Drout situation...

[jagfiles]

Just this week in California because of the drout if one is found to be using water unnecessarily or unwisely (like not using a shut off nozzle in watering ones car or run-offs from waterings ones lawn) fines up to $500.00 could be imposed.
I've heard in the media say that having a dirty car or a brown lawn is "like a badge of honor because one is helping conserve water."
However on the same day this fine started a SoCal couple got threatened with a $500.00 fine for having a dry, brown lawn becuause they had not been watering to conserve water and were given 60 days to make their lawn green. The citys basis was that in its dry condition it's considered "an eyesore."

[bbjohn]

Want to know how bad the drought in the West is? Take a look at recent photos of Lake Mead, which is behind Hoover Dam. You'll see what appears to be a bathtub ring well above the water level of the lake. That, friends, is where the water level used to be. Lake Mead is believed to be at its lowest level since Hoover Dam was completed in the 1930s. They're now seeing rock formations no one had seen in over 70 years because they had been submerged. The City of Las Vegas had to extend their water intakes at Lake Mead because the water level had dropped below the level of the intakes.

It's no different at other Western reservoirs. At Lake Powell in Northern Arizona, which is behind Glenn Canyon Dam, many of the rock formations and other scenery that hadn't been seen since the dam was built in the 1960s are now visible.

What the West needs are some winters with a lot of snow in the mountains that will melt and create the runoff that fills the reservoirs. From what the climatologists tell us, that may not happen for a while.

People in California and elsewhere who are concerned about using water on their lawns may want to consider desert landscaping that doesn't use a lot of water. A lot of homes in Arizona do that, and I can tell you they're as attractive as anything else I've seen. A Palo Verde tree provides nice shade, and it's also a very attractive tree.

I'm concerned that, given what the weather patterns seem to indicate, these conditions could be the new 'normal' in the West.

- Big Bad John

[Nessie]

However on the same day this fine started a SoCal couple got threatened with a $500.00 fine for having a dry, brown lawn becuause they had not been watering to conserve water and were given 60 days to make their lawn green.

Astroturf would work.

Nessie

[nachtjaeger]

Be nice if we had nuclear plants up and down the CA coast to both produce power and do desalinization for drinking water.

[jagfiles]

I've seen that ring in the mid 1990's John. I remember in the rainy season of 1982-83 was a heavy El Nino storm season and at one point at Lake Mead the water level was FOUR FEET higher than the top of the water mark and the flood gates were open for two months. Here in SoCal in Alhambra (a small city just outside L.A. City limits) one day on the way home from school the rain was coming down so much that it literally blew off a man hole cover in the middle of the street and it looked like a sheered off hydrant. We could use some more storms like that one.
Funny you should mention that Nessie. Just on tonights news there was a story about a company that it's business is booming installing the astroturf.

[Boggy Man]

A living alternative for grass could be something like this:



And, you won't have to worry about anyone walking on your "lawn"!

[Mynock]

Be nice if we had nuclear plants up and down the CA coast to both produce power and do desalinization for drinking water.

Nuclear Subs have been doing it for decades. We pump oil thousands of miles without making too much of a mess, clean water couldn't be too hard. Of course you'd be trying to build a nuke plant in hippie fantasy land which has about as much chance of success as trying to build one on an active volcano.

[kham]

Just this week in California because of the drout if one is found to be using water unnecessarily or unwisely (like not using a shut off nozzle in watering ones car or run-offs from waterings ones lawn) fines up to $500.00 could be imposed.
I've heard in the media say that having a dirty car or a brown lawn is "like a badge of honor because one is helping conserve water."
However on the same day this fine started a SoCal couple got threatened with a $500.00 fine for having a dry, brown lawn becuause they had not been watering to conserve water and were given 60 days to make their lawn green. The citys basis was that in its dry condition it's considered "an eyesore."

These eco-scum coupled with government overreach = The Mob

Goodfellas ,remember?
Oh, house burned down? Fuck you, PAY ME

Oh, no water? Fuck You, PAY ME

see the difference?
yeah me neither

[Mynock]

The grass warning will get thrown out if they take it to court. State law trumps local every time. You'd think whatever local yocal they elected zoning officer would've had more of a brain though.