District Asks Users to Begin to Conserve Water in Hopes of Preventing Mandatory Restrictions
Noel Smith – [email protected]
At its April 16 meeting the Soquel Creek Water District declared a Stage 2 water shortage warning. It is asking all customers to reduce their water usage by 15 percent from May to October 2013. This is because the last two rainy seasons have produces only about half the normal rainfall. This means that we water users who depend on the SqCWD need to reduce our average usage by about 10 gallons per day, per person to conserve water for future seasons.
According to Leigh Ann Gessner, Conservation Outreach Coordinator for the Soquel Creek Water District, “The goal of 10 gallons per person may sound like a lot, but this includes all uses of water both in the home and outside. Uses such as washing clothes, washing dishes, cooking, bathing, shaving showering, flushing the toilet, watering the lawn and garden, washing the car, and all the other reasons we turn on the faucet each day.”
To help all of us conserve, the SqCWD has instituted a long list of incentives. This includes rebates and devices that are available … for free! Did you know that by replacing an old non-efficient clothes washer with a new efficient one you could get a rebate of $200? Or how about the $200 rebate to replace an old 3.5 gpf toilet with a high efficiency one. Rebates are available for re-directing rainspouts, drip irrigation, rain catchments, and so on!
The District also has Free Water Saving Devices for its customers. Stop by the District office at 5180 Soquel Drive to pick up the following: • Low-flow faucet aerators • Low-flow shower heads • Automatic shutoff hose nozzles • Leak detection tablets • Five-minute shower timers • Toilet flappers • Water conserving brochure.
Water has always been the true gold in California. Witness the history of the Water Wars of the Owens Valley, the diversions affecting Mono Lake, the damming of the Colorado River and the All American Canal, the Feather River and the Central Valley Project the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley and the many other projects in the quest to find a sustainable water supply for the population of California.
Unfortunately for Santa Cruz County, none of those statewide water projects are available to provide our liquid gold. There are only two sources available, both local. They are surface water i.e. the yearly runoff in our local streams from our normally generous rainfall. In order to use this source throughout the year there must be sufficient runoff and storage facilities large enough to sustain our water needs through the dry seasons.
The other source is ground water. This is drawn from the underground aquifers by pumps and stored in tanks that provide a minimal supply if the pumps were turned off or if the aquifer ran out of useable water.
Ron Duncan, Conservation and Customer Service Field Manager for SqCWD pointed out that, “The water shortage for the SqCWD is not a short-term problem that will go away as soon as the rains return, but the problem extends far into the future. Even with a wet winter, it takes three or more years for the water to percolate through to the aquifer. Also, the more water that is pumped, the more the aquifer is subject to saltwater intrusion, which makes its water unusable for drinking, or irrigation. The dilemma then becomes how to reduce demand enough to allow the aquifer to be replenished, especially in the midst of a shortage of rainfall. This is the long-term situation that is at the bottom of the controversy over whether to build a desalination plant that would provide a sustainable water supply for both the Santa Cruz Water Department and the SqCWD.”
Gessner told us, “The District is about to institute a ‘Water Usage Normalization Program.’ Currently the District supplies about 14,000 water connections. The plan is to notify the 5,000 top residential users of water that their usage is above that of their neighbors and to offer to help them find ways to reduce their usage of water and therefore reduce their water bills. Such more-than-average usage could be due to water leaks, old appliances, or just not being aware of the problem.”
Gessner said that a free water survey for any customer is offered by the District to help meet the goal reducing total water usage to meet the goal of a 15 percent reduction. By going to the District Website, http://soquelcreekwater.org, and to the sections labeled “Home Rebates” and “Conservation,” you will see the extensive programs designed to save our water … and your money!