Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 6, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Boy and his uncle drown in San Diego County
Oakland Tribune
Perris man and nephew drown in reservoir
North County Times
Missing diver's body found near Malaga Cove
Torrance Daily Breeze
Tracy woman survives drowning
Tracy Press
Patrols happy to see sanity return to waters
Marysville Appeal-Democrat
Kayaker falls short in his global quest
Vacaville Reporter
States digging deep to monitor water
Oakland tribune
Water project funded
Inland Valley Bulletin
El Monte-based water district receives $5.5 million in federal grants
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Water district to have conservation 'summit'
Marin Independent Journal
Plants for real gardens in Southern California
S.F. Examiner
Gray water: from the washer to the garden
L.A. Times
'Armed' for watering duty
L.A. Times
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Boy and his uncle drown in San Diego County
Oakland Tribune-7/5/09
Authorities say a 3-year-old boy has drowned while fishing at a San Diego County reservoir with his uncle, who was later also found dead in the water.
California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection Chief Nick Schuler says the little boy apparently fell in the water Saturday, and the uncle drowned while trying to save him.
Schuler says the toddler, Gabriel Ramos, and his 26-year-old uncle, Fernando Damian Molina Apeitia, went to the reservoir together. When they didn't return, family members went to the fishing spot and found the boy floating. Rescue divers later found Apeitia at the bottom of the reservoir.
Perris man and nephew drown in reservoir
North County Times-7/5/09
A 26-year-old Perris man and his 3-year-old nephew apparently drowned while fishing in a De Luz reservoir on the Fourth of July, authorities said Sunday.
Authorities suspect that the child slipped into the water off Teneja Truck Trail, and his uncle jumped in to save him. Capt. Nick Schuler, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, noted that the reservoir's slippery sides make it hard to get out of the water.
Fernando Damian Molina Azpeitia and his nephew, Gabriel Ramos, also of Perris, were visiting family in Fallbrook, according to the medical examiner's office. On Saturday, they decided to go fishing in the reservoir. Family members who had gone to look for the pair when they were late coming home Saturday evening found the boy floating on the water, not breathing, the medical examiner's office said.
The family took the child to the nearby De Luz fire station, where firefighters performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until a helicopter transported him to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. Gabriel was never revived and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
After family members and sheriff's deputies could not locate Azpeitia, fire and lifeguard rescue divers searched the reservoir, authorities said. Divers recovered Azpeitia's body from the bottom of the water.
Autopsies will be performed to confirm cause of death, the medical examiners office said.
Missing diver's body found near Malaga Cove
Torrance Daily Breeze-7/5/09
By Melissa Evans
A 52-year-old Huntington Beach man who had gone diving Saturday was found dead Sunday morning in shallow waters near Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes Estates, police said.
Police began an extensive search for the man around 8 p.m. Saturday when a friend reported that the diver had failed to meet up at a scheduled time and place earlier in the day.
Rescue helicopters and boats from the Coast Guard, Los Angeles County Fire Department Baywatch in Redondo Beach and the Redondo Beach Harbor Patrol searched an area spanning more than 72 square miles of ocean, authorities said.
The 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Halibut joined the search later Saturday night until visibility began to fade because of darkness, officials said.
"They had to call it off, but resumed the search first thing in the morning the next day at 6 a.m.," said Sgt. Steve Barber of the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, which handled the case with assistance from other agencies.
The man had reportedly left early Saturday morning, saying he planned to go diving for about eight hours. Police found the diver's car in a parking lot with no diving gear inside, police said.
A friend who was supposed to meet him eventually called police, telling authorities he was worried because the man was usually reliable and never stayed out in the water for too long, officials said.
The man's body was found by the Baywatch patrol out of Redondo Beach, fairly close to the shore. It was submerged in waters about 15 feet deep, officials said.
The cause of death is under investigation, but it appears to be accidental, police said.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's office had not released the diver's name as of Sunday afternoon. An autopsy is planned.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_12759920?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com
Tracy woman survives drowning
Tracy Press-7/4/09
by Jennifer Wadsworth
Janet Rodrigues-Coltharp would have died without help from some strangers.
In fact, she did die for a few minutes, nurses and witnesses said.
“Her heart stopped, it just stopped,” said Jeff Bridgewater, one of the campers who helped rescue her. “There was no life in her eyes.”
