California Water Restrictions

[NW-Bound]

^^^ A few years ago, I read articles about how cotton farmers in Arizona were using a lot of water to grow what could be imported inexpensively from Egyptian cotton growers.

A lot of the water usage in the US is based on grandfathered rights. I don't know if there's still a lot of cotton growing in Arizona.

 

[Chuckanut]

^^^ A few years ago, I read articles about how cotton farmers in Arizona were using a lot of water to grow what could be imported inexpensively from Egyptian cotton growers.

A lot of the water usage in the US is based on grandfathered rights. I don't know if there's still a lot of cotton growing in Arizona.

My understanding is that the water shortage issues in Arizona are bad enough that cotton farming is in the gun sites of a lot of the population. In California I hear it is the almond farms - one gallon per almond!!!! That is hard to believe.

 

[MikeWillRetire]

I'm doing my part by only drinking beer that is brewed East of the continental divide.

 

[ncbill]

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

In the midwest the problem is poorly-thought-out commercial/industrial users like ethanol plants draining aquifers that take thousands of years to recharge.

 

[oiseux]

You can check out the current status of the reservoirs here:
https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain
You can see the largest issues are with the three largest reservoirs in the far north of the state (and elsewhere). This is a result of several low years and a poor rain year in the far north and south (some areas, like Sac-Tahoe, are relatively normal)

You can see the rainfall to date here:
https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/awipsProducts/RNORR4RSA.php
The snowpack just about everywhere is down, as well.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

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

Interesting comment. Years ago a college professor made a statement that eventually water would be California’s new gold.
Of course at the time I was young and carefree.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

My understanding is that the water shortage issues in Arizona are bad enough that cotton farming is in the gun sites of a lot of the population. In California I hear it is the almond farms - one gallon per almond!!!! That is hard to believe.

Almonds take a tremendous amount of water. And I love almond milk darn it all.

 

[Turbo29]

A lot of the water usage in the US is based on grandfathered rights. I don't know if there's still a lot of cotton growing in Arizona.

I see a lot of it on agricultural parcels in southwest Phoenix. (All of these areas are irrigated by SRP canals.)

 

[Bullwinkle]

Where I am (Bay Area), the water bill is about $75/month. Of that, it's about $57 service charge, and $18 consumption charge. So there's not much motivation to try to save water, because the bill is mostly not based on how much we use. Or at least it appears that way.

We've considered reusing shower water for the yard, but not even sure how to do it. Wouldn't you have to have a way to redirect the drain to a tank or something? It seems like it would require major work on the water system. If it's a bath I suppose we could manually siphon it out a window as long as the ground level is low enough! But, our backyard is mostly a survival of the fittest situation, we don't water the non-vegetables (trees, flowers) so either they are suited to the area or they all grew roots over to the neighbors. We do water some tomatoes and greens but it's once a week and I reckon basically a shower's worth. Also some greens and fava beans seem to grow all on their own with no attention at all.

I'd actually be curious to measure how many gallons each of our activities consumes. The bill claims 50 per day, which seems like a lot, but then says average for similar sized places is 250, so maybe not? I've heard dishwashers are not bad compared to hand washing, and modern washing machines also not bad. Other than that, I wonder how a 5 minute shower compares to a bath for instance. I suppose you just multiply the flow, so 2 gpm shower head = 10 gallons. Say 30 for a bath, and 1 showerist + 1 bather already accounts for most of that 50. So all we need to do to save up to $15 is stop bathing. My wife will be thrilled about this new plan.

But seriously, I've also heard that the vast majority of water usage is agricultural, or systemic. While it lets individuals off the hook for usage, it puts us on a much harder hook, which is how to change the system. As for so many things. I'm not sure what to think about water bills not really being based on usage. Either it means the system is not allocating costs accurately, or individual usage isn't that relevant. I mean, I'm sure it's both, but at what proportion?

 

[Koolau]

Where I am (Bay Area), the water bill is about $75/month. Of that, it's about $57 service charge, and $18 consumption charge. So there's not much motivation to try to save water, because the bill is mostly not based on how much we use. Or at least it appears that way.

We've considered reusing shower water for the yard, but not even sure how to do it. Wouldn't you have to have a way to redirect the drain to a tank or something? It seems like it would require major work on the water system. If it's a bath I suppose we could manually siphon it out a window as long as the ground level is low enough! But, our backyard is mostly a survival of the fittest situation, we don't water the non-vegetables (trees, flowers) so either they are suited to the area or they all grew roots over to the neighbors. We do water some tomatoes and greens but it's once a week and I reckon basically a shower's worth. Also some greens and fava beans seem to grow all on their own with no attention at all.

