The Widder Curry: More Water Cut-Backs Will Kill My Fruit Trees While New Housing Developments Are Allowed to Grow

California’s Drought Emergency Extended to San Diego County

By Judi Curry

Here we go again.  Another drought. Another curtailment of the use of water.  The Governor is asking people to cutback on water usage 15% over last year.

My question is what about those of us that cut back 15% last year and are still cutting back?  How much are we supposed to cut back before we will all be lined up at the trucks to fill buckets of water to cook, bathe, wash clothes and dishes with?

In actuality, just how much can we cutback and survive?  And, while I am at it – I noticed that even though I cut back enormously, my water bill kept going up, and up, and up.  I am using less water and paying more for it.

Let me tell you some of the cutbacks I am doing.

I wash all the clothes of my students and friend on every Wednesday. I make sure that the washing machine is packed full before during on the “wash” cycle.  I have 14  – no, make that 13 now – fruit trees that I only water twice a week for 5 minutes at a time in 4 segments.  I lost a lime tree earlier this year from lack of water.  I know that it is difficult to feel sorrow when you lose a tree, but this one was given to me on the day my husband died as a reminder of how much he liked to garden, and it is gone – like him.

Yes, I have a swimming pool but it also has a solar cover that retains most of the water that would evaporate if exposed to the air. At the most I put water in it every 5 weeks, and I run it no more than 15 minutes during that time.  I use much less water than if I had grass or other growing plants in the area.

I have grass in the back area of the yard, primarily because when I investigated putting in fake grass I was warned that it gets very hot and could burn my dog’s feet.  Since he spends a lot of time outdoors, that was just not feasible and, by the way, the cost was prohibitive.

My fruit trees suffered immensely this year also.  I only had 5 avocados on my Fuerte, when usually I have close to 50, which I give away; my apricot had 6 fruit; my apple tree yielded only 1 Fuji apple when usually I get over 100.  My Peach tree only had 22 on the tree this year when last year I had over 500 and a jam yield of 125 jars of jam.

Someone stole the only 3 avocados from the Haas tree, and the orange and lemon tree produced less than 10 pieces of fruit from each one.  The mango tree is doing fantastically well, but it does not need a lot of water and gets a lot of heat from where it is situated.  The other lime tree is loaded, and will help me get through the drought by allowing me to make dozens of margaritas! My veggies didn’t do so well this year either. I lost all of my tomato plants and the only thing growing well are the green onions.

So… if I need to reduce my water usage another 15% I might as well tear all of my trees out of the ground because they will end up dying anyway.  If you have priced produce in the market recently, you will find that the costs have skyrocketed, if you can even find the fruit/vegetables that you want.

So what is the solution?

Quite honestly, I do not know what the answer is on a wholesale level.  But as I drive around town I see watering being done on medians along the road; I see water running down the streets, particularly in the Pt. Loma area.

I see new housing all over the place, and I believe that sinks and faucets are being installed in those buildings so that they have access to water.  More housing equals more water. More water usage means less water consumption per person etc.  It’s a vicious circle.

When I lived in San Simeon/Cambria, only a  certain number of water permits were issued in a year.  Selling/buying a house did not necessarily mean that you got the water permit with it.  There was a long list of people waiting for those water permits.  I do not know if that is the same way now as it was back then, but it was very effective.  Perhaps it should be looked at in San Diego instead of just complaining there isn’t enough housing and then building houses when there isn’t any water.

In the meantime, it will be very difficult to cut back on my water usage again after doing it last year – and, as I recall – several times before then also.  And maybe, just maybe, the government should take a look at the permits they are issuing for new developments and decide if there will be enough water to flush the toilets in these new homes.