The 50-year-old Tracy phlebotomist was on her way to meet her boyfriend and some friends at the Woodward Reservoir near Oakdale on June 13 when she fell asleep at the wheel.
Rodrigues-Coltharp had just finished a graveyard shift at Sutter Tracy Community Hospital that morning, and right away headed toward Oakdale. Near her destination and sleep-deprived, she nodded off by the lake and jerked her head up when she realized her car was headed straight for the water.
Panicked, she slammed her foot on what she thought was the brake. It turned out to be the clutch.
“I wasn’t used to driving that car,” she said while in her Tracy home on Friday, where she’s recovering from her injuries. “So I just shot into the water.”
On the opposite shore, several campers saw her drive straight into the water. Bridgewater, his cousin Justin Perry, their friend Randy Lynn and his wife, Robin Harrison-Lynn, jumped on their waverunners and jetted across the lake.
Together, with a couple of other strangers, they flipped the car right-side up, broke the driver’s side window and dragged Rodrigues-Coltharp out of the car.
“Her skin was gray,” Bridgewater said. “Her eyes were wide open and glazed over, like a dead fish.”
Harrison-Lynn, a Stockton police officer — “She’s the real hero,” Rodrigues-Coltharp insists — performed CPR on the Tracy woman, whose heart had stopped five minutes before.
“I don’t remember anything from the time I hit the water to the time I was in the ambulance,” Rodrigues-Coltharp said.
Once admitted to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, the revived woman came down with pneumonia from the water she inhaled. She also developed kidney poisoning after going several minutes without blood circulation.
It took nearly a week of recovery in the hospital before she was healthy enough for discharge.
“She is a miniature miracle,” said Liisa Carpenter-Travis, a trauma nurse at Memorial Medical Center.
Rodrigues-Colthrap celebrated her 50th birthday Wednesday — she’s recovering from her lung infection and said she feels reborn and grateful to be alive.
“She’s a lucky girl, let me tell ya,” Bridgewater marveled. “A lucky, lucky, girl.”
Patrols happy to see sanity return to waters
Fourth of July drowning victim yet to be identified
Marysville Appeal-Democrat-07/5/09
By Ben van der Meer
With a $60,000 boat, open water and on some days, lots of time, Yuba County sheriff's Sgt. Bill Siler said he often has to convince people his post as head of Marine Patrol isn't a literal fishing expedition.
This past Saturday, in the space of a few hours, Siler and his co-pilot, Deputy Ben Martin, dealt with a drowning at Camp Far West Reservoir's south end, a frightened tuber on the Yuba River, and the normal holiday weekend surge of boaters with plenty of enthusiasm but often slightly less knowledge of the law.
"I can tell a story for every point in the lake," Siler said Sunday, as he and Martin patrolled a Camp Far West that had only about a 10th of the traffic from a day earlier, when Siler estimated 65 to 80 boats cruised the reservoir.
As Yuba County's chief boat patrol officer for the last 14 years, Siler said he splits most of his time between Camp Far West and Lake Englebright, with occasional sojourns on the Bear, Feather and Yuba rivers.
At nearly 2 square miles, Camp Far West has extensive shoreline used for camping, which Siler said means larger groups often go there, and the chance for violations rises in concert.
The reservoir spills between Yuba, Nevada and Placer counties, but the officers who patrol it have jurisdiction anywhere on the water.
Siler said he spends most of his time warning boaters of where they're outside the law, but he hands out actual tickets usually no more than three times a day, and often less, he said.
As he and Martin prepared to leave the boat dock at the reservoir's north end Sunday afternoon, they spotted a man and what appeared to be two young sons preparing to head out in a boat with an inflatable tube on board.
That was problematic, Siler explained, because when someone's being towed on a lake, state law requires the boat operator to be at least 16 years old, and an observer of at least 12 years old to keep an eye on the person being towed.
"Before I catch you out there, I'll let you know ahead of time," he tells the man, who said he didn't know about the law.
"A lot of the violations have to do with towing, and especially with the personal watercraft," Siler said. He and Martin chuckled as they spotted a group huddled on the shore, trying to figure out what was wrong with a personal watercraft tipped on to its side.