I'd actually be curious to measure how many gallons each of our activities consumes. The bill claims 50 per day, which seems like a lot, but then says average for similar sized places is 250, so maybe not? I've heard dishwashers are not bad compared to hand washing, and modern washing machines also not bad. Other than that, I wonder how a 5 minute shower compares to a bath for instance. I suppose you just multiply the flow, so 2 gpm shower head = 10 gallons. Say 30 for a bath, and 1 showerist + 1 bather already accounts for most of that 50. So all we need to do to save up to $15 is stop bathing. My wife will be thrilled about this new plan.

But seriously, I've also heard that the vast majority of water usage is agricultural, or systemic. While it lets individuals off the hook for usage, it puts us on a much harder hook, which is how to change the system. As for so many things. I'm not sure what to think about water bills not really being based on usage. Either it means the system is not allocating costs accurately, or individual usage isn't that relevant. I mean, I'm sure it's both, but at what proportion?

Back when I worked in the cotton fields of Arizona (heh, heh, for 3 whole days - long story having to do with pesticide research) the old timers spoke of needing 5 to 10 acre feet of irrigation per season. I've heard that has been cut since my time "chopping cotton." One AF = about 326,000 gallons. So multiply that by acres under cultivation and you get a big number for arid state agriculture.

I found several estimates of water per person, but assuming 70 gal/person/day, 1 AF would serve about 4600 people per day. Here is a site that has some interesting data on water usage. Not sure how accurate it is so YMMV.

https://waterfilterguru.com/how-much-water-does-the-average-person-use-per-day/

 

[SimpleMom]

We installed a Watts hot water recirculating pump that saves lots of water when using hot water. Easy for my DIY hubby to install. Cost = $199 at Home Depot. (Read the product reviews for more info on how they work.) It has a timer, but we are using a smart plug to control it. Very nice to have instant hot water. We were saving water in buckets when waiting for hot water in the shower and using that to flush toilets so this has been a nice upgrade! We're in Sonoma County so drought and wildfires are on our mind.

 

[almost there]

Like most things Calif. Its a scam. 6 generations here.
"agriculture accounts for approximately 80 percent of all the water used in California" bla bla bla 1.1 gal. per Almond.... 1900 gal per pound...
"California produces most of the world's almonds and 100% of the United States "
So, yea, cut back as much as possible. High prices, Fines etc.

 

[Among_Primates]

Definitely having an impact on me. I understand that as of next month irrigation has to go from three times a week to once. I have a large property -- much of it too sloped to use, but I still must maintain it. There are trees and plants to hold the soil, because erosion and mudslides can be a problem, but there's also a lot of brush that must be removed at this time of year, because fires can also be a problem.

There's a line of pear trees in front of my house; oaks, plums, bottle-brush, and Chinese pistache trees on the slopes above and below; flowering bushes; and a paved garden. All these things were planted many years ago. Over time the spray irrigation was changed to drip, and most of the grass was changed to flagstone. There are jade plants and other drought-tolerant plants where possible, though I still have some roses.

I spoke with the gardener the other day about the new once-a-week rule. He said simply, "Everything die." I asked, warily, about the fire danger of having dry and dying trees all around. He agreed it was a problem. (Getting fire insurance? Also a problem.)

California has dueling problems. Every May soil rains down from the hill above after my gardener removes all the rooted greenery that was holding it back. Depriving the remaining greenery of water is reasonable -- this is a serious drought, we all need to do what we can -- but it's going to make fire season more dangerous. I'm not sure what to do at this point, even economically. I've been planning to move out of state within the year, so the thousands of dollars it would cost to pull everything out and replace it is not really feasible.

 

[Helen]

And yet Disney wants to put a lagoon based mixed-use community in Rancho Mirage - which is in the desert. How did this get passed?

https://worldarchitecture.org/archi...project-in-california-s-coachella-valley.html

 

[W2R]

I'm not sure what to do at this point, even economically. I've been planning to move out of state within the year, so the thousands of dollars it would cost to pull everything out and replace it is not really feasible.

Moving out of state sounds like a good way to solve the problem. Try to relocate in a region that has plentiful rainfall and no water usage restrictions, if possible.

 

[boont]

Well Water

I have a country house in the California wine area North of San Francisco. We have two wells there with a 2000 gallon holding tank. I have never paid a nickel for water there.

My City house is on city water. We have a front and rear garden that has held up because we get San Francisco weather with lots of fog in summer.

My house in Sacramento is on local well district water. That is going to get more expensive.

My family has been here since 1845. I will take wild fires & earthquakes any day over hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.

