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Institute Crunches Numbers
When Oakland's Pacific Institute released California Water 2020 in 1995, it argued that the state was not using its water resources intelligently, and suggested simple technologies to conserve water in all sectors and avoid costly new infrastructure. The Institute has now presented critics of the 1995 report, who labeled it "overly idealistic" and "too general," with the practical nitty gritty on 40 on-the-ground projects that show just how easily individuals, agencies, and businesses are conserving water, using it to restore the environment, and involving the public in decisions about water use.
The Institute published its new 400-page Sustainable Use of Water: California Success Stories in January 1999 (see Now in Print). According to Project Manager Arlene Wong, the Institute winnowed a candidate project list of 100 down to 40 based on whether projects were socially, environmentally and economically affordable; acceptable to multiple stakeholders; resulted in more efficient water use or a better match between water quality and end use; promoted flexibility in decision-making and management; and had been on the ground long enough to be evaluated, among other criteria.
The chosen few range from various types of environmental restoration to resource management plans, rate structures, water-conserving techno-fixes in diverse settings, wastewater recycling, water quality improvements, watershed and groundwater management programs, and even legal protection for rivers.
Some of the success stories focus on the water savings achieved, like the one on the San Diego Naval Aviation Depot, which cut its water use by over 90% between 1987 and 1997, from 305 million gallons per year to under 27 million gallons, by making low-tech changes in daily operations. "It just made sense," says the Depot's Jose Jiminez. "Reducing our water use also reduced our waste generation. We are more efficient and we've avoided costs related to additional water purchases and wastewater treatment adding up to over $2 million a year."
Similarly, U.C. Santa Barbara installed water-efficient shower heads and dishwashers, low-flush toilets, horizontal-axis washing machines, drip irrigation systems, and other simple technologies, reducing per person campus water use by almost half - from more than 16,000 gallons per person in 1974 to less than 8,000 gallons in 1994.
Another success story describes an integrated resources management plan implemented by the Marin Municipal Water District which makes developing new water supply an option only after all conservation efforts have been exhausted. The plan has reduced demand in that district by 15% (back to 1980 levels), despite a 7.5% population increase. According to the district's Ron Theisen, the agency's motivation was obvious: "We know that water resources in California are finite. The drought of the 1970s was our call to look more closely at how we were using water and how we might use it more efficiently. In some ways, our efforts here have been a microcosm of the issues we're seeing statewide."
Other stories explore the multiple benefits of involving the community in water conservation and policy - unemployed residents of disenfranchised neighborhoods in southern California gaining jobs and skills by working with water agencies to market ultra-low-flush-toilets (and saving an estimated 12,911 acre-feet of water each year), or citizens getting active in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's rate setting process and helping resolve issues of fairness.
Yet another success story details the benefits - environmentally friendly flood-control, jobs for youth, and even revitalization of a downtown - that resulted when citizens of three very different cities (Richmond, Berkeley, and San Luis Obispo) got involved in restoring their waterways.
Many of the success stories involve partnerships among farmers, environmental groups, and municipalities. Santa Rosa is using tertiary-treated water to supply a marsh and an organic vegetable farm, while Visalia works with a walnut grower to irrigate an orchard with wastewater that has undergone secondary-treatment. Recycling wastewater has limited Santa Rosa's discharges into the Russian River to peak wet weather events. "Water is too valuable a resource to waste," says Dan Carlson, the city's Capital Projects Coordinator. "Tertiary treatment means our water can be reused not only for irrigation of fodder crops, but also vineyards, organic vegetables and urban landscapes."
The Institute hopes its success stories will generate more serious interest in, and statewide discussion, of water conservation - and maybe even inspire similar projects. "Clearly, the old ways of doing business are being replaced by new approaches that are restoring our environment, making more efficient use of our water, and saving governments, corporations, farmers and the public money," says Institute President Peter Gleick. "These successes show that we can certainly postpone, and perhaps avoid completely, the construction of expensive new dams and storage facilities."
Contact: Wil Burns (510)251-1600
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