California’s drought has now become a regular news item, spurred by Governor Jerry Brown’s announcement at the beginning of April that the state needs to achieve a 25% reduction in water use. He made the announcement with a dramatic background – a grassy mountain meadow that should normally be under 5 feet of snow. The amount of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains is at a historic low of 5% of average, so our state’s rivers and reservoirs will not be replenished by much snow melt this summer. The details of how the Governor’s reduction will be accomplished are passed on to the water districts that control the supply of water to consumers. Most water districts are already on their way to this goal, but there is plenty of discussion and controversy over how to get all the way to 25%.

The drought is of course something that has been going on for a few years now, and last October I wrote about various drought issues. However, we are now at the end of the rainy season with very little to show for it. We got a few intense storms this winter that helped, but left behind far too little snow to last us through the summer. I won’t attempt to cover all the news and discussion on this topic, but I did want to talk a little more about my home water district’s efforts, and remind everyone of some simple things that can be done in your own garden to save water.

East Bay Water Conservation

Here in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, we get our drinking water from the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD). Back in October there were only requests for some voluntary conservation. However in mid-April the agency declared a Stage 4 drought, the most extreme category. This means mandatory conservation measures and water use restrictions, clamping down on excessive water users and water theft, and increases in the rates that customers pay for water (see image below for more details).

A rate increase is naturally going to cause a lot of people to be upset, and in fact has already led to lawsuits in other water districts related to the laws keeping public utilities from earning a profit. One of the underlying issues here is the inherent conflict of interest with an agency whose income is based on the quantity of water consumption. When people use less water, the water district has less money to meet their budget needs, so the motivation to encourage conservation can be lacking at that level.

I think EBMUD has done a pretty good job, but I’ve always been disappointed with the way they measure and report consumer water use. We get a water bill only every 2 months, and this means you won’t know if you are using too much water, or if there is a big leak, until quite a while after it starts. Also, EBMUD provides water use information only in very large units: 1 unit equals 748 gallons. The goal they’ve given is to use only 35 gallons per person per day, but the only measurement you see is rounded to the nearest 748 gallon unit, making it hard to tell if you’ve improved. Obviously there are big costs associated with changing this, I’m sure new more precise water meters at every house would not be cheap. But our gas and electric consumption is now monitored by Smart Meters and I think its time to start planning to get smarter water meters phased in all over the state. Our state water system was set up at a time of much more plentiful water and way fewer residents, and its time to catch up to the realities of today – drinking water is an incredibly precious resource. Let’s refresh our memories on how to conserve water in the garden.

Landscape Water Conservation for New Gardens

California does have in place the Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance that I have talked about before. This applies to newly constructed landscapes and generally excludes smaller projects, but that varies by city, and I expect the definition of a small project to get tighter. I have seen in my recent design work that these rules are now being more strictly enforced which is very good. It means a more paperwork for my clients, but it is certainly important that new gardens be as water conserving as possible.

One requirement of the Ordinance that I continue to try to educate my clients about is the value of good soil preparation, and its contribution to water conservation. A healthy, well-balanced soil will retain a much higher amount of moisture for a longer time period, making it available to plant root systems long after a rain shower or irrigation cycle.

Landscape Water Conservation for Existing Gardens

There are many ways to reduce garden water use, and because it is important in a summer-dry climate whether there is a drought or not, I have covered many of these topics already. This includes ways to reduce your irrigation water use, and the how to maximize your irrigation efficiency. It is also a great time to consider using your home grey water for the garden, with a basic Laundry-to-Landscape system possible to install for motivated DIY types. At my house I’ve been brainstorming easy ways of collecting excess shower water and lightly-used dishwater and getting it into the garden. We are probably not going to see many more rain showers until the late fall, but collection of rainwater for irrigation is definitely worth considering, especially with the widely separated rain showers we’ve had recently. Also, don’t forget the value of mulch in planting beds to conserve water. Adding a 2 inch to 3 inch layer of bark mulch this time of year provides a nice water conserving layer that keeps the moisture in the ground.

I would also suggest replacing any high water use plants you have in your garden. This is especially important for grass lawns; ornamental ones that get no real use should definitely be replaced with low water use plantings. I have a hard time arguing against a small lawn for young kids to play on, but we are in year 4 of a historic drought, so it is time to stop using drinking water on those lawns as well.

Without a doubt it will be an interesting summer here in California as things dry up, what little snowpack we have melts away, and we enter the wild fire season. If you haven’t already, get going on your best water conservation practices and always be thinking how you can make your garden more sustainable and self-sufficient despite the dry weather.

References:

United States Drought Monitor - National Drought Mitigation Center: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

United States Seasonal Drought Outlook from the National Weather Service: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.html

East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) – Water Smart Center: https://www.ebmud.com/water-and-wastewater/watersmart-center

State Water Board drought information -http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/emergency_regulations_waterconservation.shtml

Specific news items used for source material in this blog article:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/04/01/50717/gov-brown-announces-mandatory-statewide-california/

http://alamedasun.com/news/ebmud-declares-stage-4-drought

https://www.ebmud.com/about/news/releases/2015/04/13/ebmud-board-asked-declare-stage-4-drought

https://www.ebmud.com/sites/default/files/pipeline-may-june-2015-final.pdf