Water news for a thirsty world…

The LADWP has published its annual Water Quality Report for the region. Available online here, the report provides the utility’s customers with a detailed breakdown statistics on contaminants that contribute to health-based as well as aesthetic risks to the water. Also included is a guide to the path your water takes to get to you, starting with the Owens Valley and ending at your faucet.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The Los Angeles County’s new water rationing schedule takes effect today, giving Department of Water and Power customers a third day each week to turn on their sprinklers.

Previously, DWP customers could irrigate their lawns for only up to 15 minutes every Monday and Thursday, before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m.

When a team of experts blamed that twice-a-week routine for a series of water main “blow outs’ last summer — including one that almost swallowed a fire truck — DWP and the Los Angeles City Council amended the Emergency Water Conservation Ordinance to ease pressure on the aging pipe system.

Under the new water rationing schedule, residents in odd-numbered addresses will irrigate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and those in even-numbered addresses on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m., to minimize evaporation.

Residents whose address ends in 1/2 or any fraction will follow the schedule for the last whole number in the address.

“Non-conserving nozzles,’ such as spray head sprinklers and bubblers, may be turned on for only up to eight minutes a day, or 24 minutes a week.

On the other hand, “conserving nozzles,’ such as standard rotors and multi-stream rotary heads, may be turned on twice a day for up to 15 minutes each time, for a total of 90 minutes a week.

DWP customers interested in buying such nozzles can get a rebate at www.LADWP.com/rwr.

Watering with garden hoses fitted with shut-off nozzles is allowed any day of the week — but only before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

DWP’s Water Conservation Team will patrol neighborhoods across the city to enforce the new water rationing schedule.

First offenses will lead to a warning, but subsequent violations can result in fines ranging from $100 to $600. Tipsters wanting to report violations can call a hotline — 1-800-DIAL-DWP.

Eligible customers, including those living in High Fire Severity Zones, may apply for exceptions at www.ladwp.com/waterconservation, and at all DWP Service Center locations. More information is available at (213) 367-0771.

The Emergency Water Conservation Ordinance also bans DWP customers from hosing down their sidewalks, driveways, walkways and parking areas.

It also requires them to use a hose with a shut-off nozzle to wash their vehicles, and not allow plumbing leaks to go unrepaired.

Restaurants are banned from serving water to their customers unless the customers request them to do so.

Since the DWP imposed mandatory water conservation requirements in June 2009, customers have reduced their water use by 20 percent.

To date, the amount of water saved in Los Angeles — more than 42 billion gallons — is enough to serve the cities of Burbank, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Beverly Hills combined, according to the DWP.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Health care experts have long touted the benefits of drinking water, but now researchers from Virginia Tech have found evidence that consuming H2O before eating could help you lose weight.

The findings of the study, which were presented Monday during the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) annual meeting in Boston, found that drinking two eight-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner when dieting could help you lose nearly five pounds more over a three-month period.

“As part of a prudent, low-calorie weight-loss diet, adding water may help with weight-loss success,” lead author Dr. Brenda Davy, an associate professor of nutrition at the Blacksburg, Virginia-based university, told Denise Mann of Health.com.

Davy and her colleagues asked 48 adults, ages 55 to 75, to participate in a 12 week study. The subjects were split into two groups. Both followed a low-calorie diet, but only members of one group were given two extra glasses of water before dining. After the conclusion of the three-month period, those who were given the additional water lost 15.5 pounds on average, while those who did not dropped an average of 11 pounds.

Furthermore, when the experts followed-up with their subjects following a full year of their regimens, they discovered that the pre-meal drinkers had lost an additional 1.5 pounds on average, while those who did not consume water before eating gained back an average of two pounds.

According to BBC News, “Davy… said it was the first randomized controlled trial looking at water consumption and dieting,” and that water was effective as a diet aid because it filled up the stomach yet contained zero calories.

“People should drink more water and less sugary, high-calorie drinks. It’s a simple way to facilitate weight management,” she told the British news organization, adding that diet soda drinks and other no-calorie beverages could have similar effects, but that sugar-sweetened drinks should be avoided due to their high caloric content.

Consuming water instead of those high-calorie beverages “will slow down your weight gain or reverse it,” provided all other consumption remains constant, University of Rochester Medical Center obesity specialist Dr. Stephen Cook told Mann. “It is one of the safest things we can recommend to help people lose weight.”

Popularity: 3% [?]

A new study released by the Water Research Foundation found the top reason consumers conserve water is to save money.

