When I lived in Arizona, we either had ugly painted gravel in our yards, or xeriscaping, which is a yard designed with native plants that require very little water. The gravel was so tacky and ugly, but served a purpose, no mowing and no water. I had a xeriscaped yard with a gravel "wash" flowing under a little bridge, it was rather nice. In California, as I have said in previous blog entries, we treehuggers urge you to rip up your lawn.
This just in from the city of San Juan Capistrano:
Landscape watering workshop to save water, money on tap July 30
The public is invited to learn how it can reduce water usage, save money and help the City stay in a "Stage 1" voluntary water-conservation mode in two workshops on July 30. The workshops are designed to encourage water conservation and help deter mandatory rationing. The City's wholesale water supplier Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in April ordered 10 percent water cutbacks this summer. The City Council declared the voluntary water conservation measure and voted for stricter enforcement of year-round mandatory conservation provisions with financial penalties for non-compliance. Workshop participants will learn invaluable landscape-watering techniques and about plant material for the future that will help reduce water usage and save residents money. The workshops will take place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and again from 6:30 to 8 p.m. July 30 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 32400 Paseo Adelanto. For more information, contact Francie Kennedy at 949-487-4304 or fkennedy@sanjuancapistrano.org.
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Yes the water levels in SoCal have indeed dropped considerably. If you go to http://tr.im/ttlY you will see how far our water reserve levels have dipped. They have a gauge on the site that looks like the fuel gauge in your car, but with three-color zones: Blue – good, Yellow - not good, and Red – bad. The needle on this gauge is dropping out of the blue zone and heading into the yellow zone which means Mandatory Conservation. You can read about all changes we can make to save water. These include little things we can do everyday like fixing a leaky sprinkler, watering our lawns only two days a week, etc. The water shortage is not going to improve unless Southern Californians collectively change their actions. You can also visit this page to see how much our water reserve levels have dipped steadily since July 2006:
ReplyDeletehttp://tr.im/ttlR