California Water Restrictions

[Koolau]

Believe it or not, Hawaii has been under draught conditions for several years. See:

https://www.drought.gov/states/hawaii

The issue on Oahu has been exacerbated by the Red Hill fuel-into-groundwater leak a few months back. We have been "asked" to cut our water usage by 10%.

I would assume that both Hawaii and California could "solve" most of these issues if there were a way to start with a clean slate (new water infrastructure, efficient 1/2 toilets, better run-off catchment, gray water recycling, etc.) But once the problem exists, it's really hard to fix. Typically, things have to get worse before anyone will make them better.

We lose so much water to leaks that it's like whack-a-mole tearing up the streets and fixing huge water mains.

 

[ERD50]

A few quick observations/numbers on desalination, since I really don't know much about it being done on a large scale:

sources:

https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/hub-...r use received a thumbs,to 83 gallons in 2019.

https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/hub-nonprofit/initiatives/dashboard/electricity.php

https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud...ntity and cost,MW of average continuous power.

Daily household consumption in San Diego County:

~ 5.8 kWh

water given per capita (83 Gallons), 2.8683 people per household, so 238 Gallons per HH per day.

Electrical energy to desalinate water: ~3.6kWh for 1 m3 fresh water, is 264 gallons, so 3600w= wh/264G = 13.6 wh/gal , times 238 gal/day is 3.245 kWh/day to desailnate all that water.

3.245 kWh is large compared to overall 5.8 kWh. Though I suppose they don't need to replace ALL the water with desalinated water. But it's still a big number, even at 1/3rd, for a place already facing electrical outages.

8/19/20 | Times of San Diego
​CARLSBAD - The San Diego County Water Authority said Tuesday production has been cut back at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant to conserve electricity and prevent rolling blackouts during the statewide heat wave.

And before anyone says: But they'll just use solar panels! Those solar panels could have been used elsewhere to supply the grid. The desalination is added demand. Unless they can do it thermally, like distillation, but it sounds like it is all RO, which requires pumping pressure.

And then there is the issue of dumping water with a higher salt concentration. I know home RO units 'waste' ~ 4 G for every G out, so the 'waste' water has 5 G of salt in that 4 G, or a 25% higher concentration. Though it sounds like they run the 'waste' through again, so even higher concentrations (but less volume)?

-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

In our northern California city it has been a moderately wet year with 25.8 inches of rain to date. There have been serious fire safety efforts including much better early warning systems, planning for orderly evacuations, brush removal, tree cutting near power lines, pushing PGE to do more to repair/replace their equipment, etc.

On a personal level, I weekly remove as much brush as I can. Trees are limbed up, leaves and dry brush are held at a minimum. I've put crushed rock around the first few feet from the foundation so that it is easy to blow leaves away. Gutters are kept clear so leaves don't build up.

My neighbors and I cleared some of the brush in an open space last year and it is much better. The high grasses are cut in May. I regularly go into some of this area and remove branches.

I also maintain a nice garden with lots of plants on a drip system. Am experimenting with watering deeply maybe twice a week during the summer. I've got the controller on manual now so I just set the water depending on the spring weather condition.


Here is a pic of the state park behind our housing area in February. The hill to the far right was burned in the 2017 fire. Green growth returning.

 

[djsander]

Moved back to the desert for retirement. This is the for fourth time we’ve lived here. We miss the green, but not the humidity and lawn care. We implemented if it’s yellow let it mellow. We shower every other day unless we know we will be out somewhere such as church or dinner with friends. We have xeriscape yard with desert plants. We have decreased our water usage by 25%. Unfortunately we weren’t aware of the winter quarter calculation for sewer until the last moth for the calculation and we’re late to the game so our sewer charge is fixed at actually slightly higher than our usage. We will make sure we do better next winter to get that charge down.

 

[Tafkah]

Here in the SF bay area, I'm removing a few young redwood trees in favor of other existing trees that have deeper roots and don't need irrigation. I'm also downsizing my patio water needs, replacing large whiskey barrel planters with smaller containers.

Also installed a on/off valve on my shower head so I can turn the water off while I lather up or shampoo.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

And while rain and conserving water is important it’s more about the snow/snow pack that provides us water through the summer that is needed.
I’m in Northern California surrounded by rivers- literally! So we have water but the snow in the sierra’s is what the state needs.
As I understand it anyhow. I only know what other people/ farmers tell me.

 

[1242Vintage]

Another Northern CA guy here.

It’s the resulting wildfire threat that has me very concerned. I have a large parcel and took down and cleared out large trees around my home and bordering my orchard. Also have sprayed many many gallons of herbicide in the orchard to knock down weeds. Others in my area are using rented goat herds to clear weeds out.

