The Coming Great Water Shortage — San Francisco Public Utilities Commission may have to Declare Temporary Water Rationing: Serves 2.5M Bay Area Customers (LeakBird)
With all of the rain California has been receiving over the last few weeks, water levels are back to 80% in Sierra snowpack terms and there is “drought improvement“. The 167-mile stretch of the Hetch-Hetchy system, which provides 85% of the Bay Area’s water, can continue to flow at four fifths capacity. But water restrictions followed by water rationing are almost imminent, as the San Francisco Public Utilities Commissions (SFPUC) closely monitors the situation and contemplates initiating the first phases of mandatory water rationing.
The rainfall, which should last through this upcoming first March weekend, would have to go unabated until November in order for California to catch up to where it needs to be water-wise! With this in mind, we can safely say that it’s not so much a question of Will there be mandatory water rationing? It’s more a question of When will it go into effect? And of course, What will it look like?
Perhaps like the proverbial frog in boiling water, we need to cozy up to the idea of water rationing through a series of declarations, restrictions, ordinances and educational programs on water conservation and drought. We can try on the temporary, grow accustomed to it, finally welcoming its permanence.
We need not look far to find out where we’re headed. Australia, a nation far ahead of the US in its water markets, has already been where California is headed. And we can consider them certainly more advanced in their water conservation efforts when it comes to their lesser water consumption per capita, their heightened in-building water efficiency, their almost mandatory, if not bordering on legion, household water submetering. Or perhaps a better way to put it is to recall that “necessity is the mother of invention”.
We are closing in on a stark reality. A Great Water Shortage. And we can look to David Zetland, the Aguanomics soothsayer, for a great economics lesson on its cause: cheap water. Without cheap water, there would be no water shortage:
“The economics of water are the same everywhere,” says David Zetland. “Scarce water should be expensive water. If it is not, then shortage will result.”
And what to do about it? Prepare we must, in the same way that our civil leaders, such as the water managers, engineers and directors at the SFPUC, are preparing for imminent water rationing for 2.5M customers in the Bay Area.
If you are interested in How You Can Increase Your Cash Flows by $2,500.00 Every Year and Never Pay for High Water Bills Due to Your Tenants’ Running Toilets, sign up for our Free Report here.
Abendigo Reebs is the VP of Business Development for LeakBird Industries LLC in San Francisco, CA. He may be reached by email at ben@leakbird
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San Francisco Water Rates, Running Toilets and Property Management: Summary of My June 2008 Chat with The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) (LeakBird) I’ve written about how to calculate your San Francisco water...- Australia Ahead of California on Its Water Markets: Every Household Metered for Water Down Under; Water Licenses, Not Water Rights; Better Indoor & Underground Water Efficiency; Less Water Consumption Per Capita — Zetland: Cheap Water’s Result is Water Shortage (David Zetland, Aguanomics) (March 4, 2009, David Zetland, Aguanomics) RT writes: I am...
- Hydraulic Brotherhood — Water Rationing NOT for Everyone in Northern California: Santa Clara County 15% (1st Time in 15 Yrs); Sonoma County 30% (Draconian); 10% for San Francisco (Voluntary); It All Depends on Where Your Water Comes From (MercuryNews) (March 23, 2009, The Mercury News) Citing three dry years...
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March 6th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I think we here in North America should watch very carefully what is happening in Australia and other countries that have the opposite seasons compared to us . They all are experiencing droughts and ,floods , fire and water damage .
One side of the country is flooding and the other is either burning from lack of water or so dry they can not grow crops along with live stocks dieing because they can’t feed them . They are just falling over dead from the heat and droughts .
The well know Governor of California is planning a water restrictive program that ia already being judged as to restrictive seeing the water stock in the mountains .
Well now , water and the fact we think we have enough to sustain ourselves is an illusion ! We have destroyed our planet earth for too long and now we are paying the piper per say .
Everything has to do with food production around the world with these great droughts and flooding . It might scare you a little to investigate what exactly is going on in the world and you 2will see all these great natural disasters are effecting FOOD around the globe .
I have Two measures of advice for anyone who reads this post .I am no one special but I am a God fearing man . Revelation speaks of what is happening in this world and it i called the Tribulation .
My advice would be for you all to open your bibles and read about the 7 seals of revelation . None of us have understanding on our own . There is a wonderful book that was written about the last 3and 1 half years before Christ returns and it is called “2008 God’s Final Witness”
It is a free book written by Ronald Weinland at ( the-end.com ) We all need to understand what is happening around the world . You may read the book and feel different than I but what is there to lose ,it is a free book