Researchers surveyed 6,000 residential customers, interviewed water agencies, analyzed billing, and reviewed utility literature to measure the effectiveness of conservation communications campaigns in changing customer behavior. The report Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communication (project/order #4012) released this month also found that many customers feel they are already conserving as much water as they can.

Key findings include:

The top reasons customers conserve are to save money, followed closely by the idea that it’s the right thing to do, and then by concern about water availability.
Many customers believed they are already doing all they can to conserve water.
Only 9 percent of customers participate in utility rebate programs, but 60 percent said they would participate if they knew about them.
Customers say they prefer getting information from bill inserts and television ads.
Customers found water supply managers are the most credible source of information about water conservation. Customers distrusted elected officials, the media and retail outlet sales associates.
“These findings will help utilities promote their conservation programs and encourage more people to participate in water conservation,” said Robert C. Renner, executive director of the Water Research Foundation.

The study found few customers were aware of conservation rebate programs, yet their desire for such programs was high. This provides an opportunity for utilities to promote cost-effective measures that are underutilitized, such as repairing leaking plumbing and appliances and replacing water fixtures.

“Because many customers feel they are doing all they can with water conservation, it is important for utilities to clearly communicate an end goal, like reducing water use by 10 percent so that their customers feel like they are doing their part to achieve that goal,” said Renner.

Popularity: 2% [?]

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — With a goal of saving two billion gallons of water this year, The Responsible Bathroom Water Conservation Tour, sponsored by American Standard, has been in high gear since it kicked off in April. The national Tour has attracted thousands of attendees to 100 events in its first two months, with one event drawing more than 900 people. Over 300 total events are planned through November at plumbing wholesale locations in the United States and Canada.

The grassroots mobile marketing campaign has established water conservation as a mainstream concern. With 36 states predicted to experience water shortages by 2013, Tour audiences welcome solutions to saving water and a hands-on opportunity to raise awareness. The Tour has attracted generous media attention with TV segments and headlines across the country.

Open to the public at no charge, the walk-through plumbing showrooms are drawing journalists, along with plumbers, architects, and other construction professionals. Events also gather environmentalists plus municipal housing authority managers, university facilities managers, technical high school classes, and water utility personnel. Education is the main gain, and attendees leave with practical water-saving solutions for their particular needs.

On the East Coast, the Tour has traveled through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, with five months to go. The simultaneous West Coast Tour has crossed Texas, New Mexico, California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, with four months to go. A two-week Canadian itinerary is planned for September. The Tour momentum continues: Baseball stadiums have welcomed the mobile showroom; several mayors have signed proclamations declaring “Water Conservation Day” in honor of a Tour event in their city.

American Standard Brands expects The Responsible Bathroom Tour to contribute two billion gallons of water savings simply by convincing attendees to adopt new water conserving behaviors.

“At American Standard, our goal is to educate consumers that conservation begins at home. By developing water efficient toilets, faucets, and showerheads, we are providing consumers with real choice in creating responsible bathrooms without sacrificing style or performance,” said Don Devine, CEO of American Standard Brands. “Our mobile showrooms bring that education and product solutions to local markets, where visitors can see product demonstrations and learn what they can do to conserve water. This will save money on water, reduce water treatment volumes and costs, and reduce the strain on our environment.”

Visitors to the Tour gain from product demonstrations, giveaways, and water conservation education. The Tour features both environmental and economic points, including:

• American Standard’s partnerships with The Nature Conservancy and the federal EnvironmentalProtectionAgency’sWaterSense® program.
• Hands-on demonstrations of the newest water-saving showerheads, faucets, and toilets, featured in a 44-foot-long mobile showroom. Tour ambassadors on each truck explain the latest products and offer user demonstrations. The fully operational exhibit is visual and active, with spraying water and moving parts.
• Calculations of how much water and money consumers can save with efficient bathroom products. The Tour shows how an average four-person household can save 48,326 gallons of water a year using water-saving bathroom fixtures.
Jump on-board and follow the Tour on the information superhighway: The Tour’s water savings progress is tracked on www.theresponsiblebathroomtour.com, which also features the national Tour itinerary. To see an online photo album, become a fan of American Standard on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/AmericanStandardPlumbing.

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Today in Chatham Township, N.J., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) WaterSense program and American Water will culminate the national “We’re for Water” campaign with a water-saving competition between two New Jersey families, according to a press release.

The two families will be pitted against each other to see who can save the most water in one week.

WaterSense partner American Water will monitor their customers’ water use and the families will show off what they learned by battling each other in a water-saving competition, the release stated.

