LeakBird

(May 12, 2009, Jim Downing, The Sacramento Bee)
As another summer of drought approaches, hundreds of thousands of acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland are expected to be fallowed, and much of urban California faces 20 percent water cutbacks.
But in the Sacramento Valley, rice farmers have been busy for weeks spreading water 6 inches deep over [...]

(April 19, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)
During a prolonged drought in the early 1990s, L.A.’s Department of Water and Power and Department of Public Works conducted an ambitious experiment. In eight homes, including those of several elected officials, they installed “gray water” equipment that diverted the outflows from washing machines, showers, bathtubs and bathroom sinks [...]

(March 21, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
A statewide drought emergency has prompted San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to propose a plan that would reduce the city’s water use by about 20 percent.
The plan announced on Friday would require residents to cut their outdoor water use by 45 percent, and their indoor water use by 5 [...]

(Feb. 8, 2009, The Dallas Morning News)
Scant rainfall. Shrinking reservoirs. Thirsty soil. Across North Texas, another dry spell is settling in.
Some two years after rains ended a prolonged and brutal drought, the Dallas area is back in D-land – and the situation is likely to persist if not worsen in the months ahead, climate scientists [...]

(Feb. 2, 2009, AZStarNet)
Mexico City shut down a main water pipeline under a new conservation program, cutting service to more than 2 million residents Sunday after some reservoirs dropped to their lowest levels in 16 years.
The Mexico City government and the National Water Commission will interrupt service for three days every month until May, when [...]

(Jan. 27, 2009, MSNBC)
The warnings have been coming in dribs and drabs. Now they’re like a torrent — both locally and statewide.
Water is not to be wasted.
Save it.
Period.
Our water wizards say this three-year drought cycle we’re in has left California as parched as it was back in the mid- ’70s — when odd-even rationing and [...]

(Image Courtesy of CaliforniaGreenSolutions)
Is the water crisis a resource crisis or a service crisis? No matter what anyone says, each seems to fall on one side or the other. Frank R. Rijsberman claims the water crisis is both, but he seems to lean more toward a service crisis.
And opinions vary so widely on related topics, [...]

(Jan. 23, 2009, Aguanomics)
Speaking of water managers out of control, Aquadoc mentions “ethics” in this WaterWired post:
Several years ago, I listened to a talk by a Federal scientist about climate change in the Southwest. After the talk, he was unusually candid. What really annoyed him was seeing Western governors trekking to DC, hats in hands, [...]

(Jan. 23, 2009, Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle)
Flowers and kitchen gardens might look extra perky after this week’s rains, but January’s long dry stretch means Bay Area residents should prepare for baked lawns and stop-and-start showers this summer, water officials said Thursday.
The rainfall expected in the region through Monday will be too little, too late [...]

(Jan. 15, 2009, The OC Register)
California has a drinking problem: It’s running low on water.
At a meeting today of south Orange County mayors, Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Gary Thompson told attendees that despite the budget problems in Sacramento, the drought has to be a priority for local officials and residents.
“I think a lot of people are [...]

(Jan. 18, 2009, Aguanomics)
I’ve had several emails from people describing how important water is to their community’s culture and lifestyle.
Water has defined us for eons. Water determined where we lived (London, San Francisco, Mumbai, etc.); what we ate (fish or camel? cactus or watermelon?); the location of our borders; and so on…
It is thus [...]

(Jan. 16, 2009, Cyber-Rain)
Since the beginning of Cyber-Rain, we have encouraged consumers to save water in every way possible. The Cyber-Rain “smart” sprinkler controller is designed to help save water, prevent waste and save money on the water bills. According to new reports, water conservation in California may soon become less of a hobby, and [...]

(Jan. 13, 2009, San Gabriel Tribune)
There is a 50 percent chance Southern California’s main water agency could ration water deliveries by spring, according to a report released Tuesday.
Previously, the agency said there was a 33 percent chance of rationing.
“We would basically be … capping water supplies to our local agencies,” said Bob Muir, a [...]

(Jan. 14, 2009, Central Coast)
More than 20 cities stretching from the Bay Area to the Mexican border matched or broke record high temperatures Tuesday, including Monterey at 74 and Salinas at 76, according to AccuWeather.
In Santa Cruz, where the high of 79 was one degree short of the 1948 record, many took to the beaches [...]