WHY CONSERVE?

This illustration shows how percipitation makes its way as groundwater, and becomes water vapor again. Source: American Water Works Association.

DO YOU KNOW that the water you use today has been around since the earth was formed? It's true. There is a limited supply of water on earth, and it is making its way through the water cycle every day. The water cycle is made up of four stages. Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers, lakes, and oceans, and turns the water into vapor, and it goes into the air. Condensation is when the vapor gets colder, turns back into liquid, and forms clouds. Precipitation happens when the air can't hold anymore condensation. Precipitation can be rain, snow, or hail. Collection is then the water falls onto the earth, and starts the cycle all over again.

Water Conservation is important for our environment and our water supply. As a precious natural resource, water supplies in the San Gabriel Valley are in increasingly short supply due to regional drought, growth in population and business locally and in the region, contamination in some areas, and global climatic change.

Water Conservation is also important for our economy. The rates that cities and water companies charge residents and employers for water, while relatively stable (compared to gasoline and fuel prices, for example), have upward pressure on them due to potential supply shortages. The Water District exists, in part, to augment water supplies in our member cities and, thus, to stabilize water pricing in the process. While we are not facing price spikes in water like we have in fuel recently, we should realize how significantly water shortages could impact the cost of living and the cost of doing business.

The Drought is Over...For Now

The Need to be Water-Wise and Invest in Long-Term Water Supply Solutions Remains!

Special: San Gabriel Valley Tribune Article by Board President Joe Reichenberger

Is the drought really over? And if so, do we still need to conserve water and invest in water supply solutions such as imported water, recycled water and stormwater capture?

As far as the state of California is concerned, our most recent drought is over. After three consecutive dry years, Governor Jerry Brown officially said so on March 30 when he announced that the state’s mountain snowpack measured at 165 percent of normal for late March and that California’s major reservoirs and federal water systems contained more water than usual.

Read the whole story HERE.