Susan Valot
May 05, 2009
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Water use restrictions are coming, and people who live in San Juan Capistrano are getting ready. Dozens showed up for a water workshop in the South Orange County city today. KPCC's Susan Valot was there.
Francie Kennedy (at meeting): Landscape water use reduction I think is our best candidate for improved efficiency.
Susan Valot: About 50 people packed into San Juan Capistrano's city council chambers to learn about ways to conserve water. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is cutting the amount of water it delivers by 10 percent.
San Juan Capistrano's already put in place year-round water conservation rules. They require that you only use automatic sprinklers at night and turn those sprinklers off when it rains. Francie Kennedy is the city's water conservation coordinator.
Kennedy: About 60 percent of the water in San Juan goes outdoors and we know that a lot of that water's wasted. I think that if we can simply reduce the waste, we're going to easily be able to meet this 10 percent reduction.
Valot: This month, San Juan Capistrano leaders will consider whether to adopt mandatory water rationing. After the meeting, people picked up pamphlets about saving water and about the city's water ordinances. Helen Curtis grabbed a free water-saving nozzle for her garden hose.
Helen Curtis: I'm going to give this to my neighbor [Susan laughs] because all she does is stand there – she has no nozzle – stand there with her thumb and there – no way, no way. You don't water plants like that!
Valot: That's the type of neighborhood policing city officials hope to rely on. San Juan Capistrano plans to leave notes on the doors of water wasters, or offer to help people find ways to cut the amount they use. Curtis says she's already conserving. One thing she does saves on chores, too – she eats on paper plates.
