Water, the gift of life. Without water most living organisms
can’t survive, let alone thrive. Salmon are certainly no
exception. All of the best restoration efforts are useless unless
salmon have ample cool water for spawning and rearing. Most of
us are aware of the need to conserve water. Whether you live in
an urban or rural setting, it is likely that your water use directly
impacts salmon. With growing populations, the stress on water
supplies will only increase. That is why it is critical to reduce,
reuse and conserve water whenever possible. There are a wide variety
of ways that each of us can help to ensure there is water left
in streams which include the choices we make about how we garden,
the appliances we use, the organizations we support, as well as
the energy we choose. Many of us know we need to conserve water
and know what we need to do. Hopefully, this article is a good
reminder of measures we all can work towards implementing and
maybe there’s even a new idea or two.
Gardening
There are many ways to reduce water consumption regardless of
whether you directly pump your water from a creek or whether you
turn on a city line facet. These include:
- Drip Irrigation
- Drip irrigation systems often provide a more efficient use
of watering than overheads sprinkler systems. Drip irrigation
allows you to water just the plants that need it and water is
distributed throughout the soil in a manner that better services
a plants root system. There is a lot of information on the internet
about drip irrigation and many nurseries can also assist. Try
http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/dripguide.htm
or do your own search!
Mulching- Mulch can significantly reduce evaporative losses, plus it
reduces the need to weed and lowers soil temperature, which
reduces stress on plant roots.
Drought Tolerant Landscaping- California is a fairly arid region, particularly in the summer
months and in the southern area. It makes water sense to landscape
with plants that can get by without much water. Your local nursery
should be able to help you locate plants that are suitable for
your area and are drought tolerant. Look for native plants.
They evolved for your region. J
Community Gardening- Perhaps there are others in your neighborhood or community
that you could share gardening with. It might prove to save
water if one person grows tomatoes and another grows cucumbers.
Grow only what you need- If you’re like me, you may tend to plant with exuberance,
thinking you’re going to feed the world or can as if it’s
the end of the world. Think about it before you plant, do you
really need 18 tomato plants or do you really have that many
friends?
Grow crops appropriate to your climate/site- For years I tried to grow cucumbers in the same garden that
I grow my tomatoes. Full sun exposure is great for tomatoes
but brutal on the water needs of cucumbers. So I moved my cucumber
bed to a place that gets less sun, so I used less water.
Use water retentive soil- Adding amendments such as chicken manure or worm castings
to a sandy soil can increase a soil’s ability to retain
water.
Water in the evening or at night- Watering in the evening reduces the evaporative losses during
the day. In addition, plants are more likely to utilize water
during the cooler evening temperatures, so your plants get more
out of the water they’re given.
Plant perennials in the fall or winter- If perennials are planted during the rainy season, their root
systems will get larger before the hotter summer months. They’ll
be better established and need less watering in the summer.
Lawns- remove, replace or water only as needed A lush green lawn
certainly is comfortable on bare feet and pleasing to the eye.
However, large lawns tend to use a lot of water. Several ways
to reduce the water use of a lawn is to reduce the overall size,
replace the grass species with a more draught tolerant species,
or even let it go brown toward the end of summer (or completely.)
Many people tend to over water their lawns. Check before you
water. If you press on the lawn and it ahs some give and bounces
back, it doesn’t need to be watered yet. You may even
consider removing your lawn and replacing it with drought tolerant
landscaping (no mowing either!)
Residential
Besides implementing water smart gardening and landscaping methods,
there are many ways individual households can help save water
for fish. These include (in no particular order):
- Check for and fix leaks
- Use low flow toilets, shower heads, and washing machines
- Don’t leave the water running: Sounds basic,
but how often do you leave the water running when you brush
your teeth or wash your face?
- Cover your car to reduce the need to wash it: Dust
and other environmental pollutants may damage your car’s
paint job and cars do need to be washed. But please think about
how often you car really needs a good washing.
- Install a greywater system: A significant portion
of residential wastewater is only mildly “polluted”
from dishwashing, handwashing, showering etc. Although not appropriate
or feasible for all residential users (particularly those in
tight urban settings), a greywater system could be a great way
to irrigate fruit trees or ornamental plants and reuse water.
