The Laguna desert

Laguna’s lush vegetation is a con.

“There is only one way to get green, and that is water,” said

Michael Dunbar, general manager of South Coast Water District.

Not a plentiful commodity in a desert.

Despite its lush vegetation and the ocean in its backyard, Laguna

is part of the Southern California desert and totally dependent on

imported water for drinking and irrigation, according to Dunbar and

Renae Hinchey, his counterpart at the Laguna Beach County Water

District.

“It is amazing how many people think water comes from the tap,”

Hinchey said.

Dunbar and Hinchey were guest speakers Monday night at the Laguna

Canyon Conservancy dinner meeting. South Coast supplies water to

Laguna from Nyes Place to the southern border of the city. Laguna

County supplies the rest.

Laguna’s water comes from Northern California and from the

Colorado River, a source that is drying up.

Under a 1922 compact, California is entitled to 4.4 million

acre-feet of water per year, but the state routinely exceeds that

amount.

“We haven’t lived within our means,” Hinchey said.

The state has been siphoning off 5.2 million acre-feet of water

for at least a decade, Hinchey said, drawing from supplies allotted

to Nevada and Arizona.

“They want their share back and the Department of the Interior has

mandated a reduction to 4.4 by 2016,” Hinchey said.

Agricultural needs in Palo Verde and the Imperial and Coachella

valley get first dibs on the allotment. The Metropolitan Water

District, from which the local districts buy water, gets about

550,000 acre-feet a year, Hinchey said.

Laguna’s districts pump 21 million gallons of water annually to

11,500 customers in the 10 square miles of the city, serving 32,000

residents, not to mention 3 million visitors a year.

The district’s resources include 165 miles of pipe, 27 reservoirs,

41 million gallons of stored water, 18 pumping stations and 1,275

fire hydrants, including the polished brass one in front of Laguna

Beach County offices at 306 Third St.

“Sixty percent of the water is used for landscaping and lawns,”

Hinchey said. “There is a preference in Laguna for nonnative plants

and an inclination to over-water.”

A couple of years ago, the district partnered with Mike Parker and

the fire safe council to relandscape its front yard, now a showplace

of native plants.

“They need two-thirds less water to survive,” Hinchey said.

Visit o7bewaterwise.com f7for tips on ways to save water out of

doors.

Both districts urge water conservation and offer advice on

landscaping, as well as rebates for the purchase of water-efficient

washing machines, low-flow toilets and irrigation systems.

Guests at the dinner picked up free water-saving hose nozzles,

which are available at the South Coast district’s Laguna Beach

office, which is located at 31592 West St.

“We have a man who visits homes to explain conservation methods --

how it saves money,” Vice President Bob Moore said. “People need to

learn that conservation is a way of life.”

Conservation also saves money -- nice at a time when rates are

escalating to keep ahead of higher costs to the districts.

“I was asked tonight to talk about desalination and future water

-- subjects I could talk about for days,” Dunbar said. “The ocean is

the largest reservoir in the world and we have to use it. It is

drought-proof and won’t ever run out of water.

“The United States is one of the few countries in the world that

does not have large desalination projects. We have to find sites and

we are not going to tear down two acres of Laguna Beach to do it.”

South Coast has an ideal site for a desalination project,

according to Dunbar -- 10 acres near the ocean on the San Juan Creek.

He hopes to see a project completed by 2015.

The joint presentation by Dunbar and Hinchey was their first

appearance as speakers at the Laguna Canyon Conservancy dinner, said

Linda Homscheid, the district’s public information officer.

“I really enjoyed the meeting and I loved the camaraderie I saw,”

Homschneid said. “It was a great gathering of people who want to

share ideas about the ecology and ways to improve Laguna.”

Conservancy meetings take a hiatus during festival season, when

Tivoli Terrace serves as a public restaurant, and resume the first

Monday in September unless it’s Labor Day, as happened this year.

Reservations are required. Dinner tickets are $10 for conservancy

members, $15 for nonmembers, payable at the door. Memberships are

$10.

Guest speakers have included former Congressman Chris Cox, Joan

Irvine Smith, and Supervisor Tom Wilson.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard,

384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.