Just listen to the justification of the person in this story.
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Saturday, May 30, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
Water waste discussion on Airtalk today
There was a neat discussion on Airtalk today about whether, when, and how we should report water waste. I think you know my opinion...yes, always, and in every way possible. The show focused on "public shaming," but it's a fine line between shaming and documentation. The story page is here (http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2015/05/08/42771/the-etiquette-of-droughtshaming/#comments)
One guest mentioned that public shaming doesn't change behavior (probably true), but another guest said that those doing don't necessarily want to change behavior of the individual person they're shaming, but the behavior of others possible (or current offenders). I don't know what the psychological research on this says, but for me it's a matter of bringing attention and documentation. We should have shame for wasting water. I'm not one for saying "shame on you" directly. I just document what I see and I think the shame is obvious (if it exists).
For me, shaming business is fine. What's better than a business shaming or boycott to get attention for an important issue. If they lose business, so be it. That's the market working. If they want to keep business by promoting their water awareness, they can do that. Shaming individuals is different. To be fair, it's good to know more about peoples' individual situations and educate first. But I don't have a problem pointing out flagrant waste. In the few times that I've seen waste and there's been a person present to talk to, I've done that. In one case he didn't speak English. In another he seemed happy to learn he had a leak in his sprinkler. In another I learned that she only waters twice a week, and had nice chat with her (I still think she could use less and get rid of her green green lawn, but that's another conversation). The reason I like to report as much as I can to LADWP and blog about it is because I think it's one of those situations where people are going to just keep acting out of habit (either unconsciously, or consciously thinking "I'll get away with what I can until someone stops me."). We have to a) bring awareness, and b) make things a little uncomfortable to create community-wide change. People don't change when their too comfortable (though I guess they may not change if too uncomfortable either).
The show made a good point of paying attention to one-time offenders v. repeat offenders, and I think that's a good idea. One caller told a story of her sprinklers going off during the day after it had just rained, and her neighbor giving her a hard time about it. The problem here isn't that she forgot to turn off her sprinklers (though really, how hard is it to notice that it just rained in SoCal and turn off your sprinklers for the day), but the bigger problem is that she was watering during the day. That not only violates LADWP water rules (no watering btwn 9AM and 6PM) but is just stupid. I recently heard a number citing 70% evaporation from watering during the day. Even if that's not exact, we know it must be more than it would be overnight.
Another caller said something that was a good reminder to me. He waters with drip irrigation so hes plants and lawn look watered. But drip is so much more efficient (no evaporation), so next to not having a lawn or plants, he's doing the second best thing.
It's a complex problem, but anyone who isn't paying attention and acting accordingly at this point (or has a good reason for not reducing their water use in some way) should be banned from getting bottled water hand-outs when the tap runs dry.
One guest mentioned that public shaming doesn't change behavior (probably true), but another guest said that those doing don't necessarily want to change behavior of the individual person they're shaming, but the behavior of others possible (or current offenders). I don't know what the psychological research on this says, but for me it's a matter of bringing attention and documentation. We should have shame for wasting water. I'm not one for saying "shame on you" directly. I just document what I see and I think the shame is obvious (if it exists).
For me, shaming business is fine. What's better than a business shaming or boycott to get attention for an important issue. If they lose business, so be it. That's the market working. If they want to keep business by promoting their water awareness, they can do that. Shaming individuals is different. To be fair, it's good to know more about peoples' individual situations and educate first. But I don't have a problem pointing out flagrant waste. In the few times that I've seen waste and there's been a person present to talk to, I've done that. In one case he didn't speak English. In another he seemed happy to learn he had a leak in his sprinkler. In another I learned that she only waters twice a week, and had nice chat with her (I still think she could use less and get rid of her green green lawn, but that's another conversation). The reason I like to report as much as I can to LADWP and blog about it is because I think it's one of those situations where people are going to just keep acting out of habit (either unconsciously, or consciously thinking "I'll get away with what I can until someone stops me."). We have to a) bring awareness, and b) make things a little uncomfortable to create community-wide change. People don't change when their too comfortable (though I guess they may not change if too uncomfortable either).
The show made a good point of paying attention to one-time offenders v. repeat offenders, and I think that's a good idea. One caller told a story of her sprinklers going off during the day after it had just rained, and her neighbor giving her a hard time about it. The problem here isn't that she forgot to turn off her sprinklers (though really, how hard is it to notice that it just rained in SoCal and turn off your sprinklers for the day), but the bigger problem is that she was watering during the day. That not only violates LADWP water rules (no watering btwn 9AM and 6PM) but is just stupid. I recently heard a number citing 70% evaporation from watering during the day. Even if that's not exact, we know it must be more than it would be overnight.
Another caller said something that was a good reminder to me. He waters with drip irrigation so hes plants and lawn look watered. But drip is so much more efficient (no evaporation), so next to not having a lawn or plants, he's doing the second best thing.
It's a complex problem, but anyone who isn't paying attention and acting accordingly at this point (or has a good reason for not reducing their water use in some way) should be banned from getting bottled water hand-outs when the tap runs dry.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
What can you do?
There are a lot of things you can do to reduce your own water use.
1) Don't eat almonds (and try to find out which crops have lower water use). I'll post here when I find more info.
