My Personal Story of Water Conservation

By Zach Friend, Second District Supervisor

Even with some of the recent rains, there is no question that our region is in the midst of one of the worst droughts on record. Rainfall totals are some of the lowest known and we are shifting into a new way of water consumption and supply needs in our area. The Soquel Creek Water District, which provides water to much of my supervisorial district, has been actively promoting additional conservation measures and researching ways to augment the water supply. As we move forward, a balance of these approaches will provide the safest, most reliable water system possible.

The Soquel Creek Water District has set some potential targets for water usage (about 53 gallons per person/day) and I wanted to see how my household could better meet these targets. The District offers free in-home water conservation assessments. I signed up for one and learned how easy it was to reduce my water to a sustainable level and what each of my appliances, showerheads, toilets and landscape watering used.

All of my interior appliances and fixtures have been replaced with low water versions. In fact, the District offers generous rebates to customers interested in making the simple shift to low flow showerheads, washing machines and toilets. Rebates are also available for converting to drip irrigation graywater systems and replacing lawns with drought tolerate plants or synthetic turf. During the site visit, these rebates will be explained to you.

For my house, nearly 50% of my water usage was occurring outside. I couldn’t believe how much water I was using to water my plants. I have an automatic watering system that was set up to water three times/week for 10 m

inutes/time. Approximately half of the system is on drip irrigation and half is on regular sprinklers. Simply reducing the amount of time and overall frequency will more than accomplish my water reduction goals. During the visit, the water conservation specialist was able to point out which of 

my plants were drought tolerant and which plants I could consider replacing. In addition, I was given advice on how to best program the automatic watering system to conserve wat

Want to set up your own visit? Call 475-8500 and ask for a Water Use Efficiency Survey. You can also visit their website at www.soquelcreekwater.org and click on the “conservation” tab for more information.er (and not overwater my plants).

On January 28, I joined with all of the major water districts in an event at the County Courthouse to show that we are unified in desire to have a regional and collaborative solution to what is a new water paradigm in our area. All of the districts emphasized the need to explore additional water supply options coupled with improved conservation. Soquel Creek Water District customers are already some of the top conservers in the state and on average use 50% of the water of an average California water user.

But even with these great conservation numbers more needs to be done, which shows the advantage of exploring supplemental supplies and having the District help you with a Water Use Efficiency Survey. Again, call the Soquel Creek Water District at 475-8500 to learn more about conservation, find out about rebates and to schedule an assessment. I’m glad I did as it will allow my household to meet the water conservation targets.

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As always, I enjoy hearing your thoughts. Feel free to call my office at 454-2200 with your questions or comments.