Newsletter: Water and Power: Divert the water, pay the fine

Your guide to the California drought from the Los Angeles Times.

The L.A. Times sent a reporter and a photographer on a road trip to capture the realities of the drought. Here are their dispatches from the dry, dusty road. #drylandsCA

NEWS AND POLICY

Fine for you: Last month, Mountain House officials in Northern California were scrambling to find a water source after the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District was told to stop diverting water. Now, state regulators say those diversions continued for two weeks and they want to fine the irrigation district $1.5 million. It’s the first enforcement action of its kind against a senior water rights holder in this drought.

Lawn gone: Say goodbye to the California lawn. The California Water Commission approved landscaping guidelines for new developments. Commercial and industrial sites will not be allowed to have grass. New residential developments can have grass cover 25% of yards. “This is another giant leap forward in responsible water use,” according to one instructor with the landscape architecture program at USC.

Record rainfall: July is typically the driest month in Southern California, so that made this weekend’s rain historic. It rained out an Angels game, closed L.A. County beaches, interrupted Metrolink service and washed out a bridge on I-10 between Palm Springs and the Arizona border. And observers say it could be a preview of a powerful winter El Niño system.

Dividing the delta: How much water should farmers use from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta? And does using that water take away resources from more urban Californians? Those questions are at the heart of the debate of the waterway. “Questions about just how much water local farmers can draw from the Delta’s channels and sloughs before it reaches those government pumps have flared on and off for years.”

Drought test: How well is your community saving water? The Times has a database of report cards to tell you how you stack up with Gov. Jerry Brown’s call for a 25% cut in urban water use by 2016.

ON THE GROUND

Disaster averted: May’s rainfall is being called a “miracle” because it came just as Lake Mead’s water levels were reaching lows not seen since the 1930s. “It's taken us out of that potential red zone for this year. There is a 0% chance of a shortage,” for next year, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's general manager.

Water thieves: You could call it a crime of opportunity: some Californians are getting so desperate for water they’ve taken to stealing it from fire hydrants and storage tanks and rivers. The most high-profile case involved actor Tom Selleck, who last week agreed to repay the Calleguas Municipal Water District for what it spent on a private investigator who discovered truckloads of water being delivered to the actor’s ranch in Ventura County.

Back to school: In Santa Cruz, customers hit with a fine for wasting water can have that penalty forgiven by attending water school. The program is intended to educate residents on where their water comes from and what they can do to cut back on their usage. There’s also a secondary reason for the program. “When the city slaps you with a fine, it must offer the chance to appeal. In the last drought … the appeals caseload lasted way longer than the drought. Water School washed away the appeals backlog.”

Luxury sport: Northern California’s golf courses are responding to the drought by paying for expensive recycled water or allowing the fairways to turn brown. “The sheer volume of water required to maintain a course makes the golf industry a logical target during a drought. The water used last year by the 19 courses in (East Bay Municipal Water District’s) domain is approximately the same as what 8,000 households used.”

BIG IDEAS

"We should have a culture of people who should know how to prune and water, who know their plants. … We've completely lost horticulture. We've demeaned gardening to mean maintenance."

-- Emily Green on the region’s failure to lead change through the landscaping of public spaces.

 “It’s an energy of some sort. ... Like how some people can run a Ouija board. You either have it or you don’t. You can’t learn how to get it, but if you do have it, you have to learn how to use it.”

-- Napa Valley vintner Marc Mondavi on using intuition and a stick to find underground sources of water.

DROUGHT SNAPSHOT

An ibis stands in the center of the pond in Los Angeles’ only designated nature preserve in Chatsworth.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

DAILY TIP

Here’s your dilemma: You feel guilty pulling up to a car wash during a drought but you also don’t want to drive around in a dusty, dirty car. What should you do? Here are some tips on washing your vehicle without water:

-- Use a waterless spray like the ones used at car shows. A spray coupled with a microfiber cloth can get rid of dust and fingerprints.

-- Apply a liquid or paste wax every three to four months. This will help protect the paint once dust accumulates.

-- Buy a car cover to prolong the time between washes.  

-- And if you have to get a car wash, go to a professional. Car washes use recycled water, which will make the process more efficient than hosing off the car at home.

LOOKING AHEAD …

-- The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners will meet today to discuss a water conservation ordinance.

-- The State Water Resources Control Board meets today and is expected to receive an update on the drought.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.