As Martin scans along the reservoir for anything noteworthy — and on Sunday, he had to look hard — Siler freely chatted about the wide variety of school subjects one might need to know on the water, from topography to know where Camp Far West's shallowest spots are, to physics and the knowledge of what will happen to a human body that flies off a fast-moving boat.
Grant Ebbitt of Wheatland got a gentle reprimand in his ignorance of the law, when the patrol spotted him using a square flag to signal to other boats there was a person in the water, rather than the bright orange flag that's supposed to be used.
"You're lucky. Normally we charge $50 a flag," Siler said in jest, as Martin handed Ebbitt a regulation flag from the patrol boat's stash.
"Hey, I appreciate it," Ebbitt said, waving as the patrol moved on.
The relative quiet of Sunday, which Siler attributed to most folks going home after some energetic recreating on the Fourth of July, was in contrast to a day earlier.
Siler said he was still unsure what happened to a 45-year-old ethnic Ukrainian who apparently fell to his death Saturday evening from a cliff area on the southwestern part of Camp Far West.
Patrols from both Placer and Yuba counties responded, but neither department's dive rescue team was close at hand. Siler said the man, whose identity had still not been released by Placer County's Sheriff's Department Sunday evening, fell from the cliffs in one of the highest places to do so.
Over his entire career, Siler said he's personally participated in recovery operations for 30 drownings, and commanded responses to over 100 of them.
But those are the memorable days, along with the big holiday weekends like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day. This year, SIler said he estimated a couple of hundred boats invaded Camp Far West over the three-day weekend in late May.
More often, the days can be slow, and during the summer, oppressively warm. Though boat patrol duty used to be highly sought after within the department, Siler said, that's changed.
"The new officers now, they want to be where the action is," he said. "They'd rather be making the big drug bust than be out here."
Martin, who joined the Marine Patrol in March, is an exception. Like Siler, he's a lifetime boating enthusiast.
"Let's face it, this is a great gig," Martin said, making occasional visits to a green and yellow ice chest — he called it a "John Deere" model — for bottled waters and sodas. "You drive around Olivehurst for a few years, and you want something different."
A Yuba City native, Siler said he'd owned a boat before he joined the Sheriff's Department. In about three years, he said, he'll have enough service time to retire from his days of cautioning people about speed, flags and imbibing while boating.
Even registry numbers on the boats often could count as a violation for how they're displayed, he said, but he usually doesn't bother.
On Sunday, Siler said his mind was a bit elsewhere. The next day, he'd be on a flight to Mexico for a vacation.
A fishing vacation.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/siler-84096-yuba-boat.html
Kayaker falls short in his global quest
Vacaville Reporter-7/6/09
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter has rescued a French kayaker who became fatigued in the Bering Sea during his quest to circumnavigate the world.
Jean-Gabriel Chelala contacted authorities from his kayak on Saturday after he encountered several days of rough waters and became too weak to paddle through the currents.
A Jayhawk helicopter airlifted Chelala from his specialized kayak about 40 miles off the coast of Alaska's St. Lawrence Island and flew him to Nome, where he was treated for mild hypothermia, the Coast Guard said. The kayak was abandoned.
The 28-year-old has been attempting to circle the globe through human power -- bicycling and kayaking. He left France by bike in January 2008, kayaked across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida and then pedaled from Florida to Alaska, according to his Web site.
Chelala left Emmonak on Alaska's western coast on June 27 with the goal of reaching Gambell on St. Lawrence Island -- a journey of 250 miles, the Coast Guard said. But rough seas threw him off course.
http://www.thereporter.com/ci_12760772?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com
States digging deep to monitor water
Oakland tribune-7/5/09
By David Tirrell-Wysocki (Associated Press)
About a quarter mile into dense woods, geologists watch as a drilling rig twists a shaft deep into the granite bedrock of southeastern New Hampshire. They are searching for water—not to drink—but to watch.
State and federal agencies have been watching, or monitoring, lakes and rivers for more than a century, but less attention has gone to vast amounts of water in cracks and rock fissures deep underground, leaving a void in understanding a resource growing in importance as demands for water increase and surface water sources are being used to the fullest in many areas.
New Hampshire is drilling a series of wells to monitor groundwater in cracks in granite hundreds of feet below the surface. The goal is to allow scientists to check for contamination; learn about how long it takes for rainfall or melting snow to make its way into the supply; and keep tabs on how climate change, population growth and development affect the water.
