Lifeless Rain

California is experiencing one of the severest droughts on record.[i] For the past several years, the State has received only a small fraction of its normal rain and snowfall. Everyone is being asked to cut back, wash their own dishes, and give leftover dishwater to the plants. We are now entering the rainy season (October through April) but even at my church of the rational thinkers, all intone, “Pray for rain.” So you might ask how in good conscience one builds a new house in such an environment. To begin with it’s not a new, new house, but a new house in place of an existing one. Further, local codes limit us to no more water usage than in the original house, mitigated by more efficient plumbing fixtures. (I now have encyclopedic knowledge of toilets: gallons per flush, gravity vs. pressure assisted, and other details of the old crapper named for its inventor, Sir John of the same name and pretty much the same machine, except for major efficiencies in its use of water.)

One new innovation that we are installing to conserve usage is a grey water system in which the washing machine, sinks, baths and shower drains are all diverted to water the landscape. We will be using Xeriscape to select drought tolerant plants, but with the help of the grey water system we should not need potable water for irrigation. We are not capturing storm runoff because of storage issues and the energy needed to take it from storage. The grey water system is passive and goes immediately to the yard.

This has caused a bit of anxiety on the part of the builder, but it was introduced to us by our landscape designer, Dan Finklea from whom we have had several good ideas. I call Dan an artiste because I have been to several of his projects where he does all of the gritty work himself. The yard is his palette and into the soil he plants live pictures. He is a handsome guy with a strong build, closely trimmed hair except for a swag of black curls on top, a gift of his Armenian ancestors. He grew up in California working on a factory assembly line, all the while keeping his hands in what he truly loved, his grandparents’ raisin farm. It was when he went to college that he thought to merge the technical and political with his love of landscaping. Voilà, now he is a grey water expert and advisor on such matters to the Monterey Water Conservation Authority. I have been to hear him speak and listened to him being interviewed on the radio. He even teaches classes on this topic for the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. I think we are lucky to have him working on our job because he is very busy.

The grey water system is enough different from the normal building procedures that Dan has to work up and down the line both with the plumbers, who install the extra pipes and switches in case you ever want to turn the system off (when the 50-year rains come), but also with the constant cast of inspectors who can and do stop work for something they don’t understand. There was a bit of a kerfuffle the other day when Dan arranged with the plumber to add the second floor to the grey water system when we had originally talked only about the downstairs laundry and bathrooms. Harry said, “No way;” the architect said, “I vote no;” but I said, “Let’s wait and see what Dan has to say.” He and I met at the site on the most beautiful morning just as the sun was rising. Dan greeted me as he always does with a hug and a big smile, “Isn’t this a glorious sunrise?” And indeed it was. He explained that because we were able to install the system literally on the ground floor, the costs would be insignificant and the savings immediate. He wanted to add one of the two kitchen sinks to the system, not the sink connected to the disposal or dishwasher. I asked if soapsuds would be a problem and he said, just the opposite, it actually helps in the irrigation plan.

Monterey is under a State of California Cease and Desist Order to greatly reduce pumping from the Carmel River, our primary source of potable water. Complex negotiations are underway between all Peninsula jurisdictions to provide for water needs although there are still many unanswered questions about funding and projections for future growth[ii]. The role of grey water looms large as we begin to consider expensive alternatives for water supply including desalination (see diagram below for proposed slant well design of salt water intake) and replenishing groundwater aquifers with treated wastewater (aka black water). Orange County is now using advanced treatment methods to reclaim wastewater for drinking. Using treated wastewater for drinking has the potential to increase water supply by as much as 27%.[iii]

I kept running across the initials CWP. That stands for the California Water Plan, a primary tool to manage the state’s water resources broken down by water regions across the state and updated every five years. Our Central Coast region is more or less independent in this plan, unlike the Central Valley of California, the San Joaquin, which is the source of nearly all of the nation’s tomatoes and a major source of many other crops. In 1935 the Federal government built the Central Valley Project harnessing the State’s major water resources to provide water for the vally. But if you drive it today, you can see the situation is clearly desperate. It looks as bad as pictures of Oklahoma in the Dirty Thirties.

I would say the best news on the horizon is that Gov. Jerry Brown has brought together all of the experts and decision-makers to craft, as part of the California Water Plan, a long-term solution to the State’s water conflicts between the south and the north; agricultural and residential uses, and  environmentalists and developers. It is a hugely expensive $14 Billion plan, but one that the Federal Secretary of the Interior has endorsed.[iv] It is a far cry from being resolved, but at least there is a proposal. It would take water from the State’s largest fresh water source, the Sacramento River, and ship it south via a new canal or pipeline instead of taking water from the river’s more fragile delta close to the San Francisco Bay. It all makes you wonder if there is ultimately enough water here for such a rapidly growing population.

Living in Pacific Grove so named for the Monterey pine trees, the distress is visible all around you. They ooze sap from pitch cankers and new growth falls off in a big wind. The air is scented with the smell of dried wood and pine needles, and everywhere trees are diseased and look as though a squirrel might topple them. I especially love the pine trees. The tallest are over 50 feet and their needles a bright verdant green. The first time I was ever totally enraptured with the essence of the Great Spirit I was looking at a Monterey pine, shiny green, branches waving in an azure sky.

In the meanwhile we’ll just pray for rain. Not a lifeless, weak rain, but a drenching, rain. We’ll not complain if it comes with wind-whipped storms, downed trees, or mud slides. It won’t be like the one coming down outside my window now. I go out walking in it. The dry earth has a musky smell as it is coated with the first sprinkles of a rain so fine that it creates stratus you can see on the ground.  It’s blown in on a slight ocean breeze that moves the Spanish moss’s tendrils out from under cover of the California live oak she lives upon and she too is soaking in the mist.

[i] http://ca.gov/drought/

[ii] http://www.mprwa.org/ Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority

[iii] “As ‘Yuck Factor’ Subsides, Treated Wastewater Flows From Taps,” Felicity Barringer, New York Times, February 9, 2012

[iv] California Envisions Fix to Water Distribution, Felicity Barringer and Jennifer Medina, The New York Times, July 25, 2012