The other thing I did was to install a home standby generator. Have used it a couple times when the winds kicks up and PG&E shuts down the power grid.

But all that won’t matter come July or August when the wind kicks up and a fire starts. Had a fire two years ago very close to the house. It was sparked by a truck dragging a chain out on the main road. Scary times when the CalFire planes and helos are coming in a few hundred feet over your house.

 

[ElizabethT]

Our water bill is about $40/month in the desert. Our HOA provides water for landscape so this is only the water we use in the house. It’s never been below $38 and change no matter what we do, and never been over $42-$43. We have all energy efficient plumbing and appliances and try not to waste water, but we don’t do anything extreme to conserve.

.

Same here in coastal, but still dry, SoCal, other than we're about $10 more per month than you are, however we do have a front and backyard to maintain, so that is likely the difference.

When we put in our artificial grass some years ago, our water bill only dropped by $5, to an average of $55 when we are in residence, $50 when we are not, so I have always assumed the majority of our bill is for sewer and infrastructure.

My first drought memory, and really just the first time I paid attention to what has always been a historic, cyclical issue here in California, was in the early 90's. I altered my water usage behavior then, and never went back. A funny story: When a niece visited us from water-deluged Houston, right after one of their flooding events, I told her she really did need to keep her showers short, and not settle in for a luxurious 20 minute+ shower. She was shocked. She had no clue that water was an issue anywhere in the US. LOL.

Regarding wildfires, so often when we meet non-Californians, they ask about our earthquakes. I always respond that it is not the earthquakes one has to be aware of so much as it is the wildfires. My earliest wildfire memory was at the age of six, so way back in the 1960's. I also remember our home being the staging sight for firefighters during another wildfire event in the 1970's. And then again in the 1980's. And so on. It's simply the price we pay for living where we do. We have insurance, we made sure to purchase our current home in an area with multiple exit roads, and I really don't give it much thought otherwise. Although I will say I will not hike in a canyon during a wind event. That is a firm no-go.

Locally a de-salination plant is now being seriously reviewed for the first time in my memory. As others have said, there is ample water to be had via the ocean, but it may likely be more expensive to eventually deliver to homes. That is fine by us, because it's such a minor expense in our overall budget. And a small price to live in the paradise that we do.

ETA: To re-emphasize that there is nothing new about our drought cycles here, there is a story in Mark Twain's autobiography, Roughing It, about accidentally setting fire to the forest in Lake Tahoe, which then became an out of control wildfire due to dry drought conditions and winds. And that was way back in the 1850's.

 

[Turbo29]

I remember in 1977 they had a video of Shasta Lake (near Redding, largest reservoir in CA) on the news and it looked like a bathtub that had the drain plug pulled out. They said it would take years to refill it. Next year in 1978 it rained so much it was filled right back up.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I remember in 1977 they had a video of Shasta Lake (near Redding, largest reservoir in CA) on the news and it looked like a bathtub that had the drain plug pulled out. They said it would take years to refill it. Next year in 1978 it rained so much it was filled right back up.

I think the difference this time, as was explained to me, is that the drought has been going on for several years and although we have had rainy seasons it’s been too little and not often enough. Also as I stated up thread, the snow packs have not been as sufficient. This has all resulted in our water reserves in the aqua ducts etc to be depleted.
I don’t know a lot about water other than to evacuate when the threat of flood is imminent. Which I have done several times! But the farmers really understand water and the reserves at many different levels. Farmers I know have been concerned for years. So…

 

[ElizabethT]

I think the difference this time, as was explained to me, is that the drought has been going on for several years and although we have had rainy seasons it’s been too little and not often enough. Also as I stated up thread, the snow packs have not been as sufficient. This has all resulted in our water reserves in the aqua ducts etc to be depleted.
I don’t know a lot about water other than to evacuate when the threat of flood is imminent. Which I have done several times! But the farmers really understand water and the reserves at many different levels. Farmers I know have been concerned for years. So…

Our last drought here was official declared over in 2019. See below, which references full reservoirs and deep snowpack even before a late spring deluge arrived. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/05/15/california-is-already-drenched-now-three-atmospheric-rivers-may-unload-two-months-worth-rain/?noredirect=on&fbclid=IwAR3n-hn6YqSHCz-G2SMij8dgq2ncXvcHgoeMQqAfHHM--4q-xFJTpMGjqSQ

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Same here in coastal, but still dry, SoCal, other than we're about $10 more per month than you are, however we do have a front and backyard to maintain, so that is likely the difference.