State Geologist David Wunsch would like to share the information as part of a nationwide network.
"In the future, your water may come from hundreds of miles away, so in order to get that national picture of 'Are we depleting some area for the sake of another region?,' you need to have that national picture," said Wunsch, who represented state geologists on a national committee that has developed a national groundwater monitoring plan.
Groundwater provides drinking water for 130 million Americans and 42 percent of the nation's irrigation water, and while many states have monitored groundwater, they have done so for state-specific reasons, using different criteria. So, while groundwater supplies spread beneath large regions, monitoring generally stops at state lines.
"Some states have several hundred wells and sample them four times a year. Others have absolutely nothing," said Wunsch.
The goal of forming a network got a boost this year as Congress approved the SECURE Water Act, directing the U.S. Geologic Survey to work with states to develop a national monitoring program for underground water supplies, known as aquifers.
There is no national big picture on groundwater levels or quality because the information exists only "in bits and pieces," said Christine Reimer of the National Ground Water Association, in Westerville, Ohio.
She emphasized that a national monitoring effort would not put the government in charge of groundwater management, but said information showing trends or changes in groundwater quality or levels could help guide local decisions.
Montana approved groundwater monitoring in 1991 because its water information was inconsistent and not part of any system, said Thomas Patton, the state's groundwater assessment program manager.
"If you are going to relate precipitation to water levels in wells, you've got to collect precipitation over time and water levels over time," Patton said. "If you are going to compare water levels to development, you've got to have the water levels, over time."
Information collected from 900 Montana wells has been valuable, especially in watching how groundwater levels responded to six or seven years of drought and to irrigation or rainfall, he said.
Patton and Wunsch said ideally, states will gain information valuable to their own water planning and share with the federal government, which will share the cost of the monitoring.
Wunsch said monitoring will be a great help in New Hampshire, where more than a third of the state's population gets drinking water from bedrock wells. Before work began on the current network of 10 wells, the state had only one bedrock monitoring well. He hopes for significantly more.
Contamination is a particular concern around the country, he said, because homeowners are not required to test their wells. About 20 percent of New Hampshire's bedrock wells contain arsenic levels above the government standard. Bedrock water also contains uranium and radon, even unsafe levels of fluoride.
Another major concern is just how long it takes for rainfall or melting snow to flow down to, or recharge, the aquifer.
"We don't know how quickly rain gets to bedrock," Wunsch said. "It might take a day, a week, a year for it to migrate down."
Monitoring that process, over time, might show how climate change and development affect levels and quality.
For instance, rainfall that now percolates into the ground gets diverted by the paved surfaces of development and is carried away by storm drains.
And climate change may mean less snow around the country, with more rain, in more severe storms, Wunsch said, which could mean more groundwater, but at different times of the year.
Water project funded
$49M for recycling to bring needed jobs
Inland Valley Bulletin-7/5/09
By Sarah Jo
Two grants will allow the Inland Empire Utility Agency to increase its recycled-water capacity by about 10 million gallons a day.
The $49 million in state and federal stimulus money help make the area less dependent on imported water.
The $14 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds accompany $35 million from the State Water Resources Control Board to finance the IEUA's Northeast Area Regional Recycled Water Project.
That project will supply more recycled water to Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana by fall 2010 and boost job opportunities for contractors.
"We will have more of a reliable water supply in the future, ensuring that businesses and homeowners will have more reliable, less expensive local supplies than the more expensive imports," said Rich Atwater, CEO and general manager of IEUA.
The project could mean more than 600 local construction jobs over the next year.
The funding comes as cities are low on both cash and water because of the recession and a statewide drought.
The IEUA has been looking for long-term ways to avoid water shortages. The agency recycles about 25million gallons of water per day and expects the northeast project to recycle 10million more gallons a day, serving an additional 40,000 to 50,000 people, Atwater said.
In Rancho Cucamonga, the agency will install three purple pipelines for recycled water, buy and convert a reservoir into a recycled-water system,
build a pump station to improve water pressure in some areas, and install wells and equipment to analyze water for contamination.
Places with irrigation needs, such as schools, parks and golf courses, will receive recycled water by fall 2010.