There are many ways to install and use greywater systems, particularly
the blanched greywater system. A greywater system may be more
feasible for you than you think. For design considerations and
use limitations please refer to: http://oikos.com/library/greywater/branched.html,
or http://greywater.net
(Note: there are many resources available to commercial water
users to reduce water consumption, often with significant economic
incentives. The virtual library available through the River Network
has several relevant articles. Refer to http://www.rivernetwork.org/
for more information.)
Rural Water Supplies
Many Californians live or are looking to live outside of urban
developed areas. This often required the development of an independent
water supply that diverts water from a spring or stream. In the
late summer of 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, portions of the upper
Mattole watershed, which typically provide summer rearing habitat
for juvenile coho and steelhead, had little or no above surface
water due to low flow conditions combined with water extraction
from rural dwellers. Based on this crisis situation, the Mattole
Restoration Council (MRC), with cooperation from Sanctuary Forest
and local landowners launched a water conservation program (please
see http://www.mattole.org/
for more details.) Remember, even if your spring or stream does
not contain fish, it is likely that it feeds a fish bearing stream
and is just as important to conserve water. Often it’s even
as important to protect these small stream flows as they tend
to have colder water than the larger fish bearing stream and are
important temperature controls.
Measure rural water supply users can implement in addition to
basic residential conservation measures include:
- Fix Leaks: Often in rural water systems there are
many locations (pipe and valve connections) that lend themselves
to leaking. Lots of small drips or leaks fitting can add up
to significant water losses.
- Return over flow to creek or install a float valve:
This is particularly important for those homesteaders fortunate
enough to have gravity feed water. Installation of a float valve
or switch can keep your tanks topped off and “excess’
water in the creek. Please refer to the MRC’s Water fact
sheets for some simple design solutions at http://www.mattole.org/program_services/fact-sheets.htm.
- Store winter flows/rain water using large tanks:
California is a rain or shine kind of place. Storing water for
domestic and agricultural use during the wet season can ensure
there is water in the streams for fish in the hot, dry summer
months. There are a variety of tank types and sizes available.
The best way to determine the appropriate size tank for you
is to calculate your water needs. There are many ways to do
this. The MRC provides a simple method on their facts sheet
pages (see web link above.)
Energy Production and Other Large
Scale Water Uses
All over California, rivers have been dammed to create power or
divert water for large-scale agricultural production and have
caused serious damage to wild fisheries. This is certainly not
a new development; however, the detrimental impacts to threatened
and endangered fish populations of managing rivers for such purposes
has reached new critical levels. The fish kills in the Klamath
River and Butte Creek and the long term degradation of native
fisheries on the Eel River are only a few examples of how restriction
and alternation of natural flows can be lethal to salmonids. While
it may seem that the socio-economic drivers that currently appear
to control the destinies of these rivers (and their fish) seem
so large, there are ways that individuals can help make a difference
to ensure the rights of the fish are protected. For more information
and ways you can help get very needed water back in to these watersheds,
check out
Efforts to purchase water rights:
Often water conservation efforts of individual households are
not enough to ensure there is enough water for salmon. Groups
have begun to purchase water rights to ensure that water stay
in stream and cannot be diverted for agricultural, energy or other
commercial use. Two such groups include Huey Johnson’s Resource
Renewal Institute Water Heritage Trust (WHT) based in San Francisco
and Water Trust based in Oregon. The WHT was created to restore
water to America's rivers, streams and wetlands that are vital
to wildlife, natural resources, and human communities. Using a
unique process of water rights acquisition, WHT acquires by gift,
purchase, lease, or trade, water rights to be permanently managed
for environmental protection and for recreational opportunities.
WHT works in cooperation with concerned individuals; local communities;
and local, state, and federal government agencies. For more information
on the WHT please refer to http://www.rri.org/projects/water.html.
The Water Trust is a similar organization that works to craft
cooperative, free-market solutions. They acquire water rights
through gift, lease, or purchase from willing landowners and convert
them to instream water rights. For more information on the work
Water Trust is doing, check out http://www.owt.org/.
Consider lending financial support to these groups or starting
a similar project in your watershed.
Water Conservation Resources
There is a plethora of information available on the internet on
water conservation measure and efforts to check out for specifics
in your area. Some useful sites we’ve found in addition
to those already mentioned in this article include:
Wherever you get your water, there’s a good chance it’s
eventually taking water from a fish bearing stream. Even if you
can’t immediately implement all these measures, it is worth
trying to save as much as you can at any given time, leaving it
instream for the fish!
