Water waste

Dear Editor: What is Downey’s official plan for water conservation, enforcement and to whom would I report gross violators?

I walk my dogs in the evening daily, between Alameda and Stewart and Gray Road, Brookshire to Paramount.

It is truly amazing the amount of water waste I see. There are several people whom daily are standing in their yards with a hose, no nozzle, just flooding the sidewalks as they “water” their lawns, driveways, sidewalks, etc. Others whose sprinkler systems are running at the start of my walk and 45 minutes later upon my return trip are still running.

Also what about city landscaping? Downey has spent millions installing these wonderful center divider planters all over the city, and not a day goes by when you don’t see the sprinkler systems flooding the street, regardless of whether or not they are using grey-water (recycled water) to irrigate them, it is a total waste to have the watering systems running to the point of flooding the streets.

With the current drought in California, and Gov. Jerry Brown’s new water restrictions, I want to know how Downey is going to combat the excessive waste and obvious ignorance by the people and city officials on this matter.

M. Edwards

Downey

Dear Editor:

There is no question that California is experiencing a drought crisis.  We have Mario Guerra, the nightly news, and ads on radio, online, and on television to thank for reminding us that the crisis is indeed a reality.

The information from each source mentioned is directed specifically at households, families who are heavily encouraged to do everything possible to conserve water--otherwise, as implemented in some cities, face a fine.

My question is who is pressuring businesses to take a look at how much water they consume per day?  Are restaurants, apartments, theme parks, parks, movie theaters, bars, malls, and gyms doing their part to conserve water?

I can tell you for a fact that when I go to the gym in Downey people happily take their 20-minute showers and the janitor constantly sprays the floor to “clean” the area; basically, you wouldn’t know we’re undergoing a water crisis at the gym.

Is the landscape for malls and theme parks going to suffer? I highly doubt it since it’s bad business to have theme parks and malls kick back on the water usage because pretty landscape equals more business.

Ultimately, the brunt of the responsibility is unfairly placed on homeowners who want to have their front lawns green. I ask our elected officials to have the courage to also pressure all businesses to limit their water usage. Otherwise, how do we expect to make an effective dent in this crisis?

I believe everyone works towards the same goal or why should one group of people be punished for what other groups are completely escaping responsibility?

Giovanni Hortua

Downey

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Published: July 31, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 16