The estimated cost of the northeast project is $28 million. IEUA originally estimated the cost to be $40 million and now finds itself under budget with extra stimulus funding.
Atwater said his agency is planning to expand the northeast project's construction and will make final decisions on how to spend the extra stimulus money in the fall, with state water board approval.
Judie Panneton, a spokeswoman for the State Water Resources Control board, said the projects were approved based upon their environmental benefits and viability, how quickly they could be completed and the financial hardship in the service region.
IEUA board President Terry Catlin said in a statement that the recycled-water projects will help create jobs in areas that have unemployment rates exceeding 12 percent.
The stimulus money also brings relief to some local contractors that have been struggling to find work in a slow economy.
WEKA Inc., a general engineering contractor business in Redlands, was one of about 20 companies bidding for the construction jobs.
Jared Himle, president of WEKA, said the competition was tough because many specialized pipeline companies are suffering.
"My competitors were all basically fighting and hurting for work," Himle said. "Contractors are trying to hang in there."
His own business took the economic slump hard. In 2007, Himle had 50 employees. He now has 20.
Himle said the two low-bid construction jobs he was awarded are fair-sized and specialized because of the quality of pipes he will be installing. He added that he will have no problem finishing on time.
"Now, finding manpower is easy," he said.
Atwater said two construction jobs, the Church Street Lateral pipeline and the installations of monitoring wells and lysimeters, will go out to bid in the next few months.
But the federal stimulus money will not stop there.
Over the next few months, the IEUA will begin planning more water-conservation projects in Fontana, Ontario, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga with the recent influx of $14 million from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
An additional $773,045 from the state water board will help fund a separate IEUA project in the Chino area.
The approved Magnolia Channel project will plant and restore wetland habitats such as the Chino Creek and Prado Wetlands, which naturally purify water. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.9 million.
Upcoming projects
1299 East Recycled Water Pipeline
Estimated cost: $3.6 million
Estimated number of jobs: 108
1299 East Reservoir and 1630 East Pump Station
A tank reservoir will be modified for recycled water rather than drinking water.
Estimated cost: $5.7 million
Estimated number of jobs: 171
1630 East Recycled Water Pipeline - Segment A
Estimated cost: $5.2 million
Estimated number of jobs: 156
Church Street Lateral Pipeline
Estimated cost: $5 million
Estimated number of jobs: 150
Open for contractors' bids in August
Monitoring wells and lysimeter clusters
Estimated cost: $2 million
Estimated number of jobs: 60
Open for contractors' bids in late July
El Monte-based water district receives $5.5 million in federal grants
San Gabriel Valley Tribune-7/6/09
A local water district received two grants totalling $5.5 million out of 27 grants issued for water reclamation and reuse projects nationwide by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced on July 1 that the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, located in El Monte, would receive nearly $6 million out of a total of $134.3 million made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Upper District received a $600,000 grant for its Rosemead Extension Project, and another $4.7 million for its City of Industry Project.
Both projects are intended to bring recycled water treated at the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County to green areas such as parks, golf courses and schools.
These water projects - known as "Title XVI" projects for the title of Public Law 102-575 that established the program - facilitate the reclamation and reuse of wastewater and naturally impaired ground and surface waters.
The $134.3 million for these projects is part of President Barack Obama's $1 billion investment of ARRA funding provided by the Department of the Interior for water projects across the West.
These 27 projects will team non-federal sponsors with local communities and the federal government to provide growing communities with new sources of clean water while promoting water and energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.
Federal funding will be leveraged to construct a total of more than
http://www.sgvtribune.com/rds_search/ci_12761779?IADID=Search-www.sgvtribune.com-www.sgvtri
Water district to have conservation 'summit'
Marin Independent Journal-7/5/09
The Marin Municipal Water District will host a water conservation summit on Wednesday.
The event, titled "Conserving Together," will be from 7:15 a.m. to noon at the Embassy Suites at 101 McInnis Parkway in San Rafael.Ê
A complimentary breakfast will be provided. The summit is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.Ê
For registration information, go to www.marinwater.org. The deadline for registration is Monday.
