A Taste of Future Water Rationing: Bolinas, California Only Allowed 150 Gallons Per Day Per Customer or YOUR Water Shut Off (Kelly Zito, SanFranciscoChronicle)
(Feb. 4, 2009, Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle)
With California in a critical drought, every shower, load of laundry and glass of tap water counts. But only in Bolinas could those things cost you your water connection.
The oceanside enclave in Marin County has enacted some of the state’s toughest water restrictions. Each customer – with the exception of schools and some businesses – may use no more than 150 gallons a day, about 4,500 gallons each month.
A third violation of the order would allow the Bolinas Community Public Utility District to cut off water.
Without drastic cutbacks, officials say, the community of 1,200 could run out of water by the end of April. The town on the southern end of the Point Reyes Peninsula already is drawing from two emergency reservoirs, one of which is effectively empty.
“People are worried,” said Jennifer Blackman, general manager of the utility district, which authorized the measures last week. “It’s unsettling to be informed that a resource which is necessary to life is limited in this way.”
Independent atmosphere
Bolinas, home to aging hippies, Hollywood celebrities, well-known artists and high-powered lawyers, has a decidedly eccentric, independent atmosphere. Residents often tear down road signs to misdirect tourists.
A self-contained water system and limited supply have kept the population steady for decades – which is fine by most folks there. But as California copes with what state officials fear could be the worst drought in 150 years, Bolinas’ isolation has pushed its water system to the edge.
Drying reservoir
One look at the reservoir known as Woodrat II tells the tale. At this time of year, the town usually draws its water from the Arroyo Hondo Creek, leaving the reservoir full to the brim.
But with creek flows at a dribble, Bolinas started drawing from the reservoirs last year. Woodrat II’s 40-foot-long banks now are dry and cracked. The water, which looks thick and sludgy, barely covers the outtake pipes. And storms forecast for this week aren’t likely to boost water levels much.
“It’s August out here,” said Bill Pierce, chief water and wastewater operator for the utility district. “The hills are brown – they should be green. The stream flows are a trickle.”
Almost every water agency in the state is suffering. Most reservoirs are at rock-bottom levels after two parched years and a third under way. Demand from cities has continued to grow, and recent environmental disputes have slashed pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which serves two-thirds of California.
Rationing elsewhere
In the Bay Area, the East Bay Municipal Utility District imposed rationing of 15 percent last year. This week, the Sonoma County Water Agency warned it might have to institute 30 to 50 percent cutbacks later this year.
Bolinas’ rationing amounts to roughly 25 percent, down from an average of 208 gallons a day per customer or water hookup.
But its threat of service termination stands alone in the state and paints a particularly dire picture, said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
It’s going to get bad
“People don’t understand how bad this is going to get,” Quinn said. “We’ve had eight droughts, some of them minor, in the 20th century. This is the first major drought in the 21st century.”
With that in mind, Bolinas water staffers delivered rationing notices door to door this week in hopes of stretching the town’s dwindling water supply until December. The notices spell out the process: On the first violation, customers will receive an official notice. After a second, the district may install a flow-restricting device. After that, water service may be disconnected.
Residents also are urged to water yards once a week and avoid washing sidewalks or cars with district-supplied water.
A need for speed
“We know we’re going from zero to 60 here, that we’re asking a lot,” Blackman said. “But we feel we need to do it quickly. That’s why we’re trying to do so much outreach. We don’t want to have to go to dramatic enforcement. We hope we can get there together.”
Most residents seem to be on board, although a few questioned the late timing of the rationing (Blackman said unexpectedly dry conditions in November, December and January prompted the emergency).
“The cuts are a good thing,” said Gerrund Bojeste, who was sitting in his dragon-inspired art car on Bolinas’ commercial strip this week. “People need to create their own storage, be more frugal. You just can’t keep running the water while you’re brushing your teeth.”
Bolinas has gotten the message about wasteful washing machines. Business at the local Laundromat, which has only high-efficiency washers, is on the rise, Blackman said, as more people move away from their top-loaders, which can use more than 40 gallons per load, compared with 15 gallons. The laundry has been granted a higher daily water limit.
Cafe cuts back
A few doors down, owners of the Coast Cafe are not offering tap water – diners must ask. Beverages that are served come in plastic-like glasses made from corn.
“We found that washing glasses takes three times as much water as it takes to fill them,” said owner David Liebenstein.
Such practices may become the status quo, experts say, as the state feels the effects of climate change and moves toward a water system in which the environment is a higher priority and people conserve more water.
“Fifty years ago, polices were about extracting resources and the environment didn’t count,” Quinn said. “Today’s policies are about recognizing the value of the environment itself, apart from the economic value to people.
“We’re adjusting to that change, but it’s very difficult.”
E-mail Kelly Zito at kzito@sfchronicle.com.
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February 5th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Consider Bolinas to be the canary in the coal mine. It is long past the time to prepare for the future. Lobby your governments to negotiate with jurisdictions that have water to transport it where it is needed. guess what Canada has 20% of the world’s fresh water and only 0.5 % of its population. Does that suggest anything to you? Did you know that 95% of that fresh water flows into the oceans every day. Sure it’s a big, expensive job but start now to arrange to pipe it down to where it is needed. You want to get people working? How about the largest engineering job in the world, a pipeline or canal from Canada to the Southern US?
