Water rationing, what are you doing to help? (San Diego, Corona: real estate, apartment complex)

[esmith143]

The City of SD is making a decision today that could make outdoor watering a thing of the past.

I have read that we are going to be allowed to water 10 minutes, 3 days a week. This means the vast majority of landscaping in San Diego will die.

My irrigation system is set on 10 minutes 2 days a week. Nothing died so far. I'll have my first citrus harvest soon.

[janineg]

I just found a very helpful site that could be used to plan new low water landscaping or adjust your current one: The Garden Spot It has tons of information and plant lists.
Janine

[YoungSanDiegoDude]

Nothing. I don't have to pay for the water where I live. If I did, I would ration ALL of the time.

[hiloshark]

OK so let me get this straight ... we live next to a gigantic ocean, and instead of building a desalination plant that would provide all the water socal would need ... i'm suppose to cut back on my water usage? And everyone here seems rather ok with the fact that the city is making us RATION WATER....where's all the anger? Where's all the questioning of why we DONT have a plant? I have lived in this town since 1980 and thinking back to the 80's it was all the talk then on when it was going to happen and where... here it is 2009 and still no plant?

wtf gives san diego?

[janineg]

Well, I don't have a sense of entitlement when it comes to watering my lawn in this arid climate; I feel guilty about it. Desalinisation would be nice, but apparently it uses huge amounts of energy.

This is from wikipedia: Large-scale desalination typically uses extremely large amounts of energy as well as specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater. The large energy reserves of many Middle Eastern countries, along with their relative water scarcity, have led to extensive construction of desalination in this region.

If we didn't have enough water to live on, I might be angry, but not having enough to lavish on lawns and tropical plants is another matter.
Janine

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by janineg

Well, I don't have a sense of entitlement when it comes to watering my lawn in this arid climate; I feel guilty about it. Desalinisation would be nice, but apparently it uses huge amounts of energy.

If our leaders had the foresight to harness the nearly endless source of solar energy we have in our county and region, the energy problem would not have been such a challenge. Instead, we built a ballpark and amenities for tourists.

[NorthSDLifer]

C'mon, Sassberto, Petco Park drives the economy downtown, don't you know?

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by NorthSDLifer

C'mon, Sassberto, Petco Park drives the economy downtown, don't you know?

Yep... all those food service jobs really have opened up opportunities for people to buy luxury condos!

After looking at the specifics of the watering mandate I am OK, I am actually already watering less than they are allowing. But I still predict dead lawns. Older people in particular will just shut off their sprinklers, just like they turned off their exterior lighting in the 80's.

voiceofsandiego.org: Environment... 'New Era' in Water Means Brown Lawns

[sdlife619]

Sassberto= Yep... all those food service jobs really have opened up opportunities for people to buy luxury condos!

For realz! all those new luxury condo's built downtown in the recent years are not for the people working at the ballpark or surrounding service jobs, but mainly for the wealthy outsiders that want slice of urban renaissance. That's the disoriented way of thinking by local city leaders. Yes it has increase revenue for the city, yes it has made downtown a better place to live and play, but at what cost? As always the working class San Diegan's get screwed, let's slam of bunch super expensive condo's together, without even considering some affordable apartments in between for the workers of Petco Park and the Gaslamp. While the rich enjoy themselves in San Diego, the poor slave workers of SD go back to the hood, and have to deal with crime and put up with the cost of living expense because there paycheck barely covers or doesn't cover 1 months worth of rent or the mortgage. Some people will say "Well why are you working such a crappy low paying job"? Well somebody gots to do it, there are many low paying jobs that need to be filled in SD, the reason many people quit them or move on, is because locally these jobs can't and will not get you by on your own. Now maybe if you were married or have a B/G friend and living together, it's possible, but still a struggle. It's sad because the poor hard working citizens of San Diego don't have a voice, and are always looked past upon, nobody builds for them. Downtown does not have any balance when it comes to housing, every single new development are all mostly expensive condo's, the city and local government agencies for years have complained how housing cost is seriously affecting local citizens ability to work and stay in SD long term. Yet they haven't done a thing to address the inequality of housing, the massive redevelopment of downtown forces gentrification, therefore poor families get pushed out of the older area's (that used to be a affordable) because they mostly rent, and don't own there homes to control there neighborhood by preventing gentrification from happening.

Sorry for getting off track! But anyways, this water rationing will hopefully make people realize that water here is not to be wasted so freely like if you were on the East Coast. We do live in a desert, with summer right around the corner, this crisis will get even worse in the next few months. I wouldn't be suprised if they raise the water level restrictions to the level 3 drought. Even with conservation, I feel it's still not enough to slow down our drought conditions. We just need more RAIN! Or find a way to transport huge amounts of water from other flood prone states

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Yet we will continue to stamp out new housing like the quarry off of the 805 in an area that should be shut off from building new housing. Why? Because growth drives the economy. If you are in the construction trade you need to be able to build build build or you won't have a job. Catch 22.
What's more important, water for existing people or new housing we don't need yet but creates jobs?