by aleida, on July 15th, 2009
On top of issuing IOUs as a result of a budget crisis, the state of California is now in the third year of an extreme drought. This photo is of Lake Oroville taken in February 2009. This lake is a major reservoir that provides domestic water for Northern California. It can clearly be seen how far this lake has receded in the recent past. Levels haven’t reached record lows, but they’re getting close. How many people living around us in the Los Angeles metro area really know where their water comes from, or how it is consumed? It’s probably understood that L.A.’s water supply is sourced far from the city, but probably few are aware of how much is imported from great distances.
Today there are four basic water sources: ground water, recycled water, the L.A. Aqueduct system, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). Over the past decade, L.A. Aqueducts provided half of all supply, with the remainder from the MWD and ground water. But there’s been a dramatic shift in that trend. Last year, 69% was supplied by the MWD and just 18% supplied by L.A. Aqueducts. Ground water has remained relatively constant at 12% to 14%. Opinions vary regarding reasons, but it’s pretty clear that dramatically decreasing annual snow levels on the Sierra Mountain range must be playing a major factor. This year, the northern part of the range has 48% less snow than average.
There are four aqueducts feeding Los Angeles County – the California Aqueduct (located on the west side of the Sierra range and more than 300 miles long), the L.A. Aqueducts (located in the Central Valley and are actually two systems connected to Owens Lake and Mono Lake), and the Colorado Aqueduct (between L.A. and the Colorado River at the Parker Dam).
Here’s some food for thought: the national per capita average water consumption is 151 gallons per day. To give you comparisons, Europe consumes 69 gallons per day, and Africa just 5 gallons per day. The UN has identified 13 gallons per day as the water poverty line. The California state average is 139 gallons, yet consumption in Los Angeles County is 168 gallons per day.
What’s really shocking about that number is that most of that water is used for residential purposes – 68%. Landscaping represents nearly half of that demand. Water for showers and toilets are 18% and 20% respectively. Only a fraction of the vast amount of imported water is actually ingested. Most of it goes on our lawns and cars. That is tragic. And it’s something we can change easily without a dramatic adjustment in lifestyle, standard of living, or happiness. Let’s do something about it today.
Check out the next post on this subject – A World of Water, Yet So Little To Drink.
Next week, on July 21, 2009, the Los Angeles Council District 11 Empowerment Congress Environmental Committee will host the Wise Water Use Expo to be held in Mar Vista (Los Angeles). Kevin will present this material, and much more, with fellow presenters including Ed Begley Jr.
[...] Water vs. Green Water by kevin, on July 22nd, 2009 In Where Does L.A. Water Come From? and A World of Water, Yet So Little To Drink we explored how rare fresh liquid water is despite the [...]