SWC embarks on water conservation

Southern California’s rainy season is once again slipping away without much rain, the third year in a row the drought-striken Golden State has come up dry.

And the worst may be yet to come.

As reservoirs up and down the state dry out and crack like a broken windshield, Southwestern College is bracing for a desiccated 2014.

John Brown, SWC Director of Facilities, said the college is working to use water more efficiently. New construction projects will include superior design and technology, he said, such as low-flow and automated fixtures. Existing buildings are in the process of replacing outdated plumbing devices with more efficient water-saving alternatives.

Landscaping and grounds personnel have modified irrigation techniques to manage water and minimize waste, Brown said.

“The campus facilities team treats every leaking fixture as an emergency,” he said. “Students should report leaks and malfunctioning sprinklers and plumbing fixtures to campus extension 6366.”

Local officials said the drought is the worst in 120 years and warned that an epic catastrophe could be at hand. Chula Vista City Councilwoman Mary Salas said the state water shortage is past emergency and is now a full-on disaster.

“We really, really have to watch how we use water,” she said. “It is a resource that is diminishing and this year we have, for the first time ever, a zero allocation of water from the State Water Project. This is unprecedented.”

Salas described her recent trip to the Oroville Dam as an eye opener. Southern California counts on Oroville Dam and the Colorado River for most of its water. Both are drying up.

“The reservoir is down to historic lows,” she said. “It is incredible to see just how empty our water storage facilities really are.”

California State Water Project (SWP) has historically allocated about 40 percent of the water supply for our region, Salas said. San Diego may not get a drop of water from the California Department of Water Resources this year, she added

Jose Preciado, a trustee of the South Bay Irrigation District, said San Diego County has been cut back before, most recently in the early 1990s.

“This region relied heavily on imported water, the Colorado River and the Sacramento Delta…90 percent was imported from those regions,” he said. “The state was in a drought and Metropolitan cut water supplies by 50 percent.”

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is made up of 26 cities and water districts and provides water for more than 19 million people, delivering an average of 1.7 billion gallons of water per day to a service area that covers nearly 5,200 square miles.

San Diego County made an effort to become self-sufficient. Local water authorities expanded existing reservoirs and established new water sources in Imperial Valley and along the Colorado River.

They may not be enough, Preciado said. SWC is located in the Otay Water District, which may pose a potential problem for the campus, he said.

“What is interesting for SWC is they buy water from Otay Water,” he said. “(Otay owns) no water resources. Otay Lakes belongs to the city of San Diego.”

Preciado explained that if the Otay Water District were to lose its ability to purchase water from surrounding districts, its service area would be without water.

This region needs to consider investing in large-scale reclamation projects, he said, including desalinization of ocean water and recycling sewage water. He recounted how Australia survived one of the worst droughts of the last century by treating sewer water and building desalinization plants.

“I am pretty sure that Australians did not want to use their sewer water as a water resource until they didn’t have a choice,” he said. “And guess what? The ‘ick’ factor is gone.  Communities are going to have to rethink how they dispose of their sewer water.”

Salas said treating water is essential and people must stop referring to the process as “toilet to tap.”

“Recycled water and the process of recycling water and using it for municipal water supplies is nothing new,” she said. “Most cities actually already do that.”

Orange County is on the cutting edge of that technology, she said, and their model is something San Diego County should look at as a means of cleaning used water to potable standards.

Irrigation is the region’s biggest water draw, Preciado said, on resources is irrigation and residents of the Otay Water District are already using reclaimed water for that. He said residents should consider utilizing recycled water for everything.

“It has happened in other places around the world, why aren’t we collecting our sewer (water)?” he said. “Students should get informed on water and how sewer water can be treated and made available for drinking.  With more information people will change their minds.”

Salas and Preciado emphasized the importance of conserving the water we have. Citizens are encouraged to practice good habits, like washing cars less often, taking shorter showers and not letting water run while washing hands, dishes or brushing teeth.

“Water resources are finite and set, but population growth and wastefulness are not,” said Salas. “Mandating water usage might be in our future if the weather pattern doesn’t change. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”