What a Week: Every gallon counts

Of the personal and educational lessons from my semester abroad in Melbourne, Australia, the importance of community-wide water conservation stands out the most.

It was just the way of life Down Under then. Because it had to be.

I always remember at our foreign student orientation in March 2009 (summer in the southern hemisphere), the staff director telling a room full of mostly American 20-somethings to take quick showers and “don’t wash your hair every day,” among other pertinent suggestions. Here was the highest-ranking adult in the room, who viewed her long hair as a point of personal pride, also taking pride in the fact she needed to sacrifice its care every other day to save water.

Yellow-and-green grass was the norm around the city. Rainfall over a millimeter was called out on the news. The reality of the dire situation hit me; I tried to do what little I could during my five months there.

But who knew how relevant those drought lessons would be for me after I graduated college in 2010? Almost every year thereafter in the Golden State, it turns out. Sadly, 2021 is no different.

All of California is rated as experiencing at least moderate drought, 95.1% is in “severe drought” or worse, 88.6% in “extreme drought” or worse, and a whopping 46.5% (including all of Contra Costa County and 99.1% of Alameda County) is at the most problematic level, “exceptional drought,” according to the National Integrated Drought Information System.

For Alameda County, this is the 10th-driest rain year on record in 127 years at 6.6 inches below normal. It’s worse for Contra Costa County at the seventh-driest on record at 7.4 inches from normal.

And remember, “normal” rainfall or “normal” Sierra snowpack level is just a baseline to hope for in more ideal conditions. After multiple drought periods in the past decade, we want — we need — totals above normal. Well above.

Those conditions mean the water supply is down drastically yet again. Zone 7 Water Agency is only getting a 5% allocation from the State Water Project this year, meaning its main supply for 2021 will be water stored locally and in Kern County.

Recall Pleasanton, for example, gets about 80% of its drinking water supply from Zone 7, with the rest from city wells. To help with its supply, the city has focused on addressing well contamination by hazardous PFAS chemicals.

Zone 7 has done its part to work on supply reliability, efforts such as expanding Los Vaqueros Reservoir, pursuing the Sites Reservoir project, and researching regional desalination and potable reuse potential.

I honestly could not believe the Pleasanton City Council back in February backed out of contributing to the Tri-Valley potable reuse water study. The primary logic seemed to be hesitance to outright opposition by the 3-2 majority to the concept of recycling water for use as drinking supply — a third rail in Pleasanton politics for decades, but a process not unheard of in other parts of the country.

But it comes off as sorely short-sighted for the “City of Planned Progress” to jump to such a conclusion without first reviewing the latest scientific evidence.

That’s how I view the point of the regional study: It was clearly not a commitment to flowing future reuse water into Pleasanton’s potable pipes; it was a commitment to analyze the issue, scientifically and financially, to make an informed decision down the line. At that point, “no” could certainly be an acceptable response.

The so-called “ick factor” is the only argument for Pleasanton’s withdrawal that holds any water in reality. Not the financial. Because though the council diverted its share of the study costs to fund city well improvements, the result of Pleasanton pulling out of the four-agency study was Zone 7 opted to pick up the entire estimated $1 million tab.

And how is Zone 7 going to recoup that money? Rate and/or fee revenue ultimately paid by the residents and businesses whose providers buy water from Zone 7, like … wait for it … the city of Pleasanton. Seems like that money is still coming out of Pleasanton, but what kind of seat will the city truly have at the table in the future?

Of course, the other side of this drought coin is reducing demand.

In response to 2021 conditions, the Tri-Valley water retailers, like Gov. Gavin Newsom, have called on all of us to voluntarily reduce our water consumption by 15% compared to last year. That can seem a tough goal, though attainable, for some of us whose use in 2020 was already down like it had been the last drought, but for many others there’s plenty of room to improve toward that.

I’m struck by the effectiveness of Zone 7’s new “Water Wise Wendy” awareness campaign.

A spinoff from its Flood Ready Freddy campaign, Zone 7 places Water Wise Wendy in fun situations and costumes (like as a detective or a wizard) to educate and encourage residents to improve their water sustainability. The young girl who portrays Water Wise Wendy is a paid child actress familiar to Zone 7’s consultant. Expect to see her face around town and online throughout the year.

“Water Wise Wendy with her light-hearted, friendly spirit and playful costumes, has really excelled in reaching people with the important message that everyone can do their part to prevent water waste,” Zone 7 communications specialist Alexandra Bradley told me.

Wendy, like Zone 7 and its retailers including Pleasanton, recommends a range of actions — large and small — to reduce individual water consumption.

The big one is always irrigation. A leak at just 1/32nd of an inch (the thickness of a dime) can waste 6,300 gallons of drinking water each month, Bradley said. Plus the large amount of water it takes to nurture a grass lawn compared to drought-conscious landscaping.

Then there’s that outdated washing machine. An older, less-efficient appliance can use up to 45 gallons of drinking water per load whereas newer ones can get down to 15 gallons. Multiply that 30-gallon gap by the American family average of 300 laundry loads per year, and wow.

Go to www.pleasantonwaterconservation.com for other household ideas. Five minutes less shower time can save me 12.5 gallons. Turn off the tap while brushing my teeth, cleaning dishes by hand or washing my hands for the requisite 30 seconds during the pandemic and the gallons add up quickly.

Public messaging usually revolves around “every drop counts.” I mean, sure: do anything and everything we can to help. But there’s a difference between having a tissue slip out of my pocket onto the street and dumping a mattress on the side of a county road. Both are littering, but one has a bigger impact while also being more preventable.

We can all reduce by the gallon. It counts more.

Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh has been the editor of the Pleasanton Weekly since February 2017. His “What a Week” column runs on the first and third Fridays of the month.

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