As summer rolls on, we are all hearing more and more about water – or the lack of it—in the media and maybe even from your friends and colleagues. The ongoing drought has affected all Californians, including our neighbors in the City of Santa Cruz who launched a summertime drought rationing program in May.
Here in the mid-county area our water supply problems are not caused by the drought. They are due to a groundwater overdraft, which can worsen in drought years. This imbalance means those of us who rely on our shared basin need to figure out a way to save water – or find an additional water supply – even after it starts raining.
Easing Groundwater Overdraft
Each year, the District and other well owners pump more water out of our underground basin than is naturally replenished by rainfall. As the ground water level drops, we are at greater risk for seawater entering and contaminating our wells, rendering them useless for drinking or irrigation. The District’s ConservationPlus program will help us save about 500 acre-feet a year, or about 1/3rd of what our hydrologists tell us we need to save to safely avoid seawater intrusion.
The Board of Directors set the policy goals for ConservationPlus and district staff has been developing the program to achieve those goals over the past few months. The program should be fully implemented in early 2015, although some elements such as monthly billing and home water reports are already being rolled out. For the next six months we will be reaching out to our customers to help them prepare.
Water Budgeting
For water budgets, the first step for our customers will be to let us know how many people live in their home so we know how much water to budget for them. Water budgets are based on gallons per person per day. Each customer will receive a letter explaining the program and a form they can fill out to get the process started. If customers choose not to return the form, they will automatically be assigned a water budget for one person.
Water budgets are intended to allow typical indoor water use with high-efficiency fixtures and enough outdoor watering for drought-tolerant landscapes. Water budgets won’t support watering lawns. A person living alone will be able to use 85 gallons per day. Two or more people will get 75 gallons per person per day. Going over the water budget will result in penalties. Just to put this in perspective, it takes 52-55 gallons per person per day for typical indoor water needs. This includes cooking and personal hygiene as well as running your washing machine and dishwasher.
Home Water Reports
We want to help our customers learn more about their current water use and ways to use water more efficiently. Watch for our Home Water Reports which are being sent to all residential customers in August. This report will show customers how much water their household is using, and how they compare to their neighbors. It’s a great way to find out if you have bragging rights as a water-saver or if you need to cut back to avoid penalties. Each report includes customized water-saving tips, many of which the District can help implement with free water-saving devices, rebates or a water-wise house call.
August 12th Meeting
ConservationPlus Program Introduction
ConservationPlus will be the focus of our August 12th Board Meeting at New Brighton Middle School in Capitola at 7:00 pm. This meeting will include a public hearing on the program, so it’s a great opportunity to learn more and share any comments you may have with our leadership. We encourage all interested residents to attend. Our staff will also be out in the field this summer, attending events and farmers markets to share information with you on how to save water and prepare for ConservationPlus. Even if you’re not a customer, we are sharing great information on conservation that will help you do your part to protect our shared basin.
Water Replenishment Possibilities
Since ConservationPlus will only save a portion of our long-term water-savings goal, we must do more –and we are. We have been actively exploring other options to bring additional water to the mid-county area. We have been studying several options including desalination, water transfer and groundwater replenishment with recycled water.
We will be carefully evaluating each of these over the next several months, with input from our customers and other basin stakeholders, and will be selecting an option to potentially further evaluate this fall.
In the meantime, I’d like to encourage all our mid-county residents to keep up and improve your water-saving actions. Customers and non-customers can stay in touch with us and get water saving ideas through our new website, on Facebook and Twitter and in this column – we’re all in this together!