city has not had to draw on its only reserves in
"The main source for us is the
The water department has two people patrolling its service area seven days a week, monitoring water use among about 90,000 customers from the
No financial penalties have been issued so far, Goddard said. "
Our larger goal here is to head off any sort of rationing if we had a fourth dry year," Goddard said. "We want to preserve our storage so we will have it in case we need it next year."#
Saving water may be a must
Past voluntary conservation effort yielded results, but it didn’t do enough, water official says
By Melanie Hicken
Residents will either have to reduce household water use by 10% or limit outdoor watering to certain days, according to a revised Glendale Water & Power mandatory water conservation proposal.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider both options before deciding which one to bring back for introduction as an ordinance next week in order to help keep the city within its reduced water allotment from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Mandatory conservation, if approved by the council, would take effect in August, a month after Metropolitan, which supplies up to 70% of the
Last June, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an official statewide drought and directed all water agencies to significantly increase water conservation efforts and implement stricter ordinances. At the time, Glendale Water & Power had enacted a 10% voluntary conservation effort, but that has yielded average cutbacks of only 4%, officials said.
“We got some conservation, but we didn’t get enough,” said Glendale Water & Power General Manager Glenn Steiger.
Utility officials added the outdoor watering restriction option in reaction to community concerns about the fairness of the original proposal, in which Glendale customers would be billed at least twice the regular rate for any water used that exceeded individually assigned benchmarks, which would be calculated at 10% less than their average consumption in 2006.
Residents who had already been conserving water questioned the fairness of proposed rules, arguing it would punish those who had already been conserving 10% or more.
City Councilman Ara Najarian agreed, noting that if the benchmark proposal were to be chosen, there would have to be allowances made for households that had changed in size or had already been conserving.
“And that’s a very difficult thing,” he said. “You almost have to do it on a house to house basis if it’s going to be effective and fair.”
The new option would simply limit any outdoor irrigation to three times a week for no more than 15 minutes at a time, Steiger said.
“This is a much easier option from both the user standpoint and certainly from our standpoint, in order to administer it and keep track of the actual usage,” he said.
But whereas the household benchmark option could easily be policed through higher rates, limiting water days would be harder to enforce, he said. Any violations would have to be handled by code enforcement officers, who would levy penalties between $100 and $1,000.
“The problem, of course, is it’s very hard to monitor. We aren’t going to be driving along the streets of
Utility officials hosted three community meetings called for by the City Council in May as a way to gather more public input before making a final decision. An overview of community concerns and feedback will be presented to the council Tuesday.
In addition to expressing concerns about the benchmark proposal, residents argued that the city should limit development as drought conditions persist, according to a city report. Other concerns included how mandatory water conservation could conflict with the city’s landscape maintenance ordinance.
Utility officials also met with local Realtors who were concerned about a proposal to make retrofitting of plumbing fixtures to be use less water a condition for the sale of a property. As a result of that meeting, officials are looking for alternatives, according to a city report.
Whichever mandatory conservation option is chosen, savings will have to come from a reduction of outdoor water use, officials said, since about 60% of the average amount of water used for a single-family home goes to landscaping.
“I think we have to change our expectations to maintain a perfect lush green lawn,” Najarian said. “I don’t think we can afford, as a region, to have that sort of lush landscaping. We are going to have to be satisfied with grass that is a little more brown.”#
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/06/21/politics/gnp-water22.txt
City hoping everyone will conserve water
Ukiah Daily Journal-6/20/09
By Rob Burgess
Ukiah City Manager Jane Chambers said Friday that while outdoor irrigation is not currently restricted, that fact could change during the coming months as the area's water crisis deepens.
"We're not advocating for people to let their landscaping die at this point," she said. "We're encouraging people to be conservative. We may get to the point of prohibiting outdoor irrigation. We're in a little different situation than
The Ukiah City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to institute mandatory water conservation measures to deal with the crisis, with customers who waste or refuse to conserve water possibly facing fines and shutoff of service.
Chambers said the city of
In Ukiah, the average single family house uses about 150 gallons per day per person.
Chambers said that due to the current drought conditions customers should attempt to limit their usage to 50 gallons per day.
"We mean that 50 gallons per day is a very conservative use of water," she said. "We're asking people to look at their monthly bill. There's so many variables between people though. Many, many households might be over 50 gallons even if they are conserving."
Chambers said the construction of new wells on
"We have a lot of variables," she said. "We think we're building a couple of wells, but they're not online yet. We want to do our part with our fellow agencies to conserve."#
Making every drop of water count in La Verne
By Amanda Baumfeld
With water reserves at an all-time low, the city of
The 20-gallon challenge asks community members to voluntarily conserve 20 gallons of water each day by cutting back on shower time, watering the lawn and fixing leaky faucets. And that goes for everyone in the house.
