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>> PEGGY PICO: San Diego's dry, hot summer and low snow pack from the Colorado river
basin means there could be a drought if we don't manage water supply now.
My guests, Jason Foster and ram ram are here with a few ways to be efficient.
Welcome back >>> Thank you.
>> PEGGY PICO: Jason, we said there are no restrictions in the county but there are a
few in the city, for instance permanent water restrictions that deal with time?
>> There are various water use ordinances around the county and the city based on the
local jurisdictions generally to keep you from watering in the middle of the day.
The good news is our water supplies are stable and there are no use restrictions because
of the winter we had >> PEGGY PICO: Are we anticipating any?
We're not saying hose down your driveway. >>> Actually the water supply situation for
San Diego county is pretty good right now because we have lots of water in storage from
the last wet winter that we had and per capita water use has dropped significantly over the
last five years so we're stretching the available supplies that we have.
>> PEGGY PICO: Specifically it seems we have learned our lesson from the 2007 drought,
a third less per person per day dropping from 211 gallons back in the drought years to 144
gallons right now. What do you attribute that drop to?
>> Several things. As I mentioned, people have gotten the conservation
message, it's the right thing to use water wisely and efficiently.
We also have seen� there has always been affects from� we had a couple of wet winters
that suppressed demand a bit and unfortunately suffered the circumstances of the economic
downturn which suppressed water usage. >> PEGGY PICO: People trying to save money
on their bill? >> That's correct, but the good news is water
use is staying well below our predrought levels. >> PEGGY PICO: Elizabeth, you're with the
water conservation garden, I've been there, it's beautiful, and tell us how it helps people
use water more efficiently? >> Education is our specialty, we're a sixacre
facility that show cases the beauty of droughttolerant plants.
People think it's just rocks and cactus, and that couldn't be further from the truth.
We have show cased lots of plants from around the world and those plants thrive in San Diego
just as they do in home countries and we have classes that show people how to start a water
wise garden, landscape designers that can sit and do a oneonone conservation to look
at landscape and where they want to be and show them how to get there
>> PEGGY PICO: Right now it's dog days of summer, tell me about that.
>>> Every Wednesday during the summer months we allow people to bring a leashed cannine
friend, one, two, three, and walk through the gardens, it's a beautiful stroll in the
evenings. >> PEGGY PICO: Water authority as a new web
site, www.watersmartusd.org. Tell us about those programs, are any of the
rebate programs available? >> Yes, we have in door and outdoor water
efficiency measures, for example, on the inside, for buying a more efficient washer, on the
outside we have a turf replacement rebate program that commercial or residences can
get up to $1.50 per square foot off turf that they have replaced with more efficient landscape.
>> PEGGY PICO: Elizabeth, we're expecting high temperatures in the coming week here,
in the hundreds. How do we save our gardens while conserving
water. >>> When it is hot you have to water so check
your irrigation, make sure it's working efficiently and when it gets hot they want to water in
the morning or in the evening after 5 p.m., that way the water that they are applying
is not evaporating, and if you can get bubblers, that's ideal.
>> PEGGY PICO: Certainly a lot of information, you can go to our web site for link and more
information, thanks for joining us. >>> Thank you.