Photo credit: makelessnoiseThe other day I saw an article about big city water ratings in the United States, and it really got me thinking how sad it is that clean, fresh water is so hard to find. The article was brought to my attention at a good time, as just the other day I watched a program on the History Channel (I think) that spoke of the deterioration of the public infrastructure here in this country. This show was more broad in its content than just public water, but in addition to describing how the public water infrastructure is badly in need of repair, it also described roads, bridges and highway systems that are also in need of repair and in some cases close to failing.

In the article, San Diego -my current city of residence- was ranked 91 out of 100 in terms of water quality. There were 31 different pollutants found in the water since 2004, and 17 chemicals which exceeded health guidelines. This story is not new, as there are always cases of poor water quality surfacing around the country, as well as around the world.

But the thing that strikes me is just how apathetic people are about this. Good, clean water is the one thing that every single person absolutely needs for survival, and it seems that there is barely a place on Earth where the water has not yet somehow been tainted. People look around and see that two thirds of the planet is made up of water, so they see that there is no problem. And if you tell them that it is mostly all polluted, they just assume that modern technology can solve the problems. But it doesn't seem to strike them as outrageous that in just a few hundred years of industry, we have managed to create a problem of epic proportion.

Sure, here in the US we are lucky that we get moderately clean water that comes out of our tap, and yes, there are some remote places in the country left where the water is clean and potable. But those places are getting more and more scarce. And when we have to start questioning the safety of our public water infrastructure as well, it certainly doesn't paint a pleasant picture.

I mentioned that people think modern technology can solve these problems of deteriorating water quality, and to some extent it can. We can take toilet water and turn it to tap water, we can desalinate the ocean and make it fresh, but let me say, as someone who grew up drinking well water from 400 feet beneath my house, there is nothing like a fresh glass of real water that is clean, pure, and tasteless.

Another article I saw the other day described a scenario where there at one time was a small country stream and ecosystem which has subsequently filled in and paved over to build a housing complex. To me, hearing about and seeing these things is sickening. People need to learn before it's too late to they can't just keep destroying these natural systems, and more to the point, we need to start protecting our water sources before it is too late.

Labels: chemicals, conservation, environment, resources, water

I consider myself to be a pretty eco minded person, I wouldn't go so far as too say I'm extreme when it comes to conservation and minimizing waste, but I do exert a fair amount of effort to try to minimize my impact, especially when it comes to over consumption and blatant waste. And I certainly would consider our (Americans) use of plastic a blatant waste.

For my part, I always bring my reusable bags when I go shopping, and I even go so far as to use an empty bread loaf bag to pick up dog poop rather than throw it out unused. These days when I make my lunch I reuse one ziplock bag for several weeks, rather than dispose of it daily, and I also use a tupperware to pack my sandwich and vegetables. Right there, assuming that I make lunch 3 days (and eat out 2) per week, multiplied over 49 weeks (52 minus a measly 3 for vacation), that would ordinarily be 294 bags if I used one for chips or snack, and one for sandwich. But typically I reuse one bag for three or four weeks in a row before it becomes too nasty, and my use of a tupperware removes the need for half of them right away. So that puts me down to only 37 per year for 147 days of lunch. Not great, but a significant reduction from average.

But we all know that you can be the most efficient person in the world, and it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the waste of a business. So I now have a way to save another 245 plastic bags per year by doing nothing. How do I do this? I realized a year or so ago that the cleaning people swap out the bag in the trashcan at my desk if there is anything it.

So the solution? It's simple. I bring my trash to the office kitchen to dispose of it. And just like that, I don't use my trash can and they don't change the bag. (I've experimented to ensure that this is the case.) Just like that 245 bags removed from the landfill.

So above and beyond the hundreds (likely thousands) of plastic bags I save per year by carrying my reusable shopping bags and implementing these simple strategies, I now can include another 500 bags (a low estimate combining lunch and work strategy) that I am saving from our landfills.

If every person made these three simple adjustments, we could save hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of plastic bags from the landfills. Even at a small company of 20 people, these three virtually unnoticeable lifestyle changes would save 10,000 bags from our landfills over one year.

As you can see, making a difference is not that hard.

Labels: conservation, consumption, eco-friendly, how-to, lifestyle, resources

I'm not sure how to feel about this whole water conservation effort here in San Diego. I've seen quite a few glaring contradictions lately that would seem to indicate to me that although they are telling us how to use our water, they aren't doing the same at the public level. Of course San Diego is a big city, and I can't expect them to know how every public water user is managing their water, but I would hope they would make their best effort to do so, being that they are running ads with the slogan "Waste no Water".

A few weeks ago, the ball park at the Rec Center near my house was watering at 11:30 AM, which is prohibited under the new water usage restrictions which prohibit outdoor watering between 10AM and 6PM. Maybe it's just me, but being that the rec centers are run by the city, I would expect them to be following their own rules. So I went ahead and called the hotline that allows you to report those abusing the waternig restrictions. When I told the woman that the rec center was watering, I think I caught a chuckle from her, hopefully she saw the irony.

Then the other morning after a run, I saw different sprinklers at the same rec center that were shooting water all over the sidewalk, which I don't believe is technically against the new rules, but again, I would expect the city to be practicing what they are preaching to the public. In fact this exact scenario is one of the things they are pushing in their "Waste No Water" campaigns. In fairness, this time the watering was at least happening in the early morning, so maybe they at least adjusted the schedules.