"We are just trying to encourage and reinforce that water reserves are always going to be an issue in
On average, a
If every resident saved 20 gallons of water a day, that will conserve 650,000 gallons of water every day, officials said.
"That is a significant amount of water," Vagnozzi said.
The program began in the fall and water consumption levels for the city seem to be on track, officials said.
It is part of larger program launched by the
"It basically aligns itself with all the other conservation efforts going on," Cindy DeChaine, conservation and resource analyst for
As part of the program,
rotating nozzles and synthetic turf.
One of the biggest culprits of water waste is automatic sprinklers and watering the lawn. Irrigation typically makes up 60 percent of a households water consumption.
A typical multi-station sprinkler system waters 1.5 gallons per minute, Vagnozzi said. "It all depends on how many stations a typical house has and how quickly it adds up."
The La Verne City Council declared a Stage I water use restriction in March, asking residents to voluntarily cut back water use by 10 to 15 percent. By this fall, the water cutback will be mandatory, Vagnozzi said.
"There is definitely going to have to be cutbacks in usage," DeChaine said. "It is an ongoing drought and until some of the local reserves can get refilled, people have to step up in their planning and efforts."#
Water focus of council study session
Woodland Daily Democrat-6/22/09
By Jim Smith
An upcoming joint workshop with the Davis City Council over future water supplies will be the focus of a study session by the Woodland City Council Tuesday.
This study session is preparatory to the joint Woodland-Davis Council Workshop set for Tuesday, July 28, and has two primary goals:
Present information regarding Joint Powers Agreements/Authorities and receive Council feedback and direction regarding further preparation for the July 28 meeting and the establishment of a Woodland-Davis JPA, and update the council on the status and direction of current critical path areas of the project.
The
According to a city staff report, a Davis-Woodland Water Supply Project Joint Power Authority will focus on the formation, organizational structure and implementation strategies for project execution and future management oversight and governance of the regionally shared systems.
"This JPA would also execute and manage decisions to plan, schedule, design, construct and operate the project under oversight and funding approved by the
A JPA is being recommended in order to manage the project and to present a regional approach to addressing common water concerns.
The project team will evaluate strategies for initiating discussions and negotiating with holders of "senior" upstream summer water rights for long-term water purchase options and contracts to provide future water during the summer months when diversions under the project's own water-right permit will not be allowed.
"As the potential grows for surface water to become more expensive, the difficulty in negotiating secure long-term contracts for this supplemental supply may increase," Donnelly states. "It is imperative for the partners to map out the process for moving forward and to begin discussions with holders of senior water rights.
"In order to secure and insure the long-term availability of those supplies when they are needed and to secure a priority for their use, annual budget insertions will be required for acquiring options to purchase summer water rights."
Assisting the city is West Yost Associates of Davis, which has produced a draft Technical Memorandum addressing project costs including a comprehensive update to the project estimate.
The updated estimate reflects a capital and construction cost of approximately $325.3 million over coming years, of which
Project analyses confirmed the most cost-effective, environmentally sensitive and expedient approach for moving forward also includes teaming with Reclamation District 2035 to jointly reconstruct and share their existing river water intake structure vs. building a new intake structure at a separate location on the river.
With strong County and WRA support, RD 2035 recently received 50-50 Bureau of Reclamation grant funding in the amount of $500,000 toward final design to replace/upgrade their intake structure to incorporate new fish-screening requirements.
However, the conditions of the grant do not allow it to be applied to municipal aspects of the project, Donnelly reports. They also received WRA grant funding in the amount of $30,000
The project incurs no cost to
Cost sharing for joint-funded work would be based on estimated project benefit, with Woodland's share at 52.1 percent, Davis at 44.4 percent and UC Davis at 3.5 percent. Funding is two-thirds through
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_12662755?IADID=Search-www.dailydemocrat.com-www.dailydemocrat.com
Water-wise choices
By Yvonne Rasmussen
Facing a second year of drought,
Focus on your garden’s most significant trees and shrubs. Even established trees need water, and since water tables are lower than usual, trees that haven’t needed water in the past may need some this summer.
The bigger the plant, the more leaf area it has. That means it will use more water on a hot day. Temperature, humidity and wind are all important in determining how much water plants need. Water-stressed plants often have a dull look even before they wilt. Try not to let plants get water-deprived because they will stop growing and may not recover. Water-deprived plants are also more susceptible to pests and some diseases.
