I’m still pondering the severity of our water crisis compared to 1977, when things were so bad, apparently, that one could be fined for failing to capture and reuse the condensation from one’s air conditioner and a green plant in your yard was a hanging offense. According to the twit from the water department, we aren’t in that bad of a condition this time around.
Bruce commented that we have supposedly learned to use less water per capita, which is a good point. Hizzonner the governor says we have a goal of using 20% less water per person, but I’m not sure than anyone thinks we’ve met that goal. The water bill for my HOA has gone from $1500/mth ten years ago to $5000/mth now and we have exactly the same lawn area that we did ten years ago. I have been agitating to reduce lawn area and relandscape to lower water usage and have done nothing other than make myself unpopular.
According to the best numbers I can come up with, we had 88 km3 of water in storage for each one million population in 1977, which was regarded as disastrous and required that all green landscapes be allowed to die. If we have, as Bruce suggests, learned to use 20% less water, then a comparable number today would be 70 km3 per one million people, but we don’t even have that. What we have today is 56 km3 per one million people.
If that doesn’t qualify and an “oh shit” moment, I don’t know what does.
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