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12756711?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
Plants for real gardens in Southern California
S.F. Examiner-7/5/09
By Jane Gates
Design real Gardens for Southern California (Photo by Jane Gates)Designing real gardens for Southern California means taking into account the hot sun of summer, low rainfall, and varied low temperatures of the different coastal and inland areas. There are plants that will do justice to your landscape while fitting smoothly into the needs of your microclimate, and there are plants that will be more of a struggle.
All of this is to say that no matter how much you may love tropical gardens, lush lawns, woodsy retreats and other global landscapes, if you have a home here, maybe it’s time to love the chaparral. That doesn’t mean your garden will have to look like scrubland. It doesn’t have to be untamed. It doesn’t have to be brown. And, no, it doesn't have to be a cactus garden either if that's not what you want!
With careful design and by mixing in chaparral type plants from similar areas in other parts of the world, you can create a beautiful, colorful, environmentally harmonic garden that you can enjoy looking at and living in!
Our natural soil varies in different parts of Los Angeles County. But for the most part it tends to be clay in most of the basin and valley areas, sandy near riverbeds and beach areas, and stony, granite-filled and calcareous (which means that it is high in calcium and other minerals) in most hilly and inland areas.
Nowhere are you likely to find much compost-filled loam, and acid-loving plants (like azaleas, rhododendrons, gardenias, etc.) are going to be a challenge to grow without a lot of extra coddling. And then there is the issue with the availability of water.
With the rapid population growth in this area, climatic changes and issues with importing water, water availability will continue to be a problem even if this drought breaks in the near future.
Some lovely plants that tend to ignore both the summer heat and winter frosts and bloom happily in local soil – with no expensive soil amendments – are also drought tolerant. These plants can add low maintenance color to the landscape and are perfect to design into a smart, colorful, real garden for Southern California.
The tough salvias offer color and low-maintenance alike. Some excellent sage plants are the Salvia clevelandii – a favorite cultivar is the darker purple and slightly less rambunctious ‘Winifred Gilman’, Salvia chamaedryoides with its soft grey foliage and bright blue flowers, and the many pinks, reds and whites of the long-flowering Salvia greggii. Teucreums are known as germanders and can grow large or small, depending on variety.
The larger-growing Teucreum fruticans azureum boasts sky-blue flowers and likes to show off in winter when little else is blooming. The Teucreum chamadrys and cussonii both are lower growers with red-purple flowers in spring and summer. Penstemons come in a wide range of colors. There are native varieties like Penstemon eatonii and P. centranthifolia in bright red, or P. azureus in blue or P. palmeri and pseudospectabilis in pink. All the Penstemons bloom with stalks festooned in decorative, colorful bells.
There are many larger-flowered cultivars in assorted colors and even bi-colors. For bright reds try the zauchnarias – recently renamed epilobiums. Don’t forget the versatile rosemaries that now come in blues and pinks as well as lavender. And try one of the many yellow daisies like the Coreopsis, Acton Daisy or Chocolate Daisy.
And then there are all those interesting ornamental grasses. Muhlenbergias come in all sizes, shapes and textures and there are even some local natives. One variety, Muhlenbergia capilaris blooms with feathery pink inflorescences in the autumn that look like pink fairy dust. Another, Muhlenbergia dumosa, grows like thin shoots of bamboo.
You won’t find a tougher ornamental grass than Muhlenbergia rigens, commonly known as deergrass. Try a small Festuca or an Elymus for blue foliage. Or try the easy-to-grow burgundy colored red fountain grass. Plant grasses around rocks and boulders, mix them with flowers or create a whole ornamental grass garden. There are many more grasses and flowers that can build a reliable yet colorful backbone to your garden.
Design a whole garden of reliable chaparral-type plants and enjoy low maintenance along with garden security no mater what Mother Nature decides to send our way. By planning out your garden, you can use any of these plant choices -- and many more -- to create a Mediterannean, Asian, English, Southwestern or any other styled garden. Do some research into the plants you use in your landscape and you can design a real garden for Southern California that is both beautiful and practical.
You can also feel proud of yourself by planting “green”, using our limited water supplies responsibly and by creating natural habitat for our threatened wildlife. Despite being eco-friendly and easy to care for, your garden can look as good or even better than anyone elses. And if nasty weather arrives, you’ll have all your neighbors jealous as your landscape thrives without effort!
