Who wasn't there ? wrote on Jan 17, 2008 6:40 AM:Which local cities did NOT attend. Water is or should be one of our most dire concerns and should receive the attention from every city.

GFN wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:18 AM:Put a moritorium on building until the issue is under control and you will see how quickly everyone works together for a solution. Stop the building; do not ruin the quality of life for current residents to bring in new ones...

And to think wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:58 AM:all of this because of one judge and a bunch of little fishies!

Michael wrote on Jan 17, 2008 9:06 AM:When is Old Grove Road in Oceanside going to open? This is a taxpayer issue by it not being open yet.

San Marcos Environmentalist wrote on Jan 17, 2008 9:50 AM:There will be no more serious cutbacks on personal water usage until the cities and county stop issuing hookups. Most people I know have already cut back. The only thing left for many individuals to do is let lawns die and incur the expense of re-landscaping. So existing residents lose thousands of dollars worth of landscaping to allow builders and local governments to fatten their wallets. And OUR TAXES AND FEES will also pay huge building and environmental costs for water transfer systems to So Cal. Does anyone remember a few years ago when a very large water district issued a statement that we do not have the water to sustain our growth? Well, the district retracted that statement 2 days later after the developers and city governments got to them. But it was a fact. There is so much dishonesty and greed around the water shortage issue. BOTTOM LINE: IF YOU WANT US TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY, START DISCUSSING A BUILDING MORATORIUM.

Bo wrote on Jan 17, 2008 10:05 AM:A good start would be to outlaw the watering of lawns at homes, golf courses, and commercial properties. The powers that be sure aren't afraid to steal badly needed water from farmers, why are they so afraid to prevent un-needed uses such as grass growing?

anotherview wrote on Jan 17, 2008 10:31 AM:Statewide, farmers overuse and waste water. Farming activity now consumes about 85 percent of the available state water supply. Households use about 5 percent. The rest goes to government, industrial, and commercial. Simple math shows that forcing farmers statewide to lower their water use by only 5.88 percent would equal the amount of water households use. Further, about 30 percent of farm irrigation water runs off the land to waste. Via political pressure, however, farmers resist (1) improving their farm irrigation practices and (2) recycling farm water runoff. The Golden State has plenty of water available, but the distribution and use of this water does not happen rationally. Farmers grab most of the water, and then waste nearly a third of it. So any fair and sound solution to the water supply problem must require farmers statewide to stop using and wasting so much water. Then others will have enough water.

AResident wrote on Jan 17, 2008 10:46 AM:Stop the building, stop watering your grass, stop washing your car, put more cloths in a load of wash. Don't wash your cloths that often if they are not really dirty.

JSten wrote on Jan 17, 2008 10:55 AM:This issue has been around for over a decade. Water managers (NOT MAYORS) across the State have been grappling with perceived and actual shortages and trying to make their way through the virtual minefield that is the water supply system in the State.

The fact tht the Mayors are only now weighing in on this issue is only another example of how disconnected thay have become to the core issues of their communities.

Concerned-1 wrote on Jan 17, 2008 11:36 AM:The stop building lobby has it very wrong. A moratorium on building would endanger the already endangered economy. If you don't like the building, move. Anotherview's post is right on the money. Water has always been a political commodity. We need to build the peripheral canal ASAP. If we would have built it in the 80s, we wouldn't have the problems we have today. As far as the Delta is concerned, it is already an environmental nightmare. Read about it and learn.

Bo wrote on Jan 17, 2008 12:46 PM:We've already killed the Owens Valley and Hetch Hetchy valley to water lawns, and it looks like the Sacramento river delta is next. Building more water projects should be the last resort only to be considered if enforcing strict conservation isn't adequate. Turn your sprinklers off!

Concerned-1 wrote on Jan 17, 2008 1:25 PM:Aaa Bo...what part of the fact that 95 percent of water is used by agriculture did you not get? Granted, the Owens Valley and Hetch Hetchy might have been bad projects, but they were approved and built for reasons. The Peripheral Canal is vital to Southern California and it should have been built decades ago. As I said look into the history and condition of the San Joaquin Delta and find out what mess that system is today.

Concerned Citizen wrote on Jan 17, 2008 1:25 PM:Why is it that a state law that requires county developers can guarantee water availability for at least 20 years after housing built is NOT IMPLEMENTED BY SD COUNTY?????

