scrubbedexpat091

Generally takes a government to enact laws and enforce them when it comes to water usage.

I know where my sister is in So. Cal her are has strict water use rules in effect and the police are enforcing them via fines. She showed a photo of her neighborhood and its all brown, not one piece of green anywhere.

My dad ripped out all his grass and put in gravel and cactus and other succulents that require little water.

I grew up in So. Cal and its always boggled my mind how people insist on grass when its not suited for the region, time to go native with plants that don't need much water. You make some pretty amazing looking yards without any grass.

We are currently allowed (BC Canada) in my town to water grass 2 times per week on certain days depending on address. Our apartment complex has opted to let the non-native stuff die, and our drought is not anywhere near as severe, but water use restrictions can get pretty strict around here, and we live in a rain forest region...

Hotscot

Yeah..here in CA, in many areas grass isn't a necessity.

GeoffM

The adjacent city only allows 10% of land for grass - though that equates to what seems a lot because the plots are usually small, thus the house takes up most of the land.

Can't beat lying on cool grass during a warm summer's day though, hence why we have our small "oasis". And we don't wash our cars very often so it's sort of partially justified

Hotscot

A pint of heavy by the canal....that's what I miss.
Or Strongbow...

I. am. so. damn. homesick.

GeoffM

I thought I'd work out where we were in terms of averages and got mixed results. We used 14,000 gallons last month (eek!) (460gal/day) and Wikipedia says "California home average is 23,275 gallons per month". But then the next sentence (from a different study) says "more than 360 gallons of water per day". So now I'm confused!

Might look out for dual flush toilets.

Hotscot

City water or mutual water district, we're on the latter. We're all owners of the water under our land. 40,000 gallons per month for $65.00.

GeoffM

City, groundwater apparently.

scrubbedexpat091

Seems like a good price.

Land owners and business pay a flat once per year fee here regardless of how much is used. Residential property owners pay 300 per year currently. But we don't have metered water, town is small and can't afford to put meters in.

Havnfun

We are down in Orange County and in one of the most expensive water districts and our bill last month was $56.53 for 11,968 gallons. Our daily usage was 413 gallons but our allocation is 825 gallons. I don't know what I would have to do to use that much water in a month!

scrubbedexpat091

Seems San Diego had quite the storm in some places.

Strong storm causes damage around county - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego

Hotscot

We're on two acres with lots of trees including fruit trees.
However I am taking steps to reduce the watering cycle.
Even though i'm still within usage limits I am conservation minded.

scrubbedexpat091

Wells in one county have started to go dry leaving residents without any running water to their homes.

Grandmother saves waterless California drought homes - CNN.com

GeoffM

Driving through central CA the other day, seeing vast fields being showered with gallons of water a minute, even in sandy soil which I thought wouldn't be that conducive to growing, made me wonder whether "buying local" is actually a good thing! Never mind the congolomerates/pesticides/Monsanto thing for the moment, is it actually wise to buy produce that has had to be doused in so much water - which itself may well have been imported from Colorado or whatever?!?!

scrubbedexpat099

We have plenty of water, rain rain rain.

scrubbedexpat091

Probably not, but California provides one thing most of North America doesn't have, the ability to grow outside pretty much year round and keep variety on the table for winter.

Up this way, no way we could feed the entire country on our short growing season. 90%+ of produce Oct to June is from California or Mexico around here.