Know Your H2O: March 2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Moving Toward Water Self-Sufficiency

Barry Nelson of NRDC just wrote a great article highlighting efforts by Santa Monica, Long Beach, San Diego and a couple of water districts in Los Angeles who have significantly reduced their amounts of imported water through a variety of strategies, including developing local groundwater supplies, conservation and wastewater recycling. Although there's a lot more to be done, it good to see that more and more cities and water/wastewater agencies are buying into Know Your H2O.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sewage to Drinking Water in USA Today

Yesterday USA Today carried a fairly lengthy article discussing the world-wide pressures on fresh water supplies and the response in several disparate communities, including Singapore; Orange County, CA; Fairfax, Virgina; and Namibia, of using advanced water treatment technology to create a sustainable local water supply that simultaneously addresses pollution problems.

Read More.

Overview

Know Your h2o is a program designed to educate people on the link between freshwater management issues and the impact on our oceans, waves, and beaches. We advocate for practical and environmentally sound solutions.

Do you know where your water comes from? In many places, water travels thousands of miles through canals and pipelines before reaching your home. Due to persistent drought, growing population and legislation, less water will be delivered from these sources in the future.

Many rivers near the coast have been paved over, and nearly all storm drain pipes empty into our oceans. This dumps animal waste, pesticides, fertilizers, oil and pollution from our cars and roads, plastics and anything else in our watersheds and ultimately into the ocean.

Through conservation, using climate-appropriate plants, permeable pavement, capturing and reusing "waste" water, and Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR), we can reduce water pollution in the ocean AND improve our drinking water supply.

It’s your water, too. Get Involved!