Bay Area Launches Water Saving Hero Campaign

Residents living in EBMUD zone -- East Bay water district -- are under mandatory water rationing. The same restrictions don't yet hold true in the rest of the Bay Area. But owing to our bona fide California drought conditions, 11 Bay Area water agencies are uniting under one, water-conservation banner: The You Can Be a Water Saving Hero campaign.

The goal of the campaign is to get people reducing their water usage by 19 percent, to offset projected water shortages and mandatory rationing.

If you haven't been conserving water, you'll be amazed at the paradigm shift that happens when you realize how many gallons spew out of that shower nozzle, how much water you can collect while waiting for the faucet to get hot, how much water it takes to hand-wash dishes with the spigot open.

The quandary with population-wide goals is that the 19 or 20 percent usage cuts apply to those who've already maximized their water conservation -- families taking outback-style showers with cups of water (yes, some people do). It's a quandary water-savers hope will be resolved fairly in policy.

In the meantime, check out the Water Savers site, as well as some Water Conservation Tips here at the site.

Previous blog posts on Bay Area drought and water conservation:

• It's [Officially] a Drought: Save Your Water
• East Bay Water Rationing

^{Photo © Ingrid Taylar}