February 5th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
What good does it do? To conserve water when they keep adding a half million people to the end of the line every year.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
1. HAARP: Check out HAARP (High Frequency Active auroral Research Progam) and weather manipulation and weather wars.
2. CHEM TRAILS: Also check out CHEM TRAILS and Operation Cloverleaf, Edward Teller and the Lawrence Livermore Lab.
3. AGENDA 21 and the United Nations (plan to make most of the US and other nations into biospheres or nature reserves and cram the common people into as little space as possible)& those biospheres/nature reserves will be off limits to humans (ie the common people).
Indeed weather has always fluctuated, there is tectonic plate action, ocean/air currents change and what was once lush and green is now scorching desert and ocean floors are now soaring mountain peaks.
But aside from that, check out HAARP. I also found it weird that CA got hit with over 2500 simultaneous fires in S. CAL, the Sierra AND the the coastal ranges. It is relatively rare for lightning in the coastal ranges.
I also found it rather convenient that there was a rash of fires in the Montecito area in the latest part of November (just in time for the Global Warming meeting) in Hollywood.
And how often does it feel like summer in January? I’m sure it’s happened before,…. but with myself being ill with MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) which makes me very envirnomentally minded, I wonder why: Al Gore, the environmentalists, the Global Warming Crowd, the Club of Rome, the Rockefellers and the “Earth Day/Hour-Justice” people don’t seem to be aware of or aknowledge: HAARP, chem trails or Agenda 21.
NOR do they acknowledge: Depleted Uranium/White Phosphorous from our perpetual wars, GM Terminator seeds, fluoridated water or those ill from:
1. Gulf War Syndrome.
2. Agent Orange.
3. MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity).
4. 9/11 responders (including animals) and anybody living downwind from 9/11.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Aside from googling the above on those issues:
Also there is MICHAEL SHAW’S articles on AGENDA 21: Liberty or Sustainable Development?
And…TOM De WEESE also discusses it: ICLEI And Others are Dedicated to Controlling Your Locally Elected Public Officials.
And as crazy as this sounds, there is a 1-World-Order agenda and it is all about control. Control for one can be done through resources. Water is one of them and food for another. Government. The Monetary Systems: Look what the bankers have done and there are other ways to control the world as well. People also take for granted religion, the media and education, but this is where we can all be controlled. I’m not an anarchist in any way, shape or form, but I can recognize that we have some massive corruption going on at all levels of our government.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Before I go, Michael Shaw and Tom De Weese can also be found on the website of “News With Views.”
February 6th, 2009 at 7:46 am
To Archie1954…
Hey guess what? Canada isn’t about to let their water be pipped down to California to save a bunch of hippies.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Let me get this straight: millions of idiots decide they want to live in a desert,and then become upset when they run out of water, and,somehow expect everyone else in the country to rescue them from their own stupidity?
February 6th, 2009 at 9:51 am
As long as the democrats and republicans have a monopoly on politics and as long as
democrats and republicans are funded by special interests (not the American public),
those politicians will be beholding to special interests, NOT the American public.
Under those circumstances you should expect the American lifestyle to tank in every
way possible.
STORE FOOD, DRINK AND SUPPLIES because things are not going to get better. MO.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Didn’t the main water supply get cut off because of another FAKE endangered species. Kind of funny the hippies and the eco nuts are now suffering because of their own gullible save the planet thinking. I saw a video years ago where one of the eco nuts could not build his dream home on his own property because a the fairy shrimp. I laugh so hard. You see in the eco nuts world it is ok to stop and ruined other people lives with fake endangered species but not their own. LOL yes you reap what you sow. Sorry CA but animals are more important then people too bad for all the good people in CA that understand reality have to suffer for the “in crowd”
February 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
“The oceanside enclave in Marin County…” Another excellent opportunity for de-salinization to supply water. Here in San Diego the hand-wringing, threats and scare stories are almost at max overdrive because of the water situation. Funny no one, at least I have not heard, anyone suggest de-salinization. The navy has used de-salinization on their ships for years, so it is a proven concept. The process could have been in place for many years, but then when you realize all the politics involved in supplying water to the various areas of California things are a little easier to understand. What about all the Chicken Little Gore global warming fanatics? They are saying the icecaps are melting and will cause coastal areas to flood. We can use all that extra water to provide water supplies for areas that need it, and save the coast from flooding. 2 birds with one stone, what a deal!
February 6th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Sigh,
This nation has been taken over by Israel, driven bankrupt by Rothschild’s FED RES and ravaged by whores qithin our government.
It terrorises the world, murders it’s own spoils the Earth.
A Russian Ambassador says it’ll fall apart by 2010/12. Well, looking at the shell of what COULD have been a good country…..it’s about damn time. If I were living in CA. or LA. I would riot in the streets demmanding that my state leaders secede from this foul, failed experiment called the Untied States of, (Israel), America.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I’m sorry; DIG a well, morons !
February 6th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
chemtrails are causing severe weather disruptions worldwide. I live in Cyprus where recent chemtrail activity was followed by heavy storms consisting mainly of hailstones the size of small golf balls. Hailstones are not a normal part of our weather.
Many of the winter crops which were due to be harvested were completely destroyed.
February 7th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I lived on a small island for 20 years, no fresh water, just a de-sal plant. Water was $.07/gallon, we found ways to resoursefully use less and recycle what was used. California should research and teach it’s residents if they want to survive. water IS precious , use it wisely. (we drove dirty cars and our sink and shower emptied into our irrigation for our yards. We caught rainwater on our roofs and stored it in cisterns, took short showers and never, EVER left “the water running” while brushing our teeth or washing dishes. Small price to pay for what is an essential. not rocket science, either.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:28 am
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