Small towns grow desperate for water in California

[TexasTowelie]

MENDOCINO, Calif. — As a measure of both the nation’s creaking infrastructure and the severity of the drought gripping California, there is the $5 shower.

That’s how much Ian Roth, the owner of the Seagull Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in this tourist town three hours north of San Francisco, spends on water every time a guest washes for five minutes under the shower nozzle.

Water is so scarce in Mendocino, an Instagram-ready collection of pastel Victorian homes on the edge of the Pacific, that restaurants have closed their restrooms to guests, pointing them instead to portable toilets on the sidewalk.

And the fire department has asked sheriff’s deputies to keep an eye on the hydrants in response to a report of water theft.

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Small-Towns-Grow-Desperate-for-Water-in-California-16387188.php

[riversedge]

1. Water wars are here. not coming in the near or distant future, but HERE NOW.

[jimfields33]

2. Doesn't have to be

Evaluate each area that needs water and give them that amount. Each house gets a monthly amount (ten percent more then use) and once gone. They need to buy water on the economy. Water usage would be adjusted and soon everyone will use their monthly allowance. So easy.

[Chainfire]

3. Shrinking resources will be the cause of migrations.

People will have to go where the water is. We will be seeing a micro view of what will be an exponentially growing problem. We will deal with climate change the same way that Trump tried to deal with Covid; denial, and the results will be similar.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. water wars have always been.

when i was a boy , mom and i went to new mexico on a trip. i was told by somone that the indins own the water rights by treaty. (somone from there could send me a pm to refute or prove this ) a motto i can remember was , " if you can afford the lawn, can we afford the water ?" do we really need these huge gardens with huge spralling lawns ? every where i look i see non pourous surfaces, compacted soil. storm water runnoff . slow it down , spread it out .
when i was in los angles area in 1976 we were in a drought ( this is a extention of that 20 year drought .) we were on odd ,even days of watering . no washing of cars , except at car washes that recycled water . we took navy baths ,in and out . now la is requesting ppl to take out lawns and put in drought resisitant and fire resistant plans . it can be done . friend of mine ex husbands mom lived in arizona and on a well , she used every bit of it. ps: this notion of water is for fighting , whiskey is for drinkin needs to stop. we all need to pitch in.

[cbabe]

5. Moving from watery midwest, the thing that shocked

in Santa Monica in the 80s was people washing their sidewalks every morning. Thinking haven't they read Cadillac Desert? Don't they know what a broom is?

Meanwhile, have swimming pools been outlawed? Ditto golf courses? Etc etc...

[Mr.Bill]

6. A swimming pool uses less water

than a lawn being watered regularly. The water in all the swimming pools in California would not irrigate our agricultural industry for one day. Golf courses are usually watered with non-potable water. The number one use for water in California is growing about one third of our nation's food.

[cbabe]

7. Gotta start somewhere.

Pools. Decorative fountains. Then lawns and car washes. Leaking plumbing. Then drip irrigation. Less water hungry crops like almond trees.

And food waste. And less water hungry beef.

Lots can be done. Like climate chaos/change. *If* people want to start somewhere.

[Mr.Bill]

8. Like I said, pools don't use that much water once they are filled.

They can also be a water source for emergencies such as fire. Lawns are a waste of water. Most car washes recover, filter and reuse their water, using far less than washing the car in your driveway. Leaking plumbing is certainly a big water waster. Farmers in California have made huge strides in drip irrigation and other water saving techniques. They had to.

Biggest waster of food is restaurants. Talk to anyone who has worked in one. Roughly one third of their food winds up in the dumpster. Beef is pricing itself out of the market, at least in my house. Fish and Poultry are much healthier anyway.

So yeah, it's been "started", at least in California.