The multi-year We’re for Water Campaign kicked off with a two-week national road trip to encourage U.S. consumers to save water by making small changes at home including the use of WaterSense labeled products.

The competing households will battle to see which family can save the most water using the following outdoor demonstrations:

• Saver Shaver: Two Dads compete to see who can shave using the least amount of water. Sink will have a collection system which will show just how much water was used.

• The Most Efficient Shower: Two teens/kids compete to see who can wash and rinse their hair the most times in three minutes using a powerful WaterSense labeled showerhead.

• Have I Sprung a Leak? Two moms run a test on with dye to check for leaks in toilets.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This summer, a golden garden greets visitors to the State Fair Farm. Hundreds of bees buzz from bed to bed, collecting pollen from sunburst-bright gloriosa daisies and honey-hued coreopsis. Hummingbirds dart among the fuzzy kangaroo paws and pretty penstemons, giving fairgoers an extra thrill.

But unlike previous floral displays at the fair, this new permanent garden demonstrates an important point: Saving water can be beautiful.

“We went for a lot of color,” explained landscape expert Julie Saare- Edmonds of the state Department of Water Resources. “We wanted to show how beautiful a water-efficient garden can be. It’s not sticks and rocks.”

First in a statewide program, the Save Our Water demonstration garden illustrates how fairgoers can make their own gardens more water-efficient.

“Instead of just telling people how, we’re now showing them how,” said Matt Notley, public affairs director for the DWP.

Since the fair opened July 14, thousands of visitors have toured the demonstration garden, which features three large raised beds packed with perennials. A shady area surrounding the Insect Pavilion also was transformed. A nearby butterfly garden echoes the theme.

Three circular beds showcase combinations of California and Mediterranean natives, succulents and ornamental grasses. Nearby, an assortment of pots hold living (and drought-tolerant) bouquets.

“This lets people visualize what will fit in their own garden,” said Saare- Edmonds, who helped create this project with State Fair Farm manager Teresa McEntire. “Even if you have no space and live in a condo, you can still have a lovely, water-efficient garden.”

Explanatory banners point out water-saving features such as mulch and drip irrigation. Handout publications list the plant names and locations as well as tips. Children’s activities (such as planting take-home pots of verbenas and gazanias) allow the whole family to get involved.

“It’s amazing how quick these plants got established,” said McEntire. “It doesn’t take years. We planted four weeks before the fair opened, and look how they’ve just taken off.”

The key: Good compost and deep watering to establish strong roots.

Saving water as well as consumers’ time and money, such water-efficient landscape programs are gaining popularity throughout California.

Statewide, the Association of California Water Agencies and the Department of Water Resources use the banner “Save Our Water.” In the greater Sacramento area, the Regional Water Authority – representing 22 local water districts – labels its effort River-Friendly Landscaping.

Both have the same goals and basic principles, said Saare-Edmonds: “We all have the same message: Water-efficient, sustainable, environmentally friendly gardening – it’s all possible.

“Landscaping is the biggest water use for consumers,” she added. “So, it represents the biggest area for potential savings.”

Water-efficient gardens are popping up all over Sacramento.
This year, Greg and Gwyn Reese of Land Park converted their backyard’s ordinary Bermuda lawn into flowing Mediterranean mounds, studded with colorful sweet broom, autumn sage and other easy-care perennials.

“My husband is not a gardener; he’s a big-rig truck driver,” said Gwyn Reese. “But he did all the work himself. We didn’t want as much grass, but we wanted color all year.”

Said Greg Reese, “I drive all day long, and I’m constantly looking. Sacramento has a lot of beautiful landscaping. Cruising by offramps, I’d see something cool, then head over to the garden center. I did a lot of research before planting. I love my garden. It’s only four months old and growing like crazy.”

The State Fair display is a good place to begin research with well-marked plants, suggested combinations and lists to take to nurseries.

All plants were purchased locally.

Such gardens can start with any size, from a single container to replacement of a whole lawn.

First, consider what you can’t change: Sun and soil type. Is your yard sunny, shady or both? What direction does it face? Is the soil clay or sandy? Those answers will help you pick the right plants. Then head to a nursery and ask their experts for advice.

A good reference is the “Sunset Western Garden Book.” (Hint: Pick plants for climate zones 8, 9 and 14.) Sunset’s website (www. sunset.com) also offers possible garden layouts and recommended plants.

