The Drought In California Has Been Raising Water Conservation Awareness Among RVers Among Other Questions
California has always had issues with finding enough water for their growing population. Back in 1908, Los Angeles built an aqueduct to get water from the Eastern Sierras. By 1929, the population had grown so much that more water was needed so, Los Angeles and other Southern California water agencies decided to syphon water from the Colorado River. Then the state built the State Water Project through the Central Valley to bring Northern California water to Southern California, but it’s still not enough.
Droughts in California and the Colorado River basin, as well as environmental regulations, have reduced the flows from all three sources.
Over time, Californians have learned to use water less indiscriminately. In San Diego, for instance, less water is used now than in 1990, although there are more people. Officials are hoping that Californians will become even more water-frugal in the future
“We’re holding steady on conservations,” said Max Gomberg, a senior climate scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board. “It shows that people understand that the drought’s not over.”
However, that’s not enough.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill in early September requiring water districts to crack down on excessive use anytime a drought emergency is in effect and water conservation is required — as has been the case for much of the last year.
Under current state rules, residents can be fined $500 for hosing down a sidewalk, among other prohibited actions and starting Jan. 1, Senate Bill 814 will require urban water suppliers to either establish a rate structure that will fine excessive users, or create an ordinance capable of identifying which customers are being wasteful.
The law requires that violators of the new ordinances be penalized, and suggests a fine of up to $500 for every unit (748 gallons) of water used that a district deems excessive.
As for RV parks and RVers, California Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds or CalARVC and Camp-California! have put together several tools to help park owners and their guests conserve water including a dedicated webpage- http://camp-california.com/Table/Protect-California/Save-Our-Water/.
“We urge our guests to pay attention to their water consumption and we now have drought tolerant plants instead of lawns,” said Jayne Picket, assistant manager of Vacationer RV Park in El Cajon, CA. “We’ve had some dry years, and there is also the issue of fire safety so it’s always an issue we share with our guests from out-of-state.”
Many Californians’ have high hopes for the country’s largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, CA in San Diego which is now flowing water through the area’s pipes, but not everyone in the state in on board.
The ability to turn the Pacific Ocean into drinking water creates a dependable water supply for 3 million people in San Diego County. Even without a drought continuing across California, the ability to drink from the ocean seems like a good plan but the desalination process is energy-intensive and its water is currently far more expensive than any other water supplies. The San Diego County Water Authority has committed to buying water from the plant’s private developer and owner for three decades, whether the water is needed or not.
There is also a desalination plant proposed for Huntington Beach but there are many issues, including environmental.
Jeffrey Kightlinger, the general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said water agencies would have to “basically industrialize the whole coast” if they wanted to replace the water they get from Northern California with desalinated water.
Referring to the whole Metropolitan service area, which stretches from Ventura to the border of San Diego, Kightlinger said agencies would have to build 30 desalination plants of Carlsbad’s size to be able to replace Northern California water. The Carlsbad plant cost about $1 billion to build; the water from it is expected to cost about $2 billion more over the next three decades.
“It isn’t really feasible or practical to just sort of say we’re going to stop getting water from our other sources and just go the desalination routed,” Knightlinger said. “We have to come up with other (water) technologies and they all have to be built and they all have to complement each other.”
Candice Reed
A graduate of Kelsey-Jenny College in Communications as well as a certified grant writer, Candice has written for The Los Angeles Times & The New York Times. She loves entertaining and all things French.
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