 

[WWDog]

...

Personally I prefer living in Louisiana, where we don't have to have restrictions and high water usage bills like that. We do have problems with too much water sometimes so some people might prefer a dry state, I suppose. We were careful not to buy in a flood prone neighborhood, and our houses have never flooded since they were built in 1965. So anyway, my neighborhood has never had problems with either flooding or water restrictions and I like that. But the whole state isn't like that. Anyway, as for me, I intentionally do not plan to live in California any more (and water plays a big part in that decision, for me) but that's just *me* and my preferences.
...

Lived in Louisiana for several years myself. There is something about the water there!

 

[Koolau]

I have a country house in the California wine area North of San Francisco. We have two wells there with a 2000 gallon holding tank. I have never paid a nickel for water there.

I thought the same thing when I moved to a property on the prairie that had a well. It took some electricity to pump water a couple hundred feet to the holding tank, but it was not outrageous. BUT when we had to replace the well, our "average cost" of water was no longer trivial. YMMV

 

[gumshoe]

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

You think that's bad? My 2-month water bill: Water: $71 Storm & Surface Water Service: $69 Wastewater Service: $118 TOTAL BILL for 2 Months = $258. So, averaging out to $129/month.

I am the only one living in my house and am very conservative in my water usage. I don't even water my lawn and let it go brown in the summer. Not to mention I live in one of the rainiest areas of the country, the Pacific Northwest (Seattle area).

I heard the water bills are high up here due to the utility department spending on infrastructure updates - or something like that.

 

[Koolau]

I heard the water bills are high up here due to the utility department spending on infrastructure updates - or something like that.

Heh, heh, not to mention adding a couple of layers of bureaucracy at a few hundred $K/year for folks poached from some other water bureaucracy. I have no personal knowledge of PacNW water agencies, but that's what seems to happen to most gummint bureaucracies. Hire more people to watch more underlings to watch more underlings to write more glowing reports on sketchy progress. Meanwhile the guys in the ditches laying water pipes are hoping for a 3% raise. But I'm not bitter! YMMV

 

[Helen]

You think that's bad? My 2-month water bill: Water: $71 Storm & Surface Water Service: $69 Wastewater Service: $118 TOTAL BILL for 2 Months = $258. So, averaging out to $129/month.

We are paying $449.58 every quarter so about $150 per month in Portland. We don't water our lawn either.

 

[Chuckanut]

You think that's bad? My 2-month water bill: Water: $71 Storm & Surface Water Service: $69 Wastewater Service: $118 TOTAL BILL for 2 Months = $258. So, averaging out to $129/month.

I am the only one living in my house and am very conservative in my water usage. I don't even water my lawn and let it go brown in the summer. Not to mention I live in one of the rainiest areas of the country, the Pacific Northwest (Seattle area).

I heard the water bills are high up here due to the utility department spending on infrastructure updates - or something like that.

I think it has to do with sewage treatment so that the lake, rivers and Puget Sound don't end up like [-]name redacted[/-].

What we really need to do is to start planning for more reservoirs and ground water replacement since warming will most likely reduce the snow pack that keeps water flowing during the very dry Summer months.

 

[dvalley]

So they keep issuing permits to build new housing, apartment complexes and such but yet they want the existing residents to cut their usage of water, electricity, gas to reallocate to the new communities. Same ole stuff.

 

[cathy63]

You think that's bad? My 2-month water bill: Water: $71 Storm & Surface Water Service: $69 Wastewater Service: $118 TOTAL BILL for 2 Months = $258. So, averaging out to $129/month.

I am the only one living in my house and am very conservative in my water usage. I don't even water my lawn and let it go brown in the summer. Not to mention I live in one of the rainiest areas of the country, the Pacific Northwest (Seattle area).

I heard the water bills are high up here due to the utility department spending on infrastructure updates - or something like that.

You may not be doing an apples to apples comparison. Our (San Diego area) current water bill is $61.77, of which $17.17 is the water usage charge and $41.31 is the water service charge. But we don't have the wastewater service on our water bill like you do; instead it's a sewer service charge on our property tax bill, which comes out to another $39/mo. We are in a condo with only about 25 sq ft of outside landscaping.

I don't know if the person you're comparing to has a similar situation, but several cities in San Diego County do it this way, though the city of San Diego does not. We have to be aware of it when doing taxes and make sure to subtract the sewer charge when entering prop tax on Sched A because it's not a deductible tax.

 

[youbet]

just remember, no pipelines from the Great Lakes region to the West Coast. That would only amplify an already apparently unsustainable situation by encouraging folks to move to an area for climate, but discover when they get there that water is an issue.