AResident wrote on Jan 17, 2008 2:10 PM:What the City of Escondido needs to do is go look at all the broken sprinklers there are on City Property that just run and waste water every day. They complain that they don't have enough money. WELL why not START managing all of your departments for a change. Start firing some of the deadbeats. We all know that the City employees several.

Bo wrote on Jan 17, 2008 2:42 PM:For the state as a whole agriculture may use the bulk of the water, but how many farms are left in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties? How many millions of lawns are watered per day in these counties? Strict conservation enforcement would include agriculture, and implementing modern irrigation techniques can go a long way in preventing the need to build more water projects, especially if it is coupled with repairs of the leaking canals already in-place. The best answer is not always build build build. How will sucking more water out of the delta improve it?

Michael wrote on Jan 17, 2008 2:47 PM:Don't forget to answer my more important question about when Old Grove Road in Oceanside will be opened. It's a taxpayer issue.

Waterwatcher wrote on Jan 17, 2008 2:51 PM:State laws require land use zoning agencies to get letters from local water agencies confirming that water is available to supply new projects before upzoning land for those development projects. Local water agencies and local governments violate those laws daily as they issue phony letters of availability and approve giant new development projects all over the county. Nobody is enforcing the state laws down here because everyone is in the developers pockets.

Concerned-1 wrote on Jan 17, 2008 3:16 PM:What a bunch of sheep. It is agriculture that uses the most water, not domestic use. The water shortage is a delivery problem, exasperated by the eight year drought in the Colorado River Watershed, as well as a below average snowpack in the High Sierra. Want to help solve the problem? Elect officials who will stand up against big ag and big environutcakes!

JSten wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:15 PM:I was on a tour of the San Francisco Water system a few years ago-Yosemite, the canal system, the reservoirs, and the portals. When asked which uses more water on an acre basis, agriculture or development, the response of a Modesto water official was: "about the same". I guess it makes sense. Since the predominant use for water hereabouts appears to be keeping things green in a desert, the demand for water by yards, trees, grass, bushes, or food runs to about the same thing. If there is more water used by ag, maybe its because there is more acres in ag than developed.

One thing, water put on the ground doesn't go anywhere but into the ground or into the atmosphere. Its recycled back into the ecosystem.

Think about that next tie you flush.

To concerned 1 wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:56 PM:Where do you get your info? It sounds like you pull it out of thin air, because the facts don't back it up. The Imperial valley farmers have had thier water supplies cut by 33% this year, so the elected officials have already taken action against the most important industry in this state. What none of them have done is even attempt to stop the rampant domestic waste of water. Growing grass and tropical plants in a desert environment is a huge waste of water. Want to help? Let your non-native landscape die!

Concerned wrote on Jan 17, 2008 8:32 PM:With greywater irrigation systems, the water is already on site, eliminating most of its costs from shipping and handling (infrastructure and pumping). The State Water Resources Control Board’s State Revolving Fund branch determined that the sewer savings alone pays for such systems. The irrigation benefits accrue to the owners. The run-off pollution reduction benefits accrue to the builders (according to the BIA’s court briefs during recent litigation, that’s $20,000 per home. Not bad for a $5,000 system) The energy savings and air pollution reduction benefits accrue to us all.

In 1992, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill #3518 directing the Department of Water Resources along with the Department of Health Services to write an implementation code. In 1994, the state created a 13-page code (Appendix G of the California Plumbing Code) for this type of water to be reused in underground drip irrigation, and it’s available to everyone building a new home, i.e., those who need water the most.

Greywater is over half the water from inside a home. Drip irrigation is between 30% and 60% more efficient than sprinklers. Put them together, and you have by far the world’s most efficient irrigation system.

The only problem is that, in San Diego, the water districts (and Mayors) are actually convinced they can get more fresh water to sell thus don’t support greywater irrigation. When reality sinks in, they'll make everyone pay so much for water that only the rich will have green landscapes.

And as for farmers wasting water, one IID farmer already cut back to send water to MWD in the 80s and his land is now documented to be producing subtantially less due to salt buildup in the soil. There is no free ride.

What are we gonna do next, buy food from China? YOU eat YOUR lawn.