Hooray!!!

Maybe it's too early to be be jumping and shouting but the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat reports, "...Rain over the last couple weeks has filled area reservoirs to the point where the water supply levels at Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino have topped out at slightly over 100 percent.".

That's Good (Maybe)

Not looking good in Mendocino County, water- wise, but it's still early. Some weather guys think there's plenty of time left and that it will still turn out to be a wet winter and spring. One fellow goes so far as to say that some of the state's reservoirs and dams might get refilled. Let's hope he's right.

That Sucks

Here we are in pretty much the middle of winter and Mendocino County seems to already be running short of water, according to the Ukiah Daily Journal. Still, some people want to take out existing dams in this state.

Santa Rosa Mulls End To Water Conservation

Alert: Same thing happened to me twice this morning on the SRPD web site as happened last Saturday. My browser minimized and some hack tried to get me to install their anti- virus software. Don't download their software.

This story in the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat really burns me up- at least some of the comments made on it do. It seems that some in Santa Rosa think it would be ok to end the water conservation efforts put in place to help maintain water levels in local lakes and rivers. One commentator points to this weekend's forecast of possible showers as reason to stop conserving.

How anybody can base a decision on a one- weekend weather forecast of showers is beyond me. We'll likely get little water on Sunday and Monday (although I'm hoping we get a lot) but, even if we did have a healthy rainfall over the next few days, we need to remember we had some halfway decent rainfall totals last winter and the southern counties still ended up short of water.

I suppose it's none of my business (remember: VOTE LOCAL CONTROL!) but seems to me they should at least maintain water conservation measures until we get some real rain, not a one time sprinkle. Maybe we should be doing the same thing up here?

Saving Water

Interesting story in the Ukiah Daily Journal today about some folks in Mendocino County that have made some rather dramatic savings in water use the last few years. I've actually been thinking of doing similar things and I was pleased to see that we're not the only people that don't flush our toilet every time we use it.

I know. Some people get grossed out at the thought leaving a toilet full of pee. A friend of mine seemed really bugged by it. He'd always say, "You know that's not healthy for you". Hey, think of all the water we save and, yes, I do flush it more than once a day and we always flush it after taking a poop. We've lived that way for I don't know how long and I don't know of any problems resulting from it. Wonder just how much money it saves us, if any?

Another thing we started doing earlier this year (and should of been doing since we lived here) is saving the water that would normally go down the drain when we're trying to get warm water in the bathroom. It seems to take forever for the water to get hot in this house and we've wasted God knows how much water waiting for it to warm up.

I think Connie is the one that started it. We put 5 gallon tubs or buckets under the faucet in the shower. By the time they're filled up, the water's usually warm enough. Then we lug the tubs outside to the back yard where she can use them for watering plants. I'll have to admit it's a hassle and is getting old but it's nice knowing we're not wasting the water.

We really should do the same when we need warm water in the kitchen as that takes a long time, too, but it's an extra hassle there as we might need to get dishes and such out of the sink to make room for the tub. Maybe one of these days...

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As an aside, in reading the comments to the UDJ story, one commentator mentioned something I was wondering about: Shouldn't all that water running off the roof be allowed to flow into the rivers and help the fish? I don't know, but I can't imagine a few households saving rainwater being that big of a problem.

What if everybody did it? I would think most of the water would soak into the ground near the house. Still, the ground needs water too.

Another comment said that in some states it's illegal to collect rainwater. Wow! What's that all about?

Water

A rather ominous reading in the Times- Standard yesterday suggests we need more regulation of groundwater. That might be true, but I'm not so sure it's as entirely unregulated as the editorial suggests.

I know just last week I was reminded by a customer that many homes in our neighborhood have wells. Or at least had them at one time, anyway. We have one in our back yard that used to have an electric pump attached to it. My customer has one of those old manual pumps over her well and she says it still works.

She told me you can use your well water but said something about having to get permission from, or report to, the city if you do. Anyone know anything about that? Besides, how would anyone know if I started pumping water from my well again?

Not that I'm going to try and steal groundwater. I'm just wonder how they would know?

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On a more upbeat note, the Los Angeles Times reports on efforts being made in Southern California to make the region more self sufficient in water. Neat ideas being thought of and taking place, but they do cost money. I especially like their attempts at rainwater storage. They point out that in the winter of 2004- 2005, enough water went into the Pacific Ocean from the Los Angeles River to supply the city for more than a year.

I don't know about drought conditions now but, seems to me, we usually get enough rain in the state for our needs, we just don't have enough places to store it.

A Jailhouse Whistleblower

Nicely written letter in the Ukiah Daily News by an inmate of the Mendocino County Jail shedding some light on wasteful water practices there.

Shame on Mendocino County for ignoring such waste considering the shortage of water they're facing.