When we put in our artificial grass some years ago, our water bill only dropped by $5, to an average of $55 when we are in residence, $50 when we are not, so I have always assumed the majority of our bill is for sewer and infrastructure.

My first drought memory, and really just the first time I paid attention to what has always been a historic, cyclical issue here in California, was in the early 90's. I altered my water usage behavior then, and never went back. A funny story: When a niece visited us from water-deluged Houston, right after one of their flooding events, I told her she really did need to keep her showers short, and not settle in for a luxurious 20 minute+ shower. She was shocked. She had no clue that water was an issue anywhere in the US. LOL.

Regarding wildfires, so often when we meet non-Californians, they ask about our earthquakes. I always respond that it is not the earthquakes one has to be aware of so much as it is the wildfires. My earliest wildfire memory was at the age of six, so way back in the 1960's. I also remember our home being the staging sight for firefighters during another wildfire event in the 1970's. And then again in the 1980's. And so on. It's simply the price we pay for living where we do. We have insurance, we made sure to purchase our current home in an area with multiple exit roads, and I really don't give it much thought otherwise. Although I will say I will not hike in a canyon during a wind event. That is a firm no-go.

Locally a de-salination plant is now being seriously reviewed for the first time in my memory. As others have said, there is ample water to be had via the ocean, but it may likely be more expensive to eventually deliver to homes. That is fine by us, because it's such a minor expense in our overall budget. And a small price to live in the paradise that we do.

ETA: To re-emphasize that there is nothing new about our drought cycles here, there is a story in Mark Twain's autobiography, Roughing It, about accidentally setting fire to the forest in Lake Tahoe, which then became an out of control wildfire due to dry drought conditions and winds. And that was way back in the 1850's.

My water bill was $8.16, but all the fluff charges made it 10x that.

 

[Koolau]

A few quick observations/numbers on desalination, since I really don't know much about it being done on a large scale:

sources:

https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/hub-...r use received a thumbs,to 83 gallons in 2019.

https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/hub-nonprofit/initiatives/dashboard/electricity.php

https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud...ntity and cost,MW of average continuous power.

Daily household consumption in San Diego County:

~ 5.8 kWh

water given per capita (83 Gallons), 2.8683 people per household, so 238 Gallons per HH per day.

Electrical energy to desalinate water: ~3.6kWh for 1 m3 fresh water, is 264 gallons, so 3600w= wh/264G = 13.6 wh/gal , times 238 gal/day is 3.245 kWh/day to desailnate all that water.

3.245 kWh is large compared to overall 5.8 kWh. Though I suppose they don't need to replace ALL the water with desalinated water. But it's still a big number, even at 1/3rd, for a place already facing electrical outages.



And before anyone says: But they'll just use solar panels! Those solar panels could have been used elsewhere to supply the grid. The desalination is added demand. Unless they can do it thermally, like distillation, but it sounds like it is all RO, which requires pumping pressure.

And then there is the issue of dumping water with a higher salt concentration. I know home RO units 'waste' ~ 4 G for every G out, so the 'waste' water has 5 G of salt in that 4 G, or a 25% higher concentration. Though it sounds like they run the 'waste' through again, so even higher concentrations (but less volume)?

-ERD50

Thanks for the calculations.

That overall KWh figure per person or household would increase our use of very limited electricity by roughly 50%/person. That would be problematic though we don't really need it. I'm guessing it would be especially problematic on the west coast which is already struggling with producing and delivering enough electricity. Now, when we're up to 50% EVs... YMMV

We actually get plenty of water - on average, at least on Oahu. Windward is especially blessed with a lot of rain, mostly in the winter. I'm guessing it would be way more economically feasible to engineer more large catchment systems than it would be to desalinate. That's probably not true on a lot of the west coast however. YMMV

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Our last drought here was official declared over in 2019. See below, which references full reservoirs and deep snowpack even before a late spring deluge arrived. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...-G2SMij8dgq2ncXvcHgoeMQqAfHHM--4q-xFJTpMGjqSQ

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02...ia-and-the-american-west-new-study-shows/amp/

One year of rain/snow does not compensate enough for the number of years of drought so close together.
In either 2014 or 2015 a farmer told me that if the drought didn’t end the next year it would take 20 years to recover. It did not end the next year. This person is from a family/generation of farmers so not new to water issues in California.

 

[Lsbcal]

There are problems well outside of California. British Columbia has a lot of beetle infested trees from warm weather. Also fires up there.

USA population has doubled since I was born. More industrialization, climate change, etc etc. Not just a drought that commonly happens in Western states. We all need to take a closer look at this and get away from politicization of this issue. But good luck on that.

