By Peter Anderson
extreme point drought tests our assumptions about a predictable climate future, and now that the well is running dry, we must recognize the worth of water. With barely five years since our survive major drought, it ’ randomness becoming apparent that these events nowadays fall within our convention range of precipitation, and they should not serve as an excuse for extraordinary “ hand brake ” measures that far deplete our highly stressed river ecosystems .
This is what we knew in 2015 : January of that year was the driest in California ’ s history since criminal record keeping began in 1895. Scientists Daniel Griffin and Kevin J. Anchukaitis analyzed tree gang samples from native blue oaks and reconstructed rain further back to the thirteenth century. Their report, “ How unusual is the 2012–2014 California drought ? ” published in Geophysical Research Letters, concluded that that three year period had the highest temperatures and lowest rain levels in California ’ s history .
The western region has been in some state of drought since 2000 — the longest stretch of dryness in the past 1,200 years in what many are calling a “ megadrought ”. And hera we are in 2021, with no end in batch. As of August, 99 percentage of the U.S. west of the Rockies is in drought, with 95 percentage of California in dangerous, extreme, or exceptional drought, the worst category in the U.S. Drought Monitor ’ randomness system. Aquifers are being depleted. Our local creek are drying up. even drought-resistant native trees are succumbing to prolonged drought, putting our local anesthetic forest ecosystem at risk .
Counties and cities across the Bay Area are mandating or highly encouraging citizens to reduce their water usage, with the Marin Municipal Water District passing regulations to reduce pulmonary tuberculosis by 40 percentage. So what can we do to help?
One one-fifth of electric output signal in California is consumed by pumping and march water. By collecting rainwater, we can reduce our carbon footprint, conserve California ’ second water resources, and decrease our water bill .
While the CDC cautions against using rain for drink, bathe, or fudge, it can be used for other family necessities such as watering gardens or washing clothes. If entirely 326 people collect 1,000 gallons of rain in their barrels or cisterns, that would leave 1 acre foot, or 326,000 gallons of water in our reservoirs. That amount of water could provide 60 gallons of clean drink and bathe water to 5,433 people .
versatile communities around the earth are leading the effort towards implementing rain catchment. In Bermuda, every mansion is required by law to have and maintain a cistern capable of storing adequate rain to sustain a family of four for a year. The states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia require all newly construction to be plumbed for rain catchment and gray urine recycling. As of 2017, 26 percentage of the homes in Australia appropriate rain.
In the U.S., Tucson, AZ ’ mho water utility offers generous rebates to its customers to subsidize the facility of rain catchment systems. Data confirms that residential rain harvest has reduced the city ’ s overall beverage water demands. additionally, Tucson is the first city in the U.S. to say that all new commercial properties must be designed to use rain .
If you ‘re concerned in collecting rain, our partners for the Sierra Club Climate Solutions Challenge at BrightAction can walk you through how to get started at brightaction.app/action/catch-rain .
In these times of extreme drought and climate crisis, we must turn to fresh solutions modeled by cities across the world. Please consider collecting rain in your own home, and dainty body of water as a precious resource that must be conserved.
Peter Anderson is a extremity of the Sierra Club Marin Group .
Photo recognition : A rain barrel system by Susy Morris via Flickr Creative Commons ( CC BY-NC 2.0 ) .
