The Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency has tips on how to conserve water as Californians are also asked by the state to reduce water use by 15% to address the current drought.
“During our last drought, our customers, both residential, business customers combined, exceeded the level of savings. So we know we can do it, but it is going to take action by everybody,” said Nicole Sankulla, CEO and general manager of BAWSCA, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, which represents Peninsula water users with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
In the summer, there is generally an increase in outdoor water use because of the need to water and irrigate more, which also presents the greater opportunity for saving, she said.
Examples include trimming back one’s lawn’s water scheduling to two or three days only, checking for leaks and watering during the cool part of the day so there’s less evaporation loss.
“A lot of people have their irrigation run at night, and so they don’t see potential leaks or broken sprinklers or things like that. So maybe running your system on a test to make sure you don’t have any leaks and if you do, fix them,” she said.
BAWSCA’s website also has a water calculator as a tool to help people figure out how long they should be running their sprinkler for their outdoor irrigation. And its agencies also offer a rebate for a new smart irrigation controller.
For indoor water use, it can be a good idea to replace an old toilet as they are typically the largest water users inside the home, and if it’s time to replace a clothes washer as that’s the second largest water user inside the home. Newer dishwashers, clothes washers and toilets are designed to use less water.
And another strong recommendation is taking shorter showers with high-efficiency shower heads.
Recommended for you
“Every minute you save on a shower saves 2 1/2 gallons, assuming you have a 2 1/2 gallon shower head,” she said.
Additional tips include turning off the water when brushing teeth, washing the dishes or using a bucket of water when washing vegetables.
“We’re seeing a little bit of reduction but we’re not seeing all that we need so we really do need to ask everybody to step up and do more. So we can achieve these important reductions,” she said.
When water is saved, it is also saved in the reservoirs for next year.
“So it really is water saved today is going to be saved for us for our use next year, especially if it continues to be dry,” she said.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.