For some general guidelines on watering, consult “Wise Watering of Landscapes,” part of the Healthy Garden Tips series available free from the
Most large perennial plants need soaking to a depth of three feet to wet the entire root zone. How often to water depends on the type of plant. Established fruit and nut trees and flowering perennials require deep soaking every other week, ornamental shrubs once a month and landscape trees every other month.
This watering schedule should begin as soon as the weather warms and the soil dries out, usually around mid May, and continue into August or September.
How do you tell if you have watered three feet deep? One way is to dig a hole or to push a dowel or metal rod into the ground. Moist soil does not provide much resistance. When you feel resistance, you have probably reached dry soil. But you might also have hit a rock, so it’s a good idea to probe in a couple of places.
If you are watering with a sprinkler, place a small empty can, such as a tuna can, under the sprinkler and see how long it takes to fill with one inch of water. For clay loam or loam soils, an inch of water will moisten the soil to a depth of about one foot. So if you leave the water on three times as long, you will wet the soil three feet deep — assuming all the water soaks in and does not run off or evaporate.
To minimize evaporation, water in the early morning. Avoid watering at night because the foliage will stay wet overnight and be more prone to disease. Mulching around plants helps conserve moisture. To steal a phrase from the city of
Remember that these watering recommendations are just general guidelines. Some
Some drought-adapted plants have become fairly common in our gardens but there are many more choices. You can view some of them at the Master Gardener demonstration gardens at Connolly Ranch in
The Connolly Ranch demonstration garden is open from 9 a.m. to noon the first Thursday of each month, through October.#
Spouting off about lame city limits on fountains
By Michael Stetz
Opinion
I'm all for saving water. I like water. I've even heard it's pretty important for my survival.
But I think
Take the iconic Bea Evenson fountain outside the
When it's not, it's just a concrete ring with greenish water pooled inside. On a recent Saturday morning, it was still and lifeless, ignored by passers-by.
What was to notice? Not much, unless you're intrigued by exposed pipes. (Plumbers must love it.)
The city's 37 fountains recirculate the water they use. The problem is, some of it is lost to evaporation. And lost water looks bad when you're telling everyone else to save up.
But how much fountain water actually disappears to the heavens?
The city doesn't know. The San Diego County Water Authority doesn't know.
Hmmm. So the city put the squeeze on public fountains before even determining how much water they actually use.
I called a guy named Paul Brown, who gave it a shot. He's a research scientist in the department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the
He stressed that his estimate is just that – an estimate. Brown came up with it by using something called “the evaporative demand” data for
Other variables – such as the amount of sunlight and wind – can have an impact, which he couldn't measure, Brown said.
His best calculation: About four to five gallons per square foot of a fountain's water are lost.
Per month.
Per month????!!!!
And his estimate is for a fountain running continuously – 24 hours a day.
To be fair, the amount could be twice as much if the water shoots high into the air, as it does in the Bea Evenson fountain.
And to be fair, the amount of water that evaporates off a square foot of a lawn is less – 2½ gallons per month.
But think of the square footage of all the city fountains and compare that to the square footage of all the city acreage that needs watering.
“It's probably trivial in comparison,” Brown said of fountain water loss.
Using Brown's estimate, a 1,000-square-foot fountain would lose about 5,000 gallons a month.
The average San Diegan goes through 157 gallons a day – or about 4,710 gallons a month.
So a single person and a fountain of that size use about the same amount of water per month. The Bea Evenson one, because it shoots water as high as 50 feet, might use what two people would per month.
Sorry. I don't get the big deal.
City officials are now trying to calculate the fountain evaporation factor. They never bothered before, because it was never an issue before.
The
“From our perspective, we should take every step we can to save water,” said Dana Friehauf, principle water reserve specialist.
Sure. The city has to lead by example. Otherwise, people might not be so willing to conserve.
But even a still fountain loses water to evaporation. So, to really make it work, they'd have to be drained and dismantled. (Or used as planters, maybe? Oops, then you would have to water the plants. Never mind.)
Fountains are popular in the Southwest. They date back to when the Spanish conquered the terrority, according to Joe Gelt, an editor for the
In Gelt's opinion, fountains have cultural value. “They create a sense of place. Flowing water adds beauty. Hearing it is relaxing, inspiring.”
Indeed.
I stayed at the fountain near the Fleet center to see what happened when it was turned on around noon. Everything changed as it exploded into action. Water shot up in a straight, strong stream and bubbled down.
People who were wandering past started walking toward it. Little children danced around it. Parents started snapping pictures of their families in front of it. It was a magnet.
One man asked me to take a picture of him with his sister. I made sure I got the big bubbling fountain in the frame.
I wanted to capture the moment, before it evaporated.#
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DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
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