drought

Posts Tagged drought

Posted by admin on April 24, 2014

As everyone is aware, the drought we are currently engulfed in is statewide and does not just affect us here on the hill. The state of California has a website dedicated to the drought and has a lot of information regarding this situation. Here is the website in case you would like to check it out for yourself.

http://ca.gov/drought

There is all sorts of information on the drought and all that is being done. It is well worth spending some time there reading up on what is happening throughout the state.

On April 22, 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board approved $4 million in funding. However, these funds are to provide interim replacement drinking water for economically disadvantaged communities with contaminated water supplies.

Occasionally, the topic of applying for grant money comes up from the public. What they don’t realize is that the money is not just there for the taking. There is very specific criteria that needs to be met and here at the Pine Cove Water District, we have excellent quality water and therefore, we do not qualify for these emergency monies.

We do check for grants on a daily basis and should something open up that we do qualify for, we will definitely apply .

In the meantime, we trust that the wonderful folks of Pine Cove will continue on with their water saving ways.

Tags: California, contamination, drought, funding, water conservation

Posted in: Around the District, Conservation, Customer Infomation, Drought, Water Conservation

Water Saving Kits

Posted by admin on January 29, 2014

With this winter’s lack of moisture, comes the reality of having to conserve water. While this should be an ongoing way of life, here on the hill, the weather we are having, or the lack of it, seems to effect how much we think about water conservation.

In an effort to boost your conservation efforts, we are providing a few items to our Pine Cove Water District customers, FREE OF CHARGE! That’s right. Stuff for free.

For your outside areas, we have compost you can add to your soil to improve it. We also have wood chips that you can put on your garden to help retain moisture. The wood chips will eventually decompose and turn into compost as well, there by improving your soil as well.

We also have water saving kits by Niagara Conservation available free of charge to any Pine Cove Water customer. These are great kits and include the following items:

1 Earth Massage 1.5 GPM showerhead with a two setting massage spray showerhead.

1 Kitchen Swivel 1.5 GPM Aerator with dual spray functionality, with wide spray radius and water pausing on/off valve.

2 Bathroom Faucet 1.0 GPM Aerators that deliver half the flow, but twice the power. These are commercial grade aerators for the home.

1 Toilet Water Saver (Fill Cycle Diverter)- This patented water saver takes excess water from the bowl and diverts it to the tank to reduce water consumption. (This is NOT a flow restricting device.)

Toilet Leak Detection Tablets that are FDA certified, non-toxic dye tablets used to detect leaks in toilets.

Water Conservation Wheel that provides useful ways to conserve water around the house.

Flow Meter Bag. The kit bag doubles as a flow meter to identify water wasters throughout the home.

This is a pretty good deal considering it is free of charge. So stop by the office any time during normal business hours and pick up your water saving kit.

We also have our famous blue bird houses back in stock. While they don’t help you save any water, they do provide shelter to our little bird friends here on the hill.

Our office is located at 24917 Marion Ridge Road and we are open Monday thru Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. So stop by today and get your free stuff!

Tags: bark chips, compost, drought, free stuff, mulch, office, shower head, water saving kits

Posted in: Compost, Conservation, Freebies, From the Office, Garden, Mulch, Water Conservation, Wood chips

Still no Snow…

Posted by admin on January 24, 2014

This morning is very overcast, so I checked the weather forecast in the hope that rain or snow was expected to arrive, but alas, I see no rain or snow in the immediate forecast. Here is what is predicted for the next week.

Today, mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. East wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. East wind around 5 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Saturday: Night Mostly clear, with a low around 41. West wind around 5 mph becoming north in the evening.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 56. West wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Night Mostly clear, with a low around 42.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 58.
Monday: Night Mostly clear, with a low around 44.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 60.
Tuesday: Night Mostly clear, with a low around 47.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 63.
Wednesday: Night Mostly clear, with a low around 48.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 60.

While this weather is certainly enjoyable and makes for easy winter living, it is not helpful in easing our drought conditions. We are hoping that rain and snow fall in February and March will make up for the extremely dry January, but if they do not, we will be considering going back into Stage 1 Conservation. Stage 1 is voluntary compliance. Customers are asked to conserve, when possible, the amount of water used to that amount necessary for domestic and business purposes. Hopefully, everyone who lives in Pine Cove is already doing these things.

Fix leaky plumbing, prevent irrigation runoff, refrain from washing down sidewalks, driveways and parking areas and avoid sprinkling unplanted areas for dust control. Customers will be encouraged to utilize wood chips to mulch around all plants and trees in order to minimize outside watering. An added bonus is that the wood chips you mulch with will gradually compost and feed your plants and trees and improve the soil, thereby enabling it to retain water better.

We will be monitoring the water situation very closely and will take whatever measures we deem necessary in order to continue to provide water to the customers of Pine Cove. Getting in the habit of conserving as much water as possible will ensure that we all will have what we need down the road. We all have our part to play and we hope we can count on you to play your part!

Wood chips provided free of charge to Pine Cove Water District customers.

Tags: compost, drought, Pine Cove, Stage 1 Conservation, weather, winter

Posted in: Community, Compost, Customer Infomation, From the Office, Garden, Pine Cove Water District, Weather, Wood chips