RightScape Makes Water Efficiency Easy: Love Every Drop
A hot bath after a long work out. A cold glass of water on a hot summer day. Watching your kids run through the sprinklers. An afternoon dip in the pool. Happy plants. Delicious vegetables from your garden.
We all love water for different reasons. And we use it from sun up to sun down.
So why not be more efficient with this precious resource?
In honor of Valentine’s Day this year, show your love of water by joining Professor Wright and Roger in using water the RightScape way: The Right Plants, The Right Schedule and The Right Equipment.
RightScape makes it easy to be water efficient. Our website gives you garden inspiration with drought resistant plants, tips on finding and fixing leaks and many other tools to make sure you’re using water wisely.
We can all do one more thing to save water this year. Visit our Facebook page or Tweet us on Twitter (@irwdnews) and tell us why you love water, with hashtag #RightScape.
Professor Wright and Roger can’t wait to hear your story!
For more info, visit our RightScape site.
IRWD Purchasing Department Awarded
For the fourteenth consecutive year, Irvine Ranch Water District’s Purchasing Department has received the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award from the National Purchasing Institute.
This award is given annually to organizations that demonstrate excellence by obtaining a high score based on standardized criteria. The National Procurement Institute established the award in 1995 to recognize organizational excellence in procurement.
The criteria measures innovation, professionalism, productivity, e-procurement and leadership attributes of the organization.
For more information about purchasing, or doing business with IRWD, please visit our website.
IRWD Area Student Artist Recognized
Ashley Lee was a second grader Hicks Canyon Elementary School in Irvine when her poster was selected by Irvine Ranch Water District for participation in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s 2015 “Water is Life” regional contest last spring.
IRWD received more than 300 entries and sent five finalists to Metropolitan for judging. Now a third grader, Ashley was among 36 students from Southern California whose poster was chosen to appear in MWD’s 2015 calendar.
The student artists were honored at Metropolitan on December 11. IRWD has participated in the contest since inception and has had at least one winner each year.
The 36 posters will be featured in a traveling art show set up in the lobbies of participating water districts, including IRWD at the end of June. Please visit www.irwd.com for an announcement of the arrival of the student art show. At the conclusion of the road show, IRWD will be sent Ashley’s framed poster and she will be honored at a Board of Directors meeting.
A Little Bit of Rain is Just a Drop in the Bucket
Much-need rain has fallen in the area recently, but that does not signal the end of the drought. It will take more than one storm dropping one to two inches of rain on the area to clear up three years and nine months of extreme drought.
Recent storms are quite literally a drop in the bucket when it comes to solving the state’s water issues. Experts say that dry, thirsty soil, which had been deprived of water for so long, blotted up the rain like a sponge, not allowing enough moisture to percolate and recharge groundwater basins.
The state Department of Water Resources states that October 2013 through September 2014 has been one of the driest years in decades. California heavily depends on the Sierra snowpack for its water supply. DWR conducts snow surveys and the first four conducted in early 2014 found a water equivalent far below average for the dates of the surveys. Rainfall is measured at eight stations in the northern part of the state where the rivers feed into the State Water Project.
Electronic readings from those Northern California stations showed that precipitation was only 60 percent of normal for late April, even though there were a few storms in February and March. The electronic readings for San Joaquin stations show less than 50 percent of normal from October 1, 2013, to late May 2014.
So how long will it take to recover from the drought? There are no hard and fast numbers, according to DWR. An exceptionally wet year would be needed, but it looks unlikely, according to DWR.
Resolve to be Water Efficient in the New Year
We’ve had years of drought and there’s no way to tell if this year will be different. If you’ve already adopted water efficient practices in your yard, thank you very much. If not, make a resolution to do it this year.
Join Roger and Professor Wright. Take the pledge to use The Right Plants, The Right Schedule and The Right Equipment in 2015.
Our RightScape program makes it easy. Visit RightScapeNow.com for a comprehensive list of California appropriate and drought resistant plants, tips on installing the right equipment, and videos that teach you how to program those often-confusing sprinkler timers. You can also learn about all our rebates. Save water, save money, and get cash back, just by being water wise.
Let’s all work together for water efficiency in 2015! Make your New Year’s resolution today!
