LeakBird

(May 6, 2009, The San Francisco Business Times)
In an effort to drive innovation in solving global water problems, a San Francisco nonprofit has launched a business plan competition for breakthrough technologies in water efficiency.
Imagine H2O is offering $50,000 in prizes for winning business plan that includes an Incubator Program.
“The winners will also receive thousands [...]

In order to calculate how much your toilet wastes in a city like San Francisco, we need to know the water footprint of your entire building. Of course, if you’re a property manager or landlord, you’ll be especially interested in this, as tenants don’t foot the water bills anyhow.  I’m going to give facts from [...]

(April 21, 2009, Aguanomics)
Southern Californians use about 350 gallons of water per day per household (of 3). That’s about 110 gallons/capita/day (gcd).
People in San Francisco use about 63 gcd, and people in the Bay Area use about 97 gcd.
(Original Post Here)

(April 3, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)

Get ready for singed lawns, dusty cars and pricier produce.
California water officials reported Thursday that the end-of-winter snowpack remained at low levels for the third year in a row, and water agencies in the Bay Area and around the state are asking residents to conserve at levels [...]

(March 23, 2009, The Mercury News)

Citing three dry years in a row, Silicon Valley’s biggest water supplier will vote this morning on whether to call for a 15 percent mandatory summer cutback, the first water rationing in Santa Clara County in 18 years. Yet, just over the county line, Fremont residents will face no restrictions.
On [...]

(March 21, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)
Earthquakes and severe storms could destroy hundreds of miles of mostly earthen levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in coming decades, according to a state report that provides the most detail yet on the vulnerabilities of the hub of California’s water system.
Among the findings in the [...]

We at Leakbird Industries are proud to be part of next week’s Water Conservation Showcase, on Tuesday, March 24, from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, at the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco.
Lot’s of folks in the water industry are going to be there, and Aguanomics’ David Zetland is even stopping by!
There’s a short list [...]

(February 27, 2009, Gavin Newsom, CleanTechnica)
Today, San Francisco took a meaningful step toward turning the promise of renewable ocean energy into reality. We submitted a preliminary permit application to the federal government to develop a wave power project off our coast that we believe can generate between 10 to 30 megawatts of energy, with potential [...]

Yesterday I was talking to a San Francisco plumber named Jim.
“You know the real reason water rates are going up?” he asked me.
“Because the water utilities’ revenues are down in these troubled times,” I replied.
“Yes, but it’s actually deeper than that,” he said.  “We’ve gotten more water efficient.  We’re not using as much water.”
“I find [...]

I’ve written about how to calculate your San Francisco water bill, but I thought it might be useful to know how the SFPUC functions and just how many landlords and property managers are getting excessively high water bills due to the likes of tenants’ running toilet conditions everyday.
Back in June of 2008, I spoke with [...]

(Feb. 25, 2009, CleanTech)
Leaders at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco today said the days of cheap water are over.
The developing world is still struggling to provide usable water to its residents, while water shortages in the developed world have put a new focus on expensive technologies.
“Water has never been priced properly, but [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, San Francisco Business Times)

North Bay water companies are looking at rationing to cut use by 30 percent or more.
The Sonoma County Water Agency, which serves Sonoma and northern Marin counties, told cities and water districts to plan on losing 30 percent of their flow, according to North Bay news reports.
“If things don’t [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, GreenTech Media)
Although many companies are paying attention to their electricity and fuel consumption, they don’t pay as much attention to their water use. Well, they should, says a panel at GreenBiz.com conference.
How much water do you use to wash your jeans?
Levi Strauss figured out that 45 percent of the water used in [...]

(Jan. 23, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco must upgrade its emergency water system to avoid a catastrophe like the fire that devastated the city after the 1906 earthquake, according to a report to be released today.
Improvements to the system – a network of pipes and storage facilities – won’t be cheap, according to the report, [...]

(Dec. 6, 2008, The San Francisco Chronicle)
Watershed problems and solutions run downstream. “The fun part about water is that it is so interrelated,” Dolman said. “As soon as you make a decision to do right by storm water – slowing it, spreading it, sinking it – you solve multiple problems. You reduce flooding in the [...]

I’m a property manager for a mom-and-pop company that owns several residential buildings in San Francisco. In April of 2007 one of our buildings, a twenty-one unit, early 20th century Victorian in the Lower Haight, saw its water usage more than double over a two-month span, going from approximately 70,000 gallons to 168,000 gallons of [...]