Water Supply Situation Calls for Levelheadedness

The San Clemente City Council, responding to a severe shortage in the city water reservoir, has drafted what experts have called the toughest water-rationing law in the state. But because residents and businesses responded so well to the city’s pleas for conservation, the water supply is near normal, and the council has decided there is no need to enact the law now.

This does not mean, however, that the community should go back to its water-wasting ways. Water conservation is a good habit to get into, not only when there is a drought but also as an everyday practice.

San Clemente’s proposed ordinance regulating developers, businesses and commercial users has emergency mandatory conservation cutbacks set at specific water level stages with fines imposed for violations. That would help control non-residential use.

There is one simple way homeowners can easily conserve large amounts of water without inconvenience: Follow the advice of experts on lawn care. Lawns and landscaping account for about half of all residential water use, and most people use about twice as much water as their lawns need.

Conservation makes sense. It saves residents money. But, most important, it saves scarce water that should be used wisely and sparingly, no matter how high the reservoir might be today.