TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Water Solutions For California And Elsewhere

ADVERTISEMENT

By DOROTHY GREEN and JAMIE SIMONS Special to the Los Angeles Times

Published: October 30, 2007

For all the doom and gloom about water in California, here's a surprising truth: California has enough water to meet its needs today and tomorrow without new dams, peripheral canals or catastrophic costs. But there is a rub. It will take political will and better management.

If you are rolling your eyes and saying, 'Give up. It's hopeless,' hold on a moment. There is a road map that can lead to a better future for Californians. Here it is:

• Conservation: Stop hosing down the driveway, buy more efficient appliances and plug leaks. And by all means, every house should have a water meter; believe it or not, millions of houses in the Central Valley still do not. With this kind of affordable and existing technology, we can save about one-third of the water used indoors, according to the non partisan Pacific Institute. Planting California-friendly, drought-tolerant plants and installing smart sprinkler systems can help to conserve more than half our outdoor residential water.

• Store groundwater more efficiently: Right now, Los Angeles County's Department of Public Works puts winter and spring storm water (and some reclaimed water from the county sanitation districts) into ponds so it can soak into the ground and be available for use during the summer. Why not also do it with wet-year rain surpluses for use in dry years?

There is plenty of storage capacity underground in the huge aquifers that lie beneath the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley and Chino areas. And a bonus: Water doesn't evaporate when stored underground.

• Reuse nearly all of our wastewater: Before anyone yells 'toilet to tap,' let's establish that the last time there was 'new' water on the planet was in the Garden of Eden. As it stands now, wastewater is treated until it is almost potable, and then most of it is thrown away.

Thinking 'yuck ?' Consider this: The Colorado River, a major source of water for Southern California, contains the treated wastewater of Las Vegas.

• Stop throwing away storm water: The Army Corps of Engineers and others built a marvelously efficient storm-drain system to prevent flooding. You might have seen its centerpiece. It's called the Los Angeles River. This concrete channel is very efficient at pushing flood water through the county and out into the ocean, but that no longer makes sense.

Building multipurpose projects, such as parks designed to hold water until it soaks into the ground, has multiple rewards: an increased water supply, improved water quality, additional green space, more recreational space, enhanced wildlife habitat and an increase in nearby property values.

Dorothy Green is the founder of Heal the Bay and the author of 'Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis in California'; Jamie Simons is a writer in Los Angeles.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT