At its next meeting, the Monrovia City Council will likely declare that the city has a "Water Shortage Emergency" and impose Phase 1 of the city's emergency plan. This means ...
1. No person shall hose wash any sidewalk, walkway, driveway, parking area or other paved surface, except as required for sanitary purposes.
2. Washing of motor vehicles shall be done only with a hand held bucket or a hose equipped with a positive shut-off nozzle.
3. No water shall be used to clean, fill or maintain levels in decorative fountains (water features) unless the water is part of a recycling (recirculating) system.
4. No restaurant, hotel, café, cafeteria, or other place where food is sold, served, or offered for sale shall serve drinking water to any customer unless expressly requested by that customer.
5. All customers shall promptly repair all leaks from indoor and outdoor plumbing fixtures within 48 hours of discovery.
6. All lawns, landscape or other turf area shall be watered down not more than every third day, with the watering only during the hours between 5:00 PM and 10:00 AM.
7. No person or customer shall cause or allow water to run off landscaped areas onto adjoining streets, sidewalks, or other paved areas due to incorrectly directed or maintained sprinklers or as the result of excessive watering.
Details here: http://goo.gl/OB9JZ3
Comment: Unlike the plastic grocery bag ban, which I continue to regard as an intrusive imposition by the city in response to a nonexistant problem, I believe the water shortage is very real and even though these measures are also an imposition, I believe they are necessary and I support the city on this. I bike in the mountains above Monrovia and while there is still water flowing in the lower part of Monrovia Canyon Park, all three of the feeder streams between there and White Saddle are bone dry, and have been so for a long time.
- Brad Haugaard
Some cities are giving residents incentives to tear up their lawns and go drought resistant landscaping. Is Monrovia considering any type of similar actions?
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard anything like that at this point.
DeleteIs the City going to mothball its fountain in front of the Library?
ReplyDeleteRecycling or not, it consumes water. It is unnecessary for the City and citizens.
Can they lead by example?
Harry, before the city mothball's it's fountain, how about the state stops sending 15,000,000,000 gallons of fresh water right out to the ocean each year because of the delta smelt fish?
ReplyDeleteBrad, can you define better what "landscape" means? I drip water my roses a couple of times a day, during the day, because that's what's best for roses. Are they only concerned about lawns? Or is the city concerned about when I water my tomato plants, also?
From your linked details and the attachment chapter "13.20 Water Conservation," and section "13.20.030 Definitions" it appears that they will mandate a reduction of 10% of our water compared to our usage during the "base year" of "July 1, 1989" to "June 30, 1990." Are there any plans to update this to the current century? Or is that really what they're going to go with.
ReplyDeleteAll, I'll try to attend the council meeting tonight and if I learn more, I'll certainly post it. The item is on the "consent calendar," which means it will likely be passed along with a bunch of other stuff that is deemed noncontroversial and usually without discussion. I think it should be removed from the consent calendar, not to defeat it, but just so a lot of these questions can be brought up and answered.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 12:08 would kill off an entire eco-system rather than conserve a little bit. Humanity is scary sometimes.
ReplyDeleteA fish is not an eco-system.
DeleteI question the wisdom of flushing 50,000,000,000+ gallons of water down the drain during a drought because 305 fish got caught in a pump.
For perspective, Monrovia uses 2,000,000,000 gallons of water a year (figure from 2010). These fish yearly "use" 25 times the amount of water the entire city of Monrovia used in 2010! If we work really really hard and conserve 20% of our water, it's but a drop in the bucket of the water used by that fish.
What's scary to me is that people jump to conclusions, don't bother to stop and think, and impose restrictions on people that kills jobs, kills farming, lowers quality of life, and kills thousands of plants because a few tiny fish are found in a pump. That's what scares me, and this state unfortunately shows no sign of stopping to think.
Can someone help explain what a re-circulating fountain is? I have a small fountain in the backyard that has a pump that runs water to a little stone turtle that spits the water back into the fountain. Is that a re-circulating fountain? If so, how does that save more water than a non re-circulating fountain?
ReplyDeleteEither way I'm probably going to let it evaporate and stay dry for awhile so I don't feel bad watering my landscape to prevent it from catching on fire.
And what would a non re-circulating fountain look like? Do people have fetid pools of water that just sit there collecting bugs, or fountains that just constantly dump water into the ground?
It doesn't seem like I should be this confused, but I am.
I think you have a re-circulating fountain. The water goes around and around. I don't think I've ever seen a non-re-circulating fountain, for the reason you give.
DeleteThat's what I thought too, but I just don't understand how that saves water, maybe it keeps the water cooler with the constant motion?
ReplyDeleteWhoops, bad reply format, sorry!
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