Drought Busters Report: Guess Who Was Wasting the Most Water in LA

| | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
If the DWP is to be believed -- always a risky proposition -- then we know who the worst water waster in town is: The City, of course.

According to today's report from the DWP on the first month of its mandatory water conservation rules, there is an overall reduction in water use of 11 percent compared to June 2008 and 14.4 percent lower than June 2006 when the drought began.
Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for 20080623_060215_front_dwp24.jpg
That was a full year before the mayor deigned to call for voluntary conservation and a full year before mandatory measures were imposed -- measures the City Council wants to drill with loopholes for the rich, the poor, the sick, the horsey crowd, corporations with large expanses of lawn and most of all, itself, including the half-acre of grass outside the soon-to-open $500 million yet-to-be-named Police Headquarters.

But I quibble and digress.

The point is nothing was done for two years while the water supply evaporated and the cost of buying water boiled over, a time period during which cities like Long Beach shattering records for conservation.

And then LA imposes Phase 3 restrictions, the most stringent in the whole state, suggesting that the DWP didn't plan for this crisis or is over-reacting to justify enormous rate hikes in the name of the absurd doctrine of "revenue neutrality" so it can keep on giving 6 percent raises to its IBEW work force.

Whatever happened to "shared sacrifice" or has it just become "screw the public" as usual.

But I quibble and digress again.

The point is today's DWP announcement about how we did in conserving water during June so here's the numbers:

Single-Family Residential: -16.8%
Multi-Family Residential:  -8.3%
Commercial:  -12.7%
Industrial: -3.4%
Governmental: -29.5%
Total Water Usage: -14.4%


You can look at these numbers in different ways.

For instance, you could say the city has done a fantastic job of conserving water, better even than homeowners who have been the only ones to reduce water use by a degree in recent years.

Or you could say that if the city can cut water use by nearly a third in just one month maybe the city has been the No. 1 water waster for years, squandering this precious resource as if we weren't just a town out in the desert somewhere.

Given the fact that homeowners have led the way in water use reduction in recent years and the city has not, it seems to me to be the inescapable conclusion that the city is the problem.

Not to quibble or digress, but isn't it time to check up on DWP General Manager David Nahai who was caught last year with his hose running as one of the biggest water wasters in town. I wonder how he's doing, and if his water meter is working properly.

0 TrackBacks

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Drought Busters Report: Guess Who Was Wasting the Most Water in LA.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://ronkayela.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/729

4 Comments

Trutanich/Berger excoriated Jack Weiss publicly and stealthily about his water use - using blogs and websites and twitter. Jack Weiss would be a much better city attorney and now you all can see why. Under Jack there would have been waste millions of gallons of water on hiring new people for the office, and Jack would have paid off Laura's legal fees in a heartbeat. Trutanich is now hiring a bunch of ex-cops for his Use of Water Investigations that will only cost even more money that could be better spent on improving the environment and funding schools and supporting voters rights. Instead there will be a McCarthy witch hunt of water users who are just taking care of running the city. We've already seen how Trutanich threatened to jail members of the Planing Commission because they approved a new digital billboard at the Staples Center, and it won't be long before Trutanich sets his sights on Jack Weiss. I suppose Trutanich will try to stop the city from paying for Jack's water bill as well. That's who we have as our city attorney.

uh-huh, okay. another tactic: trying to take the facts and throw in some nonsense to distract from them. too transparent but NOT the good kind.

Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .,, Amazing …

Leave a comment

"WHERE'S RON"

Catch Ron on the Kevin James wShow on KRLA 870 at 9:30 p.m. this Wednesday night and as a regular commentator on NBC's innovative news sho "The Filter with Fred Roggin." "The Filter" is broadcast on NBC's Raw Channel 225 at 7:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

Here's links to the latest appearances on The Filter http://tinyurl.com/25b79k2 and http://tinyurl.com/2bk2kan and http://tinyurl.com/27esc63 and http://tinyurl.com/23b4h4v and http://tinyurl.com/25latgt http://tinyurl.com/28jn4l3 http://tinyurl.com/38zyylc http://tinyurl.com/33ffpv4 and . Here's links to the last appearances on Kevin James show http://tinyurl.com/334kejy and http://tinyurl.com/y2d4tew and the link to Councilman Zine's response to Ron's criticism http://tinyurl.com/yyac5oa.  

CLEAN UP CITY HALL

Support the "LA Clean Sweep" campaign to end corruption at City Hall by electing candidates who will serve the public interest -- not special interests. For too long, concerned residents throughout Los Angeles have fought their own separate battles against the powerful forces that run City Hall and control our elected officials. The city's financial crisis, cuts in core services, layoffs of city workers, selling valuable assets, massive subsidies to insiders -- we have reached the point of no return. Only you can save LA. Join the Clean Sweep campaign and come together with people from all over the city to make a difference. Get more information on volunteering your time or contributing to at lacleansweep.com http://lacleansweep.com or contact me at ron@ronkayela.com..

Clean Sweep Trainng for Acitvists & Candidates

This Sunday, Aug. 29, LA Clean Sweep will provide training sessions from professional politicial consultants to help you become a more effective activist and help candidates mount successful campaigns in the March 2011 or future elections. The sessions will be held at the Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood. The morning session from 9 a.m. to noon is for activists; the afternoon session from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. is for potential candidates. Lunch will be provided to all participants at noon. For more information or to register for this invaluable training gohttp://lacleansweep.com/#/events/

About Ron

Ron Kaye

is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News who has become a community activist, helping to found the Saving LA Project. He writes on city issues in Los Angeles and is a frequent speaker at community groups on the need to get informed and involved in the effort to make LA a city of great schools and neighborhoods, a city with a healthy business climate and good jobs, a city where the people are respected and have a seat at the table of power.

Email Ron at ron@ronkayela.com