Dry times

5:22 p.m.Feb. 5, 2014

There are two ways to quickly answer the call for more fresh water:

These can be done inexpensively and in many cases without significant permitting.

I reduced water use at home from about 400 gallons per day to 280 gallons per day, a 30 percent savings. For help, I called the city of San Diego Water Utilities Department. They sent out a technician who, at no cost, helped me find leaks, learn how to install a simple pump at the hot water heater to bring hot water more quickly to my faucet, thus wasting far less water waiting for cold to get hot, how to reduce outdoor irrigation by managing on-off days and run-times for my sprinklers.

This simple effort cost me a few dollars with the plumber. That was returned within a few months through lower water and sewer bills.

Even though the cities and county have been diligent about reducing urban runoff, it still exists. It can be injected into groundwater basins. It takes some negotiating with state and federal water quality agencies, but for the most part, they are interested, amenable and have excellent suggestions based on successes elsewhere in California and the nation.

An added benefit is the ability to deal more quickly and at far less cost with our chronic flood-control problems.

It is important not to overreach. If we stick to simple, inexpensive and practical solutions to our immediate freshwater problem, we will create more supply, almost overnight.

But if we continue to insist on new dams, on using nuclear power to create freshwater from the sea, and embark on energy-intensive flood control and groundwater management programs. we will fall far short.

It is time to do things that work, and work fast.

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Dry times