Also, although I don't believe that the city has any jurisdiction over CalTrans, everyone knows they are a huge water user (4th largest), and it's been well documented that they excessively water the freeway shoulders, even in the rain. And still after the water cuts, just last month I saw them watering at 9:30 AM. Granted, this is not technically prohibited, but I still take issue with this because especially lately, by 9:30 it's already over 80 degrees and rising, so I'm pretty sure a lot of this water will get wasted.

So what do I have to say? I say come on San Diego, get it together. Though I did hear that city water usage is down 20% from last year, which is great, I think we can be doing better. Start by watching what's going on in the city around you. While I do applaud your efforts to educate the people, I think there could be even better results if you focused your efforts on the big users, which are businesses, the city itself, and also the contractors you have working for you. Would it be impossible to work with CalTrans to put in native freeway shoulders instead of iceplant and change the watering schedules? Then another nice step would be to stop planting grass everywhere, since almost everyone knows San Diego is not really tropical, stop pretending it is and start planing native gardens instead of lush grasses at public buildings.


Related Links:
http://www.idealistcafe.com/2009/01/water-conservation-letter-to-city.html

Labels: conservation, San Diego, water

Photo Credit: Sean Haffey, Union TribI don't live in Ocean Beach anymore, but when I did I lived near Dog Beach and the San Diego River. Actually, many people don't even know that there is a river in San Diego, but there is. So anyway, when I lived there, I always used to jog along the river on the bike path, (yes the linked map is the actual path of the river, only the first few miles were paved at the time I lived there) and once when I was trying to avoid getting in my car I tried to follow the path on my bike into Mission Valley to make a run to Borders to look for a guide book for my trip to Spain.

Of course during that attempted ride is when I realized that the path didn't actually follow the river that far, or at least if it did it wasn't obvious to me. In typical San Diego "you can only get there in a car" style, it just stopped near the freeway where the there was really nothing but a perfect place for a homeless camp. And actually, I'm pretty sure there were some camps right near by, since I've heard plenty of stories. None the less, I made it to Borders in once piece (though I was quite out of place in the sea of cars) and got my book, but not without having to carry my bike up a hill, across the end of a freeway ramp, and even over the dry river bed on some railroad tracks that had there been a train coming I would have been killed. Oh yea, then I had to brave an actual road, which is no minor task around here since most people who are driving are usually doing something besides driving.

So when I saw this article, I can't tell you how excited I was to read that the bike path is being extended to actually go all the way into Mission Valley, eventually all the way to Julian. If it actually gets completed, I'll certainly make use of part of it which could connect me to the beach without ever really having to ride on a main road. And the other more noble goal of the path is to make people realize that yes, there actually is a river there!


Related Links:
San Diego River Conservancy
San Diego River Coalition
San River Park Foundation

Labels: biking, conservation, ocean beach, San Diego

Image credit: Letz DesignI figured I'd share interesting article about drought tolerant landscaping, known as Xeriscaping, that I found via my Ode Magazine Newsletter. It's especially relevant since I live in San Diego at a house with a lawn that uses irrigation. It's not very detailed about specific plants that can be used for making changes, but it is definitely food for thought.


View article here: Yanking out lawns saves water and money

Interesting side note: I started thinking about writing this post the other day while at work. Ironically, as I was pondering drought tolerant landscapes and the water shortages and new water rationing rules here in San Diego, I looked out the window into Petco Park to see them watering the dirt in preparation for the night's baseball game. My office is located in such a position that we can see down into the ball field, and I think based on what we see it's safe to say that they are one of the biggest water wasters around. Even next to the ball park is a public park, my guess under the same management, and it is watered so frequently that you sometimes can't even walk in the grass because it's so squishy from over watering. Nice job city of San Diego.

Related Links:
Succulents, perennials make a colorful drought-tolerant team
How the neighbors are coping

Labels: conservation, interesting, San Diego, water

A few weeks ago, while driving into work in the rain, I noticed that the sprinklers on the side of the freeway were on. Not only is this ridiculous, but it is especially ridiculous being that San Diego is basically a desert with very little of its own water supplies, and the city has recently said that unless water usage is decreased soon we will have mandatory water rationing. So I decided to write a little letter to the mayor's office. Here is is:

Hello Mayor Sanders,

I have read in the past months of your efforts at promoting water conservation in the city. Also, I had seen that you declared a water shortage emergency this past summer which called for residents to voluntarily cut back there usage or face mandatory cutbacks later on.

I am writing because I would like to see the city take further initiative not only to make more positive changes, but to also use itself as an example. One of the basic water saving tips that most anyone is aware of is to water lawns and plants early morning or late evening, however I often see sprinklers on city property running all hours of the day. Not only in parks but also on the sides of the freeway. This morning (Dec 15, 2008) I was on my way into work, and it was raining heavily, and I was appalled to see the sprinklers along the side of the 163 freeway running. To me this seems absurd, especially given the nature of the water issues in San Diego, and even more so considering the city and the mayor's office are attempting to promote water conservation. Changing the sprinkler schedules and disabling them during rain is a simple way to make a real difference.

On another note, I work near Petco Park and often see the park workers watering the grass all day long, to the point of over saturation on a daily basis. I am pretty certain this is not city property however, and understand that any water usage enforcement in this case would be impossible.

Soon after writing this letter, I did read something that says that these sprinklers along the freeway are not managed by the city, but by CalTrans instead. Of course this does not make it forgivable, but it does take this out of hte city's hands. Though I also saw an article that says CalTrans is the 4th largest water user in the city. Though if you look at that article, the biggest water user is the city itself.


Related Links:
Another Wayward CalTrans Sprinkler
With Water Cuts Near, Freeways Still Get Showered
Who uses the most water?
A letter to the city of San Diego

Labels: conservation, environment, San Diego, water