Gray water: from the washer to the garden
L.A. Times-7/6/09
By Susan Carpenter
I was never more excited to do laundry, and it wasn't because my son and I were running out of clean underwear. I had just installed a system to divert gray water from my washing machine to my xeriscaped frontyard, and I was anxious about whether the $312 and two days I'd spent installing it would pay off.
Considering all the money and political squabbling that goes into getting water to this desert metropolis, it seems silly not to recycle water once it's here. Especially now. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are telling us to conserve, which I do.
I was still using 253 gallons at my home each day, according to my latest Department of Water and Power bill. I just wanted to use less, and recycling my gray water was one way to do it.
Gray water is the wastewater generated from sinks, showers, bathtubs and laundry machines. All of it could be used to irrigate plants but, instead, is drained to the sewer in Los Angeles County, where it's treated and, for the most part, sent into the Pacific.
In L.A., about 40% of the water used at home is for outdoor irrigation, according to the DWP. The rest is used indoors. In theory, that meant I could get all the water for my landscape from what I was already using inside. I also would be saving money and doing my minuscule part to save the state.
But, like so many other things in life, translating desire into action is often problematic, as I learned while installing a gray water system at my 90-year-old bungalow in Highland Park. Technically, it's possible, but only if the system can clear the exceptionally tall technological, financial and bureaucratic hurdles set out in Appendix G of the California plumbing code, which went into effect in 1992 at the tail end of a five-year drought.
The big issue for the state is public health. Releasing untreated water into a landscape may spread bacteria and make humans and animals sick. That's why the code requires gray water systems to be installed underground.
Although none of the gray water advocates or L.A. County health officials I spoke with for this column are aware of any incidents of gray water-induced sickness, health concerns are the main reason why so few permitted gray water systems exist in the state -- and why most people install them without permits, as I did.
The daunting technological legalese of the plumbing code sent me scouring the Internet for other options, which I found through the Santa Barbara firm Oasis Design and a group called the Greywater Guerrillas in Oakland. Pretty much everything I had ever wanted to know about gray water -- and then some -- was available at www.oasisdesign.net, where I spent the better part of an afternoon learning the basics and purchasing two books.
The photocopied-and-stapled "Builder's Greywater Guide" reiterated many of the same technical and legal issues that had been outlined on the Oasis site, and the glossy and perfect-bound "Create an Oasis With Greywater" gave me more detailed information on systems to consider.
Gray water can be harvested from four principal places in the home. The most desirable is the washing machine, which can generate 10 to 50 gallons a load and have the added benefit of a built-in pump that helps push the water through the plumbing and into the garden.
Showers generate at least 2.5 gallons of water a minute, even from low-flow shower heads, and baths typically use 30 to 40 gallons a soak. They generate a lot of water, but they may also require an additional pump and surge tank, which means more money, electricity and maintenance. Kitchen sinks don't generate much wastewater, and the water they do yield is full of potentially problematic food debris requiring more complex systems.
Reading the books, I made two decisions: I was installing a gray water system, and I was doing it with my washing machine. By my estimate, it would give me 90 gallons a week.
What the books didn't provide were enough specifics for me. I'm only a moderately handy person. I need to see and touch and feel something to truly understand it. I needed a workshop.
That's where the Greywater Guerrillas came in. The self-described group of educators, designers, builders and artists who teach and empower people to "build sustainable water culture and infrastructure" holds semimonthly workshops, mostly in the Bay Area, for wannabe do-it-yourselfers.
I reserved a spot and headed up in August, when the guerrillas planned to take over a Berkeley couple's house for a day and send their washing-machine water out to their fruit trees and ornamentals.
Over five hours, I re-learned much of what I already knew from the Oasis website and books. I also got to cut and glue pieces of PVC, snip garden hose, dig mulch basins and otherwise help to install the system I hoped to put into action at my house.
The participatory aspect of the workshop was invaluable, but even better was a shopping list, which included the names of each part I'd need, complete with model numbers. All but four items could be purchased from the California-based irrigation company DripWorks ( www.dripworksusa.com). I placed my order online, and a box showed up on my doorstep two days later.
The 1-inch-diameter PVC plumbing pipe I needed to re-route the gray water from my washing machine was easily procured from a plumbing supply shop. But I did have trouble finding the three-way plumbing valve I needed to switch my dirty laundry water between my yard (where I planned to send it in dry months) and the sewer (where I'd send it when it was raining or when I was running a load with bleach); I had to buy the valve from the Greywater Guerrillas.
