Comments on: What else can San Diego do to conserve water?

By: jessedziedzic

jessedziedzic — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:52:04 +0000

Your precisely right on this writing..

By: Don

Don — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 06:44:46 +0000

To me, relaxing the regulations on grey-water systems and reclaming the majority of water currently being cleaned up at wastewater treatment plants and dumped into the ocean offer the best chance of using our precious water resources more effectively. Although harvesting rainwater from rooftops sounds good, since historically nearly all of our rainfall falls in 4 months, there is virtually nothing to harvest during our dry summers when you need it.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:50:33 +0000

Toilet to tap..or if you rather, turf (savings) to tap. This is an ‘untapped’ resource for good water. No more golf courses and incentives to retro all of them to use ONLY recycled water. It’s insane to use potable water on recreation, most of it private, land.

By: Burt Freeman

Burt Freeman — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:21:26 +0000

Well, George, we really don’t know how much of the conservation savings have been due to carrots. sticks or an abnormal “normal” rainfall year. We shall see.

Yes, it would be great if landscapes were all Xeriscaped. Unfortunately, this is not usually a trivial undertaking. It needs to be professionally planned and can be/is expensive. It would be neat if there were a significant incentive program in place. There are several demonstration gardens (such as the Conservation Garden at Cuyamacha, and the landscaping around the Water Authority headquarters). I know that the Authority is planning additional demonstration gardens.

In general, I’m a carrots, rather than a sticks, person. I also am an advocate of cost/benefits analysis; if it doesn’t figure out, it will not last. “House built on firm foundation, it will stand, yeah, yeah”.

By: Belinda Smith

Belinda Smith — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:55:56 +0000

Great ideas, George!

At Surfrider, we know that residents can cut their monthly water use in 1/2 by removing their lawn, and implementing an Ocean Friendly Garden. We’re offering a 3-part course:

Basics Course: August 24th (Encinitas Community Center) 6-9 pm
Hands On Workshop (HOW): September 26th, 11-2pm. Location TBD, but will be based on attendees garden from Basics Course.
Garden Assistance Program (GAP): October 24th, 10-4pm. Location TBD.

$40 for the three-part course AND includes the official Ocean Friendly Gardens book!

An Ocean Friendly Garden also restores natural habitat, so residents can expect lots of wildlife in their gardens, including birds and butterflies.