Time to Be Thankful for Water Conservation : Like the Chumash Indians of the past, today’s Ventura County residents have learned the importance of careful use.

Thanksgiving Day. A day dedicated to food. Without it, the story goes, the Pilgrims would have perished in a matter of weeks. So it was fortunate that they met some agriculturally sophisticated Native Americans. Had the Plymouth colonists landed on the coast in this region, we would be giving thanks to cool, sweet water, not food.

Every schoolchild in Ventura County knows that the Chumash Indians who lived in this region wove their baskets tightly enough to carry water--a commodity not readily available throughout the area of Chumash settlement. They knew a person could live for weeks without food but only a few days without fresh water.

Current residents of the county, it seems, have not strayed from this consciousness. As 1993 comes to a close, local officials have taken a look at our recent water usage and found us as respectful of our water supply--thankful, if you will--as were the earliest inhabitants of our region.

“The conservation effort is still there. It’s incorporated into the lifestyle,” said Karen Waln of the Ventura Water Conservation Office, referring to residents’ water-saving habits that have remained since the drought ended.

Indeed, the city of Ventura cut its per capita consumption by a third--well, by 27%--in the last five years.

Countywide, the water-saving rate was 22%-- and still holding at that rate annually. But Ventura residents were the champs hereabouts. Maybe its the karma from living right on top of the old Chumash settlement.

Recently, the whole country has come to a new realization about water. Time Magazine and National Geographic have been running dramatic stories about nationwide drinking water shortages and pollution.

Locally, even though we’re in pretty good shape, there is still work to be done.

“We could easily save 30% through conservation methods and postpone for decades both the desalination plant and the state water option,” said Connor Everts, a director of the Casitas Municipal Water District and also a director of the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency.

He’s an advocate of a type of water resource management that emphasizes expanded use--and reuse--of the water we already have, rather than increasing the amount we bring in. His civil engineering solution for future water problems would be more installations of low-flush toilets, low-flow shower heads and low-water washing machines.

At this rate, we may out-Chumash the Chumash.

Richard Kahlenberg, who writes the weekly Earthwatch column, has been reporting on the environment since Earth Day I. Nowadays he recycles everything. You can write to him at 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura, 93003, or send faxes to 658-5576.

Details

* WHAT: If the holiday season has you shopping for appliances, try a low-water, front loading washer--a little pricey but they save hundreds of gallons a week.

* WHERE: Available at Robert’s Five Point Appliances in Oxnard for the Frigidaire brand, Sears in Thousand Oaks for the Kenmore brand and Price Club/Costco in Van Nuys for the White-Westinghouse brand.

* FYI: A good guide to such things is “How To Get Water Smart-Products and Practices for Saving Water in the Nineties”-- $9.95 at local bookstores, or call 962-0962.