 

[ElizabethT]

I think the difference this time, as was explained to me, is that the drought has been going on for several years and although we have had rainy seasons it’s been too little and not often enough. Also as I stated up thread, the snow packs have not been as sufficient. This has all resulted in our water reserves in the aqua ducts etc to be depleted.
I don’t know a lot about water other than to evacuate when the threat of flood is imminent. Which I have done several times! But the farmers really understand water and the reserves at many different levels. Farmers I know have been concerned for years. So…

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02...ia-and-the-american-west-new-study-shows/amp/

One year of rain/snow does not compensate enough for the number of years of drought so close together.
In either 2014 or 2015 a farmer told me that if the drought didn’t end the next year it would take 20 years to recover. It did not end the next year. This person is from a family/generation of farmers so not new to water issues in California.

I think you just moved your goalposts.

 

[RobbieB]

We have a "trickle system" installed with a feed to each individual bush or flower.

No lawn.

I would have preferred a "zero" scape rock garden with gravel, but wifey wanted none of that.

 

[aja8888]

We have a "trickle system" installed with a feed to each individual bush or flower.

No lawn.

I would have preferred a "zero" scape rock garden with gravel, but wifey wanted none of that.

When we lived in Thousand Oaks, Ca years ago, my wife wanted hanging baskets with ferns growing in them for the front porch overhang. Damn ferns kept dying no matter what we did to keep them alive. Fixed that with plastic ferns. So nice, no one could tell the difference, even DW.

 

[Koolau]

There are problems well outside of California. British Columbia has a lot of beetle infested trees from warm weather. Also fires up there.

USA population has doubled since I was born. More industrialization, climate change, etc etc. Not just a drought that commonly happens in Western states. We all need to take a closer look at this and get away from politicization of this issue. But good luck on that.

Unfortunately, a shortage of any resource always becomes political. It's the nature of the beast. YMMV

 

[swakyaby]

Despite the shortage of water in my drought-stricken area of California, I still see many massive new home developments being built. How possible would it be to make it a building code for new home developments in drought-prone parts of the state to design water conservation measures like grey water recapture for landscape irrigation, hot water recirculators when the shower/bathtubs exceed a certain number of feet from the water heater source, and dual flush toilets in every bathroom. The reduced water demand would be significant, yes?

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I think you just moved your goalposts.

Not sure what you mean by this.
I’ve stated pretty clearly that what I know is from farmers here in California regarding the drought and how dire it actually is.

 

[NW-Bound]

Water levels of both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are running alarmingly low. More than having no water to distribute to the Western states, authorities are now trying to assess the damage of the loss of hydro power.

I can protect myself somewhat against the loss of power with my own DIY off-grid solar+storage, but there's nothing I can do about water. And even if I could get my own water, there's still the food shortage due to loss of farming.

It's awful.

See: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/30/us/west-drought-lake-powell-hydropower-or-water-climate/index.html

and https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/us/water-intake-exposed-lake-mead-drought-climate/index.html

 

[Rianne]

I never thought I'd say I'm glad I live in Illinois. Water is the new gold.

 

[NW-Bound]

We are doing what we can to conserve water. We wash dishes by hand, and the grey water from that and vegetable washing is collected and dumped out to water the 4 fruit trees in the backyard. We get about 10 gallons each day from this activity. Not a lot, but it also helps us move about for more physical activities.

Yesterday, I needed to backwash the pool sand filter. The backwash discharge was hard-piped into the sewer. I cut out a section of the 1-1/2" pipe so that I could slip in a discharge hose to divert it to deep water the trees.

It took several hundred gallons to backwash the filter. In the past, all that water was wasted.

Over the years, whenever I needed to empty my 25,000-gallon pool for maintenance work, I just emptied it into my backyard. The chlorinated water never seemed to bother the trees.

 

[Mark1]

Water levels of both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are running alarmingly low. More than having no water to distribute to the Western states, authorities are now trying to assess the damage of the loss of hydro power.

Unfortunately, the authorities are not really managing this situation and only "kicking the can down the road". Last year, they basically drained Blue Mesa Reservoir to prop up Powell, and it looks like Flaming Gorge is slated to be "drained" to prop up Powell, this year. At some point, they will need to go after the folks using the water and actually start managing the system.

https://www.sweetwaternow.com/flaming-gorge-water-releases-aimed-at-maintaining-lake-powell-levels/

I suspect that most of the water actually goes to agriculture products that don't really need to be grown in the middle of the desert. Per the MWD site below, 5 million acres of farm land rely on the CO river system. I suspect that typically, one acre of land is allotted ~1 million gallons of water/year. That's a lot of water.

https://www.mwdh2o.com/planning-for-tomorrow/securing-our-imported-supplies/