We admit, water consumption isn't something we normally worry about so much. But we should. Today I bathed, washed my car (but all within 5 minutes at a DIY car wash) and did a couple loads of laundry, not to mention the smaller amounts of H20 used to brush my teeth or flush the toilet. There's no way getting around it...LA is going to be dry-mouthed soon with growing water demands because of daily uses as those listed above multiplied by millions. And so it looks like we're gonna be seeing some residential water restrictions again...
Los Angeles Water Restrictions On the Way?
*For example, residents would be urged to change their clothes' washers, and new restrictions would be placed on how and when they could water lawns and clean cars.Financial incentives and building code changes would be used to incorporate high-tech conservation equipment in homes and businesses. Builders would be pushed to install waterless urinals, weather-sensitive sprinkler systems and porous parking lot paving that allows rain to percolate into groundwater supplies.
Just to meet a 15% increase in demand by 2030, officials say 32 billion gallons a year will have to be saved or recaptured -- enough to cover the San Fernando Valley with a foot of water.
Prohibitions during the 1990s drought -- banning residents from washing driveways and sidewalks, letting sprinklers flood into gutters and watering grass in midday -- would be enforced again, with additional restrictions. One part of the proposal would limit lawn watering to certain days of the week.
We'll also be purifying wastewater into drinking water, a "toilet to tap" initiative which has been blocked a few times due to cost and residents' aversion to the concept. An article in the Wall Street Journal outlines the three-step process as: "Sewer water that has already been treated by the county's sanitation district goes through a microfilter to remove solids and bacteria. It then undergoes a reverse-osmosis treatment, which passes the water through a membrane filter that removes viruses, salts, pharmaceuticals and other materials. Finally, it is treated with ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide to get rid of contaminants that are left."
Get those Brita and Pur filters ready, Angelenos!
-*LA Times: L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan
Comments (5)
Daily Email
Top Tours
- Jaime and Carleton's Backyard Palm Springs
- Moses and Jamie's Whimsical Modern
- A Mid-Century Modern Musicians' Loft
- Alysia's Treehouse by the Lake
- Bryan's Fashionable Statement
Top Posts
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
What we'd like to do is install a low flow toilet and redo the landscaping using xeriscaping techniques for the food plants and drought tolerant plants for the rest. But we rent and the LL demands that we waste a ton of water on their lawn and I know that any mention of other water-conserving changes to the house would be met with outright laughter.
I tried to get the LL to change the windows and or even get permission to replace wall aircondtioner (a 1980s vintage) at our own expense to a energy efficent unit and I got a 20 minute lecture on how it's not our house.
Most of the other things mentioned, we already do.
view Renngrrl's profile
We should be watering with gray water, but a friend who's a landscape designer was given such a hard time by the local permit people gave up after much agita. She created a rainbarrell to get the water off the roof where it came to a "V", but not like we're getting much rain these days. We're just stupid. What's the problem watering your plants with water from a soapy shower?
view kaanswfm's profile
Sorry, did you bathe at the car wash! That's commitment to saving water!
I sneakily reprogrammed our building's sprinkler to not go off ever day at 5pm, no one has noticed so far. We also practice the "if it's yellow let it mellow" policy.
view mgn's profile
We have low flow toilets & shower heads. We have an HE washing machine and only do full loads of laundry. We take quick showers and don't leave the water running. I have a rain barrell.
The one area where we are totally bad with water is our garden. Though we do have lots of indigenious plants and trees I do freak out in the summer and run the hose at night to water all of our delicate plants (on top of the sprinklers running in the morning). I go over the brown spots in our lawn until they are green again. I have the greeenest lawn on the street...and I feel so guilty.
My neighbor and I are both trying to move in the direction of xeriscaping and getting rid of our lawns a section at a time. We might as well start now...I couldn't handle watching my lawn die with all of the water restrictions!
view Kerith's profile
a few weeks ago, i bought a bucket for my bathtub. i noticed how much water i was wasting waiting for warm water - about half a bucket full every shower. now it is collected and so far has been used to wash dirty feet (don't mean to gross anyone out), take care of bedhead, and water plants. still in the process of figuring it out though...
view emilyn's profile