Why don't we conserve more water?
| Friday, Apr 03 2009 05:41 PM
Last Updated Friday, Apr 03 2009 05:41 PM
Across the state, cities are mandating conservation efforts such as recycling non-toilet waste water and limiting when and how much lawns are sprinkled.
Ironically, there is no such effort underway in Bakersfield, a desert that mostly relies on the Kern River and groundwater for its urban needs.
The city says draconian measures aren't necessary because decades ago, authorities wisely invested in infrastructure that prepared us for dry cycles.
In wet years, water is stored in an aquifer and drawn upon during droughts.
The city also purchased water rights along the Kern River, paid for by 35-year agricultural water contracts that will expire in a couple of years.
Those contracts will not be renewed, so that water, too, will soon be available to municipal and industrial users.
"We do want our customers to be judicious in their water use and not waste water," said city of Bakersfield water resources manager Florn Core. "But we're kind of cushioned from the drought because we have the groundwater basin to pull from.
"I don't have a problem with families using what they need, as long as they pay for it."
How much is there?
Still, Kern County Water Agency, which contracts with the state to provide water for municipal, industrial and agricultural use, says not to get too comfortable.
"We can't keep drawing out and drawing out (of the basin) without replenishing," said agency general manager James Beck. "And during dry years, you have to go deeper to get to the water, so it costs more to retrieve it."
According to the agency's Water Supply Report, total supply for the San Joaquin Valley portion of Kern County was 3.4 million acre feet in 2001, the most recent year for which data are available.
Between 1970 and 2001, there were more extractions than additions, for a net deficit of 123,600 acre feet.
Another agency report on conditions in so-called Improvement District No. 4, an area that nearly encompasses the city of Bakersfield, found groundwater levels fell as much as 70 feet between fall 2007 and fall 2008 along the district's western border.
And water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has come to a screeching halt since a federal judge's 2007 ruling to protect the endangered Delta Smelt, which has been a particular burden to agriculture. Farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have received no water from the federal Central Valley Project water system for two months, and local growers on the State Water Project are getting just 20 percent of the amount called for in their contracts.
Stopping waste
Against that backdrop, some would like to see cities throughout the region work cooperatively to curb waste.
"I know in the past there have been advertising campaigns asking people to conserve voluntarily, but nothing's going to work until there's some teeth to it," said Jess Perales, president of the Kern River Alliance, which advocates protecting the river for outdoor recreational use.
"They need to pass some laws on watering lawns and washing cars and all," Perales said. "We should do it whether we need it or not, because we have water now, but some day we may not."
There has been one critical change to mitigate waste.
Last summer, San Jose-based California Water Service Co., which has more than 460,000 customers, introduced a tiered rating system that charges water hogs more and rewards those who conserve with discounts.
"It's revenue neutral to Cal Water," said district manager Tim Treloar. "The idea is just to give customers an incentive to conserve."
The company also has begun converting some 34,000 flat-rate customers to meters, as required under a 2005 state law designed to remove the ability to waste water with impunity.
Treloar said he prefers those kinds of reforms to rationing and fines.
"I find that a little distasteful and would really like to avoid it if we can," he said. "But if supply ever becomes a problem, then we'll do what we have to."
