Last week, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution asking county staff, residents and businesses to cut water use by 20 percent.
The reductions are still voluntary, but the county's water situation is serious: The Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio reservoirs, which help supply Salinas Valley ag fields, are at 23-percent and 5-percent capacity, respectively, and it's only the start of the dry season. The county normally starts releasing water from the reservoirs in March and April to replenish underground aquifers and deliver fresh water to certain agricultural areas, but the lakes are too low to do it this year.
The county, for its part, will do more outreach and reduce irrigation and outdoor water use at its own buildings and parks. It is also maintaining a special web page devoted to the 2014 drought.
The county's move came three days before California Gov. Jerry Brown issued his second emergency proclamation on the drought. (In January, he asked Californians to cut back water use by 20 percent.) On April 25, Brown pledged more state water conservation efforts and challenged residents to skip water-intensive activities like car-washing and lawn-watering:
"With this proclamation I'm calling upon all Californians, municipal water agencies, and anyone who uses water to do everything possible to conserve."
All of California is now officially in a state of drought, and Monterey County is in the most severe category: "exceptional drought."
The county resolution includes the following list of conservation suggestions:
- Set irrigation systems to avoid run-off.
- Water only at night or during the cool parts of the day, and not when it's raining.
- Fix all plumbing leaks.
- Run dishwashers and clothes washers only when full.
- Turn off the tap when brushing teeth or shaving.
- Keep showers to 5 minutes and install low-flow shower heads.
- Install low-flush toilets.
- Sweep paved areas instead of washing with a hose.
(1) comment
Pebble Beach Company should be commended for building a gray-water reclamation infrastructure. However, the golf courses still use potable water to mix with gray water because of the salt content. Building 90 new homes, adding 100 new rooms to their existing hotels and possibly building another hotel at Spyglass Hill seems insane when we are being told not to flush our toilets. Over 6000 trees have already been destroyed for this development, with more to come. Dave Potter and Jane Parker need to stop pushing the wants of the PBC ahead of the needs of their constituents.
www.delmonteneighborhood.org
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