The 100 feet of 1-inch-diameter HDPE irrigation tubing I needed to carry gray water into my yard was impossible to find. I called three irrigation suppliers in L.A., and none had it, so I gave up and bought more expensive and less environmentally sound PVC spa hose from the Home Depot.
Then there were the U-shaped garden stakes to hold the curly spa hose in place. After visiting four nurseries, I ended up crafting my own with ceiling wire and a wire cutter.
Supplies in hand, I was ready to start construction.
Or so I thought. As soon as my washing machine was pulled away from its spot inside a closet and I got an up-close look at the maze of tubes and hookups running to the wall, my mind went blank. My hands-on experience in Berkeley, the notes I'd taken and everything else I thought I had learned flew out the window.
If you are not especially handy, I suggest playing plumber's apprentice to a friend who's better schooled in the ways of ratcheting blades and PVC glue. That's what I did for the first day of the install, which focused on rerouting the plumbing. By comparison, the second day was easy -- running the spa and feeder hoses through the landscape, staking them down, mulching.
After seven trips to the plumbing shop and six trips to the Home Depot, the system was ready to roll. I filled up my Whirlpool Thin Twin with my kindergartner's filthy boywear and Ecos detergent, and I waited for the spin cycle as I never had before.
When the water poured into the garden, my flax, osmanthus and agapanthus were happy. Myself? I was so thrilled I danced.
http://www.latimes.com/la-hm-graywater27-2008sep27,0,4384949.story
'Armed' for watering duty
The right nozzle turns a hose into a water-saving spray gun
L.A. Times-7/4/09
By Emily Green
If there's one thing harder to get than a good garden hose, it's a good nozzle to fit on it. Now that we're in a drought, good nozzles we need.
Nozzles can cut the amount of water used during hand watering, and they're now required in Los Angeles for car washing. The way nozzles achieve these savings is simple. They shut off water as hose-draggers move around.
Most modern nozzles also are water-shapers. They pressurize water coming from the hose, so many can emit everything from fine mists to fierce jets. The fancier the model, the more patterns it may advertise, including mist, flat, angle, shower, fan, cone, center and jet.
So, nozzles are great investments, right? On the face of it, yes. In the store, you can expect change from a ten for what might look a half-decent nozzle and change from a twenty for what appears to be a decent one.
If, that is, you don't succumb to option paralysis. Shopping for a garden hose nozzle can feel more like a tour through a gun show than a walk through the garden center. Expect names such as Pistol and Magnum, but do not necessarily buy the Howitzer model. Throughout the armament, nozzles share one universal flaw: Even the best wear out.
Their washers get wear and tear. Hose ends get banged up and don't thread properly. However it happens, within months of purchasing even the most expensive models, nozzles are unsurpassed at dribbling water down your wrist and into your shoe.
I purchased and tested 10 models at stores around Los Angeles, and two nozzles leaked from the handle the first time they were used. And the Vigoro Heavy-Duty Adjustable Pistol Nozzle actually exploded.
Many were adequate, including the simplest brass and steel twist attachment, the 4 1/2 -inch BackYard Pro. However, watch that a controlled flow of water doesn't turn into a spray, ensuring water in the shoe. Some, such as BackYard Pro's 6-inch spray nozzle, have no off position. These models should be banned.
The simplest ones, including the SunMate Mini Magnum from Orbit Irrigation Products, amount to little more than valves. Fewer movable parts leave less to break for those prone to tossing the hose down, but the pattern control on the Mini Magnum was poor.
A personal favorite was the Dramm Revolver. It's more comic book ray gun than pistol, has nine patterns and comes in pretty colors, but it's blatantly girly.
Men may prefer the Toro 8 Pattern Front Trigger.
Whatever you buy, beware of any cheap or conspicuously fragile parts. Nozzles should be tough and simple. Always check to make sure they come with a rubber or synthetic seal to act as a washer.
And rather than imagine that this seal will survive regular twisting against a gritty hose end, stop by the plumbing aisle on your way out for additional washers. No matter which nozzle you buy, you'll need the washers.
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-nozzles4-2009jul04,0,4159918.story
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