Gary Headley, an architect who lives in Arden Park, swapped his front lawn for an informal courtyard framed by water-efficient perennials. He and his wife, Robin Robillard, spend hours outside, “watching our neighbors go by and enjoying our space.”

Planted six years ago, their river-friendly garden takes just a fraction of the time and water required maintaining the former lawn.

“I know it’s a significant decrease in water,” Headley said. “We were watering the lawn 1 to 11/2 hours a week.”

Headley, a Master Gardener, was impressed by the State Fair’s Save Our Water garden.

“I love it,” he said. “It provides a nice visual to what people have been trying to think about. That’s what people need. It establishes a goal point. It’s quite wonderful.”

Future fairgoers will be able to watch this garden mature. Unlike the former annual plantings, these perennials will last.

Popularity: 3% [?]

We flush our toilets, water our lawns, wash our cars, all with water that is of sufficient quality to drink. Does that practice make sense? If you have abundant potable water at very low expense, perhaps so. Fewer and fewer people find themselves with such an option. The result is a growing interest in more practical and sustainable alternatives.

If we look to countries and regions outside the US, we find that the water usage practices of the US are not the norm.

Options such as water conserving fixtures and appliances have helped to reduce water consumption. Another consideration that doesn’t necessarily reduce the daily consumption of water but makes more practical use of water already available in the home, is the reuse of treated residential wastewater. Today, approximately 20 percent of US housing units are served by on-site, residential treatment systems, with a growing number of them utilizing more advanced treatment systems.

Advanced, residential wastewater treatment systems have been on the market for several decades. Beginning in the 1960s, NSF developed test methods and established proper test facilities that enabled third-party evaluation of on-site, residential wastewater treatment systems. The first NSF standard for such products was adopted in 1970 and to this day remains the principal standard for evaluating and approving residential wastewater treatment systems throughout North America.

The effluent quality criteria in the NSF standards are consistent with that of the US EPA requirements for secondary effluent discharged from municipal treatment facilities. Many systems, however, demonstrate their ability to far exceed even these treatment levels. The result has been water of such quality as to allow for certain levels of reuse, principally for lawn irrigation. Such reuse has been taking place for many years in various parts of the country, as allowed for in local regulatory codes. As our water supply becomes a more precious resource, more attention is being given to how the treated effluent from these same, or similar, technologies can be utilized in more extensive ways. One area of increasing attention within the residential wastewater resource is the graywater portion. The commonly accepted definition of graywater is that portion of wastewater coming from water bearing fixtures, including laundry, such as clothes washers and laundry sinks, and bathing, such as bathtubs, showers, or sinks, but excluding toilets, urinals, bidets, kitchen sinks and dishwashers. In short, graywater is bathing and laundry water.

According to research funded by AWWA and AWWARF (Mayer, P.W., W.B. De Oreco, et al., 1999. Residential End Uses of Water), laundry and bathing water equate to 40 percent or more of all the water used in a residence, amounting to more than 30 gallons/person/day.

The contaminant concentration of the graywater waste stream is less than when combined with the other waste stream sources, helping to minimize the total treatment demand for producing water of reuse quality.

While a portion of the population may have the option to treat and reuse all of the residential wastewater through on-site, complete advanced treatment systems, every existing residence has the potential to be fitted with a graywater treatment system. Similar in some ways to a drinking water treatment technology, the system is installed within the graywater supply line in the home, and the flow of treated effluent delivered to its proper end use. A major difference in this case is the non-potable nature of the graywater, both before and after treatment, leading to a different plumbing arrangement. Code bodies have already identified and worked to address this issue.

Currently, deciding upon reuse quality for acceptable reuse applications at the residential level is left to local and state regulations, and not federal. This has created a range of varying criteria and product approval requirements. The result has been a push for national standards for treatment quality and for treatment product evaluation.

Everyone agrees that treated graywater is not suitable for consumption. However, that leaves a significant number of other uses that comprise the majority of our water usage. The most obvious, agreed upon use for treated graywater is in toilet flushing, which comprises more than one-fourth of water used in the home, and lawn irrigation, which some estimate to comprise up to 70 percent of water consumption during summer months.

Beginning in early 2008, the NSF Joint Committee on Wastewater Treatment Units formed a task group to develop standards for on-site treatment equipment used in reuse applications. The task group includes representatives from drinking water and wastewater equipment manufacturers, plumbing product manufacturers, federal, state and local public health officials, consulting engineers, code bodies, academicians and others. The results of their efforts to date have led to the drafting of a new standard, NSF 350 Onsite Residential and Commercial Reuse Treatment Systems.

