« NASA Satellite to Map Global Water Cycle | Main | Company to Pay for Damages to the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park »
May 05, 2008
Californians Told to Conserve Water
California state officials have issued an urgent call to conserve water pointing out that the Sierra Nevada snowpack has fallen to one-third normal levels and is a primary source of the state's water supply.
"We need to recognize that we're in a water shortage and begin to act accordingly," state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said.
"We're in a pretty painful water supply picture," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, the general manager for the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California. "We don't want to institute rationing, but if this continues you will see us take a look at that next year."
In the Coachella Valley, which includes the resort communities around Palm Springs, the water district has proposed a tiered water pricing system. "The idea is to charge customers who use more than their fair share of water", said Mark Beuhler, assistant general manager of the Coachella Valley Water District. "We saw the writing on the wall," Beuhler said. "It is probably the most single effective thing we can do to achieve conservation."
"Some of the things that could happen are not using fountains, requiring use of a shut-off nozzle in the hose at your house, or restrictions on when people can water their lawns,' said district spokesman Jeff Becerra of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, serving Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
"As long as our customers continue to use the same good habits they showed last year, we should be able to get through this year without any cutbacks," said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, referring to the voluntary conservation
last summer, as reported by the Associated Press, and published by the Sacramento Bee.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at May 5, 2008 02:53 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://waterfilters-r-us.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/505
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)