Is drought the new ‘normal’?

When it comes to a cure for the drought, El Niño is an ?‘el no-no,' say water officials|

For those thinking El Niño may provide the soaking next winter to end the drought – think again.

At least that’s what Jay Jasperse of the Sonoma County Water Agency said this week at a Community Drought Update that took place July 22 at the Veterans Memorial Hall. Jasperse, chief engineer of groundwater management for the Water Agency, said that even if California receives a wet winter from the movement of warm ocean currents, the rainfall won’t be the golden ticket that allows everyone to go back to watering their lawns every day.

“In 1998, 1988 and 1983 we observed El Niño patterns but didn’t have high precipitation,” he said. “Instead, we have to accept the fact we’re going to have to make lifestyle changes because this is going to be daily life in California. We can no longer use water like we used to.”

The drought update meeting was held as part of an ongoing drought-awareness campaign the Water Agency is staging as part of the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership, a new coalition comprised of public officials, water agencies and businesses dedicated to drought education and water conservation practices. Also on July 22, the Sonoma County Water Agency and Friedman’s Home Improvement hosted a drive-up “drought center” outside Sonoma Valley High School, distributing “drought kits” designed to offer ways reduce water usage in people’s homes.

The kits included a shower head designed to release less water, a faucet aerator that mixes air with water to reduce its flow, a toilet tank leak detector, a bucket for catching shower and dishwater, and literature about reducing water in other areas around the house.

“We distributed around 400 buckets today,” said Brad Sherwood, spokesman for the Water Agency. “That’s a good sign. It means people are driving up and seeing what they can do to help conserve water, in any way they can.”

Sherwood says the game of water conservation is measured in small increments, where tiny changes adopted by a lot of people end up saving thousands of gallons per year.

Susan Gorin, First District Supervisor for Sonoma Valley, moderated the evening’s drought meeting and provided an update on large-scale water conservation efforts around the county. Representatives from Sonoma’s public works department, the Sonoma and Valley of the Moon water districts, the Sonoma Ecology Center, the North Bay Agriculture Alliance, Friedman Brothers, the Sonoma Resource Conservation District and Greywater Gardens of Sonoma gave presentations about what they’ve been doing to keep the taps off and plug up any leaks in the Valley’s water network.

Dan Takasugi, city engineer and director of public works, said Sonoma is reporting a 35 percent reduction of water usage in the city compared with 2013’s numbers, significantly ahead of the curve on Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandated 28 percent reduction for all cities in California.

Takasugi said by 2016 the city will be able to receive recycled water from the Water Agency via a new water pipeline running down Fifth Street East and Denmark Street, routing through Sonoma Valley High School. He estimates the city will receive 55 acre-feet of water per year from recycled water with the new source.

Additionally, West Napa Street will soon have a trench dug through it to repair leaks in the water line that runs beneath. While that project will impinge upon traffic along the street, Takasugi said the city cannot wait any longer to fix the leaks, and will save more water in the long run.

Another program coming to Sonoma will take advantage of the excess water flow from the Russian River during winter. The city plans to build an aquifer that draws from the river when it flows in excess. Takasugi expects that aquifer to be at half capacity this winter.

Chris Reamer, an “ecological landscaper” and founder of Greywater Gardens of Sonoma, said using greywater should be the new normal for complementing ground, surface, reclaimed and recycled water use. Greywater is a term for the discharge from non-septic water equipment, including washing machines, showers and dishwashers.

Reamer says his company has even designed special piping systems dedicated to using greywater for irrigation.

“The biggest problem is storage,” says Reamer. “Greywater can only legally be stored for 24 hours until it turns into blackwater, which needs to be collected and treated to turn it into reclaimed water, which is used for flushing toilets. Due to the nature of where greywater comes from, like doing dishes or taking showers, there’s not a dedicated timetable where you can expect to collect greywater. People take showers when they want, and they do dishes when they want. The key to using greywater is to use it when it’s immediately available as a supplement for groundwater.”

Reamer added that using laundry detergents that contain less or no sodium are very important to keeping a healthy soil profile when using greywater to irrigate gardens.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.