The purpose of Standard 350 is to establish minimum materials, design and construction, and performance methods and criteria. It encompasses systems that treat all the
wastewater flow, along with those that treat the graywater portion only. Further, within the graywater portion, systems can be evaluated for treating bathing water only, laundry water only, or both. Reuse applications of the treated effluent include indoor restricted urban water use, such as toilet and urinal flushing, and outdoor unrestricted urban water use, such as irrigation.

Current elements of Standard 350 include the following:
• Requirements for water tightness, noise, access ports, failure sensing and signaling equipment, and flow design
• Effluent quality performance test- ing for a minimum of six months
• Graywater treatment systems sub- jected to a synthetic wastewater challenge including a variety of common household personal-care and cleaning products. Both the ingredients and the final characteris- tics are specified in the standard, and differ by bathing water only, laundry water only, or the combined challenge.
• Commercial systems will be sub- jected to an additional chemical cleaning challenge.

Existing drinking water and wastewater treatment equipment can be utilized to meet the need for graywater treatment. Systems are already beginning to come onto the market and have been available in other foreign markets for some time. As in any market, the key is demand for the technology at an affordable cost. As the market develops, having product standards that enable acceptance and approval will be critical. NSF standards will help to address that need; completion of the standard is expected in the coming months. Creating the value and incentive among homeowners is likely to take more time for widespread use, but the need is clearly growing. Most agree it is not a matter of if the market will develop, but when.

–Tom Bruursema

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Pentair Inc., a provider of sustainable water solutions, and its foundation announced a $175,000 grant to the WateReuse Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that conducts and promotes applied research on the reclamation, recycling, reuse and desalination of water. The grant funds two research projects that promote onsite water recycling systems and evaluate greywater treatments for more widespread adoption.

“Pentair and our foundation are committed to offering the communities in which we operate the knowledge and vehicles to reuse water,” said Susan Carter, manager, Pentair Foundation. “The WateReuse Research Foundation has demonstrated an expertise in water reuse and our communities’ future water needs, and we’re excited to collaborate with them. Providing sustainable solutions to meet the world’s growing need for clean, safe water is a high priority for Pentair.”

The first project, a $125,000 grant, will provide guidance for implementing water reuse in new buildings and developments to achieve sustainability goals. The project’s end result, a “guidance document,” will aim to arm developers and architects with effective methods to implement satellite water recycling systems for new and mixed-use developments. Satellite treatment systems, which are onsite, standalone technologies, harvest and treat rainwater and greywater–including wash water from sinks, showers and washing machines–and present one of the strongest growth opportunities for sustainable recycled water applications.

Reusing greywater can reduce the demand for municipally treated water by 30 to 60%. The findings will be shared with the U.S. Green Building Council and are applicable to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits.

Pentair has also granted $50,000 to the WateReuse Research Foundation to examine greywater treatment technologies in the United States. After evaluating raw and post-greywater treatment, the WateReuse Research Foundation anticipates that its research will help determine treatment reliability and success–and help assess the potential benefits of expanded treatment and use.

Both projects are underway and are expected to be completed at the end of 2010, with results available in 2011

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As warmer weather and longer and drier days set in, California American Water is encouraging its customers to be particularly mindful of their water consumption – especially outdoors.

“Water consumption generally reaches its peak in July or August,” said Chris Mattis, California American Water’s operations manager. “This is the time of year that we see a dramatic increase in water use, which is clearly the result of warmer summer weather. Most of the increased use is attributable to outdoor water use by residential customers.”

According to the EPA’s WaterSense program, peak water usage in the average American home spikes to 1,000 gallons per day, compared to 260 gallons on an off-peak day.

California American Water has made it a priority to help its customers reduce their water use by providing them with the necessary programs and resources to help them save money on their water bill and protect the environment. Some simple suggestions to conserve water include:
• Water no more than two days a week during the summer months.
• Water before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. to prevent water evaporation.
• Limit watering to 15 minutes outdoors each day per station. Use a weather based controller to prevent overwatering during wet weather.
• Use a hose nozzle with a shut off valve while washing your vehicles.
• Turn off decorative water features unless they re-circulate water.
• Repair your leaks immediately. This could save hundreds of gallons of wasted water a month.
• Avoid water waste by doing your best to limit water use while doing yard work. Don’t allow water to runoff onto sidewalks, driveways or gutters. Use a broom instead of a hose to wash down paved surfaces.
• Pick up free water-saving shower heads, hose nozzles and faucet aerators at our local office.

Popularity: 3% [?]