"When the well is dry, we know the worth of water." ~Benjamin Franklin
Time to Conserve
No one likes being told what to do. People want the quickest, easiest solution to their problems, be it washing a car, landscaping a yard, or getting pine needles off the deck. But when those easy solutions add up to one big problem, it’s time to change.
The Bear Valley relies solely on aquifers, or groundwater wells, for our drinking water. Unlike many cities in the Southwest, none of our water is imported. We do not rely on water from northern California or the Colorado River.
Think of an aquifer as a large bucket. If lots of people take that water from it, the level goes down. When it rains or snows, water percolates into the ground and fills the bucket up. If people keep taking water from that bucket, but it never gets replenished, the bucket will eventually be emptied.
In 2002, after a population increase and several drought years, the aquifers in the Bear Valley were nearly running out of water. Over the previous decade, the population had grown 8%, while water use had grown 35%. This was our wake up call to start conserving our water resources and work toward eliminating wasteful practices.
Since then, demand has been reduced by nearly 30% due to your conservation efforts, from replacing your old plumbing fixtures with high-efficiency fixtures to removing turf and choosing more water-efficient landscaping methods. Continuing the practices of conserving water and eliminating wasteful practices, known as water-use efficiency, can ensure that we have enough water in the "bucket" for drought years.