2) Capture wasted water. At home we put a watering can under the faucet when warming up the shower. Then we can water our plants with that water that would've been wasted and reduce our overall water use. Put a dishpan in the kitchen sink, too, to catch all that small runoff from rinsing things.
3) Use less water from the start. Turn off the shower when shampooing and soaping up. I thought it would be cold, but it's not. Set everything to eco use and only run full loads. If you dump out coffee at the end of the day, brew single cups
4) Report any property you see wasting water. If you feel bad about reporting your neighbors, knock on the door and make them aware. People don't pay attention to their sprinklers, so may not know if they're broken. But if you don't feel comfortable doing that, then report them and let the water cops do their job. They will likely get a warning first, but that may be enough to shape them up.
5) By all means, stop watering you lawn! Get over it already. If you have plants and landscaping that you can't part with, find a way to run your gray water into your yard.
6) Water at night when it's least like ti evaporate. Don't water every day (unless you're using gray water)
7) Adjust your expextations and wants re: landscaping and lawn. Reduce, remove, and get water-frugal plants. Try to only have as much as you can support with recaptured water from other things you do so you're not watering with drinkable water.
There are also things you can do to help reduce business water use.
1) If a restaurant gives you water without asking, remind them that it's against the law to do that. If they keep doing that, report them.
2) Report business with broken sprinklers or that are washing sidewalks and parking lots (or any other hard surface) with water. Boycott them until their behavior changes.
Alfalfa over water?
I haven't had a chance to verify this but a friend told me today that some large proportion of agriculture water use in CA goes to alfalfa farming. Doesn't seem like a good use of water since alfalfa can be grown in a lot of states. Seems like our restrictions on agricultural water use in CA should discourage farming things that can be grown elsewhere just as easily.
I wondered when the last time I ate alfalfa was (and couldn't remember), and my friend told me it goes into cattle feed. So we're using water that we need to live to feed cattle that we don't need. Another good reason to get off the meat.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Vence Center shopping plaza (corner of Venice and Clarrington) is a major water waster!
UPDATE 5/8/15
I think this property has stopped washing their parking lot with water. A few weeks after talking to the guy doing it (and of course reporting it waterwaste@ladwp.com), they stopped. I don't check every week, but I haven't seen them do it in a while, and I see the grounds-keeper watering grass/plants with a bucket.
Excellent! Nice work guys. Hope to see more change like this.
*****ORIGINAL POST BELOW*****
Does anyone know who owns this property? There are several stores and restaurants in it (e.g., Original Thai BBQ), but I can't find anything online about who owns the entire plaza.
Each Saturday, a handyman/grounds-keeper waters the entire parking lot. This isn't just an obvious waste of water, but also against the law in LA County (see more here: http://wewillbethirsty.blogspot.com/2015/02/la-city-and-county-water-use-laws.html). I tried to get more information from the gentleman doing the watering but he didn't speak English well, didn't have a business card, and didn't have any business logo on his truck. Photos of his truck are below.
If anyone has more information let me know. I felt a little conflicted about posting this one, not knowing who the property owner hiring him is. It feels a little bit like "shooting the messenger." But anyone engaged in cleaning/maintenance/grounds-keeping is also responsible to know the laws that apply to their work. So both he and the person hiring him share blame. Even if it wasn't against the law, does it make sense to hose down a parking lot with drinking water when we're running out of water in the state?
I think this property has stopped washing their parking lot with water. A few weeks after talking to the guy doing it (and of course reporting it waterwaste@ladwp.com), they stopped. I don't check every week, but I haven't seen them do it in a while, and I see the grounds-keeper watering grass/plants with a bucket.
Excellent! Nice work guys. Hope to see more change like this.
*****ORIGINAL POST BELOW*****
Does anyone know who owns this property? There are several stores and restaurants in it (e.g., Original Thai BBQ), but I can't find anything online about who owns the entire plaza.
Each Saturday, a handyman/grounds-keeper waters the entire parking lot. This isn't just an obvious waste of water, but also against the law in LA County (see more here: http://wewillbethirsty.blogspot.com/2015/02/la-city-and-county-water-use-laws.html). I tried to get more information from the gentleman doing the watering but he didn't speak English well, didn't have a business card, and didn't have any business logo on his truck. Photos of his truck are below.
If anyone has more information let me know. I felt a little conflicted about posting this one, not knowing who the property owner hiring him is. It feels a little bit like "shooting the messenger." But anyone engaged in cleaning/maintenance/grounds-keeping is also responsible to know the laws that apply to their work. So both he and the person hiring him share blame. Even if it wasn't against the law, does it make sense to hose down a parking lot with drinking water when we're running out of water in the state?
Water waster at 3637 Clarrington in 90034
This apartment building (3637 Clarrington in 90034) is regularly running their sprinklers so the lawn and sidewalk are flooded and water flows in to the street (and down the block). You can see the video at the link below. Not the biggest offender, but an offender no less. They could also be watering at night so less water evaporates.
Report water wasters at waterwaste@ladwp.com. Give them the location, date/time, and good description. Photos and videos help.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Please fix your broken sprinklers
I've come across two homes (like this one at 3620-3624 Clarrington in 90034) in the past couple of weeks that are pouring water into the streets. Unfortunately this one looked like a condo or apartment building with no contact info on the building.
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