Water budgets - they're a thing

Here I go again. Apparently my pet cause lately is water conservation. (See this post and this post.) Coinciding in the past week were our latest water bill and a water usage–related article in the Tribune called "Wealth collides with climate change."

First, for the curious, here's the latest on our own water usage. During the most recent two-month cycle, November-December, we again used 3 CCFs -- not our record lowest, but lower than our previous average. The two months before that, September-October, we were back at 4 CCFs. Our best guess at why our water consumption increased during that period is that it was appling season. We were sterilizing equipment and filling the wash basin with apples -- and water -- multiple times. We did some lawn seeding, too, so we probably used the hose a few times, but we never just set a sprinkler out. I do remember spending A LOT of time hauling water from the rain barrels to water the grass.

Now, on to the article that sparked this discussion. I'll sum up and provide commentary. 

California is one of the many places in the western U.S. experiencing severe drought. Last summer, the governor asked people to voluntarily cut 15% of their water use. Some local districts even enforce penalties based on water consumption, but here's the thing: In affluent areas, money is not a deterrent. Fill your swimming pools, water your tropical gardens, and take 30-minute showers in an apartment-sized bathroom -- who cares if you have to pay a fine for exceeding your water budget? 

I'll tell you who cares. I care. You should care. And the people of California should care, too. In Las Virgenes, a wealthy municipality northwest of Los Angeles, the water district is installing a metering system that will show customers in real time how much water they're using. Will these folks be surprised to watch the gallons tick away just by running the kitchen sink for a couple of minutes? Maybe, maybe not. But if they go over their household's water budget (based on number of residents and property size), they'll get a warning and then a fine. A third strike could earn them a flow restrictor! 

A flow restrictor is a rare and heavy-handed threat more typically reserved for customers with unpaid bills, but I think it could be an effective wakeup call. Sure, it feels a little dystopian, a government agency suddenly turning your faucets to an extremely low-flow setting when you were just trying to cool off by flooding your backyard, but fresh water is a resource we all have to share, a resource that is in short supply, and a resource that your government agencies treat and filter and recycle and recirculate and pump into your home for you. 

I certainly would not advocate for increasing the price of water services, given its necessity to life whether you're rich or poor. And, I've told you that our own conservation efforts save us only about $5 a month, not much of a reward on its own. So, if just the knowledge that we're decreasing our environmental impact and our strain on the system isn't enough to make people want to change their water-wasting habits, and paying a fine for using more than we should doesn't bother us, then maybe the threat of barely trickling faucets will help change our behavior for the better.

.