Los Angeles nears water rationing

[honoluludaniel]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – With a recent flurry of winter storms doing little to dampen California's latest drought, the nation's biggest public utility voted on Tuesday to impose water rationing in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly two decades.

Under the plan adopted in principle by the governing board of the L.A. Department of Water and Power, homes and businesses would pay a penalty rate -- nearly double normal prices -- for any water they use in excess of a reduced monthly allowance.

The five-member board plans to formally vote on details of the measure next month.

The rationing scheme is expected to take effect in May unless the City Council acts before then to reject it -- a move seen as unlikely since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for the measure under a water-shortage plan last week.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090218/ts_nm/us_water_california

[Lebam in LA]

1. I am surprised that it has taken so long

I've been cutting back for awhile now. Seems nobody can see any of these "omg moments" coming. Why are the so called smart people so myopic?

[Betsy Ross]

2. We have been on restrictions in N. California

since last July. Nice to see SOMETHING happening in the southern half. No backyard garden last year. Hope the current storms help us get back to normal rainfall.

[bertman]

3. this sounds like bad news for all those Angelinos who are losing their state jobs and are

going to have to grow their own food. For starters.

We, as a nation, are ridiculously wasteful of water. This has to change.

[Bette Noir]

4. If we got three feet of rain, they'd still impose rationing,

for the same reason they added a $75 surcharge on all traffic tickets: revenue enhancement.

I'll tell ya, I wish they'd just raise taxes and get it over with. It's hell, not knowing what they're going to hit you with next.

For the record, water restrictions have been in effect for some time-- $125 fine for watering your yard for more than 15 minutes, or between the hours of 9 am and 4 pm, or for washing your car without the use of a flow-restrictor on the end of your hose. I only found out about this by hearing it on the radio, WHILE ON VACATION IN OREGON. It was not publicized locally, for the same reason: revenue enhancement. If the purpose was to save water, it would have been publicized in LA.

Edited for typo

[Ranec]

5. Is there any good news out of CA lately?

Though I do think that water conservation measures will serve some sort of public good.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. yup

the largest earthquake to Hit CA in the last two months was only 3.1 magnitude.

[rollingrock]

6. This is a surprise

Its really been pouring hard and non-stop in So. Calif this season.
It seems there are more rainy days then not around here.

[Hekate]

13. There have been many more sunny very dry days than rainy ones this season...

... and the one before that, and the one before that...

We're in another drought, which is normal for California. The trifecta for us is cyclical drought, ever-expanding population, and diminished water supplies. I am only surprised that our local municipalities have not made some official announcement about being in another drought and conserving water usage.

My water district, usually dependent on a lake/reservoir, has been digging into a new mineral-laden well. I only found out because I called them about how cloudy our tap water was last week. The last time they had to do that the water was so full of calcium that it killed my dishwasher, and it smelled so bad that I aired out the water for coffee overnight and finally bought a Britta filter.

During the last several big fires, those in charge of managing the forests have made a point of saying that we should now consider "fire season" to be a year-round phenomenon.

Hekate

[haele]

20. We need snowpack more than rain -

Rain mostly washes into the ocean, very little of it actually seeps into the aquifers. A good snowpack will hold us through the summer months and early fall and will also renew the aquifers to some degree. One "rainy season" that drops a few inches of water total does little to renew the aquifers at all; we need a good ten years of good, 12 - 18 inch rainy winters and 10 - 12 ft snowpacks to refill them.
We're still in a drought - especially since corporate farms, golf courses, and high-end mini-estates continue to waste water like we could just suck it and use it straight from the ocean.

Haele

[Politicalboi]

7. So no more

Water boarding out here? :sarcasm:

[mackerel]

8. They get all our water as it is.

Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown

[Trajan]

9. I had a vision about 15 years ago ...

... As I sweltered in yet another Riverside summer heatwave ....

With air conditioning a requirement during the 4 months of awfully dangerous heat ....

With electric bills ramping up endlessly ...

With water in short supply and shrinking still ...

With brush fires getting more dangerous every year ....

With all that smog and heat and gangs and traffic: California is going to be less and less desirable as time marches forward ....

I really miss my old friends and the beaches and stuff ..... But I do NOT miss the smog, heat, gangs, traffic, and incessantly rising utility bills ...

I now live in Oregon, where it rains cool water so much people actually hate it ... But I love it ...

[Left Coast2020]

11. More rain Saturday!!!!!

EXTENDED DISCUSSION (FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)...AN UPPER LEVEL
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC WILL GRADUALLY APPROACH
THE CALIFORNIA COAST FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING SOME
PIECES OF ENERGY THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THIS WILL BRING A
RETURN OF PRECIPITATION TO INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON
SATURDAY. THIS TROUGH WILL COMBINE WITH ANOTHER TROUGH TO THE NORTH
AS IT APPROACHES THE CALIFORNIA COAST SATURDAY NIGHT. ALTHOUGH THE
GFS SHOWS THIS SYSTEM CLOSER TO THE WEST COAST THAN THE ECMWF AND
MOVES IT THROUGH THE AREA SUNDAY NIGHT. THE ECMWF MOVES IT ALONG THE
WEST COAST SUNDAY NIGHT AND MOVES IT THROUGH MONDAY. ANOTHER LOW
DROPS DOWN FROM THE NORTH ON TUESDAY BRUSHING NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
THE JET WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA OVER THE WEEKEND
BRINGING SOME GUSTY WINDS. DESPITE SOME DIFFERENCES IN TIMING AND
THE TRACK OF LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS...THE MODELS GENERALLY AGREE THAT
THE THREAT OF PRECIPITATION AND COOLER TEMPERATURES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:


NWS rep was on radio today and said norcal has received about 10 feet of snow in last 2 weeks--and its still not enough. This part of state, according to rep. is 65 to 70-percent of normal. More would be nice. I'd be will to share with Socal if we got too much.

[benh57]

12. Yep, let the rest of the country think that.

While we enjoy our 72 degree bug-free humidity-free days 11 months out of the year.

I'll take Southern California, thanks!

[Raine]

10. We're on semi-rationing all the time

anyway. We can only water the lawn for certain periods of time and only during certain times. No water in restaurants unless you specifically ask for it etc.

[slackmaster]

18. I stopped watering what was left of my lawns in the summer of 2007

I cut my water use by about 21% from 2007 to 2008, and that was on top of another 20% cut during the preceding couple of years.

I'm running out of 20%s to cut.

[Kolesar]

14. 20% of California's electricity is used to pump water...eom

[Wizard777]

16. If only Cal. was next to a major water supply that just required desalinization.

:banghead:

[truebrit71]

17. I know...it's too bad there's no large body of water nearby...

..

[Wizard777]

19. I think the savings on just one drought induced wildfire would more than pay for a desalinization -

plant and distribution system. I just don't see how they can afford not to do this.