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Water Conservation – A letter to the city

posted by Russ, January 2 in environment with tags , , ,

1 comment so far

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.

References and recommended reading:
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


Originally posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 12:53 PM .

One Response to “Water Conservation – A letter to the city”

  1. Grace says:

    Good for you for writing this letter! That would infuriate me!

    In my town here in Florida, we actually do have mandatory water restrictions… only watering our lawns or washing our cars on certain days. I used to notice that some people would try to water their lawns every single night around 1am and of course, the touristy golf courses were able to water as much as they want!

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