Bottom Line: We are experiencing a statewide drought! Here are some ways to reduce water consumption in your home.

Two consecutive record-dry winters throughout California have resulted in the greatest threat to our water supply in nearly 20 years, prompting the governor to declare a statewide drought. Reduce water consumption in your home. It is especially important to detect, fix and prevent leaks. If you rent, report leaks to your building manager or landlord. Nationwide, more than 1 trillion gallons of water leak from U.S. homes each year!

Bottom Line: Wastewater recycling plants can recycle water using ultraviolet disinfection and use the water to restore wetlands using the hydro geomorphic model (GHM).

The Calera Creek Waste Water Recycling Plant (WWRP) in Pacifica can treat 4 million gallons of sewage per day (up to 20 MGD during storm events) using its innovative treatment techniques. This plant helped pioneer the use of ultraviolet disinfection for wastewater effluent in California. UV treatment allows release of recycled water into wetlands because residual chlorine is not allowed in the permitting process. To minimize visual impact, the entire facility except for the filters and control building are buried in a hillside covered with native plants. Odor control scrubbers pull air from all process areas to neutralize odor-causing gases.

Bottom Line: With water fees rising more than 10% annually and water shortage in California it is prudent and economical to reduce your water usage. With a few simple changes, taking advantage of a number available incentives and rebates it is easy to reduce your water consumption significantly.

In the US the average person uses about 150 gallon per day according to the United Nations 2008 Development Report Update. This is more than twice as much as the average person in Germany, about 8 times more than the average person in China. Note that "an American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day [1]". The most recent measured data for San Mateo County show an average use of 87.1 gallon per day per person (gpd) [2], with significant differences between Water Districts, ranging from 267 gpd in Hillsborough to less than 50 gpd in South San Francisco. About 68% of the water in San Mateo County is consumed by residential use.

Bottom Line: Pervious paving systems provide an economically sound and ecologically sensitive alternative for managing stormwater runoff and related water pollution issues.

Pervious paving systems (permeable concrete and asphalt, permeable joint pavers, or reinforced grass and gravel grids) allow rainwater to pass through their surface and soak into the underlying ground, recharging watersheds and replenishing ground water supplies while protecting wildlife habitats and greater ecosystems. While these systems help reduce the amount of stormwater runoff, they are not considered a treatment measure. Pervious paving must be designed to manage stormwater runoff adequately, while maintaining the same load bearing capacity as conventional paving in order to support the weight and forces applied by vehicular traffic.

Bottom Line: The Sustainable Green Streets and Parking Lots Design Guidebook (First Edition: January 2009) is Now Available!

In 2007, the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County enthusiastically supported the development of a local guidebook for developing sustainable streets and parking lots. In January 2009, the first edition guidebook was released and made available for easy download. This guidebook is intended to inspire small but widespread changes that will improve San Mateo County's watershed health.

Sustainable streets integrate sustainable design principles, promote least-polluting ways to connect people and goods to their destinations, and make transportation facilities and services part of livable communities. The guidebook covers a wide range of topics, including: site layout and stormwater facility strategies, discussion on key design and construction details, and conceptual designs for demonstration projects being constructed in the county. The goal is to provide designers, builders, municipal staff, and other interested groups with practical and state-of-the-art information on creating low-impact development roadways and parking lots within San Mateo County.

Bottom Line: Reduce your ecological impact and potential health hazards by drinking tap water instead of bottled water. Bottled water is not necessarily any cleaner or safer than water from the tap.

Health and Quality
San Mateo County Tap water is highly regulated and tested for public safety by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the EPA to enforce health standards for drinking water and requires public notification of water system violations and annual reports to consumers on contaminants found in drinking water. Alternatively, bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which often uses EPA's tap water standards to determine safety. However, the FDA exempts from testing water that is packaged and sold within the same state, which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of all bottled water sold in the United States. Bottled water is not necessarily any cleaner or safer than water from the tap.

Bottom Line: Pesticides are rarely, if ever, needed in home gardens. Most of the bugs in our garden help it grow! The pests we need to keep in check can be controlled using targeted and alternative methods.

Lawn Pesticides are rarely, if ever, needed for home lawns. Chemicals in them are linked to adverse long-term health effects. In particular weed and feed type products, which mix fertilizers with pesticides, result in unnecessary pesticide use.

Less than 2% of the insects you encounter in the garden will be pests. The vast majority of insects in your yard are not harmful - they're either beneficial or neutral. In the interest in keeping them alive, take a targeted, selective approach to dealing with the insects that are pests. Spiders, bees, ladybugs, and dragonflies are good examples of bugs that we want in our garden, along with many others, they help your garden grow!

Bottom Line: There are safe, low-toxin, alternative pest control methods and products available. Look for Our Water Our World retail partners throughout San Mateo County.

As part of a program called "Our Water Our World", the San Mateo County Wide Water Pollution Prevention Program has partnered with retail stores to make less toxic pest control and gardening products more available to consumers, with the goal of reducing the amount of pesticides entering creeks and the Bay through sewers and storm drain systems. Participating stores (listed below) provide fact sheets and "shelf talkers" to make it easy for you to choose a less or non-toxic product.

Bottom Line: Both indoor and outdoor pests can be controlled using Integrated Pest Management strategies, which emphasize less-toxic solutions that cause the least environmental damage.

Chemicals in pesticides designed for home use have been linked to adverse long-term health effects. Less than 2% of the insects you encounter in the garden will be pests! A great majority of insects in your yard are either beneficial or neutral. In the interest in keeping them alive, take a targeted, selective approach to dealing with the insects that are pests. When managing pests in your home, use as little pesticide as possible, buy less toxic products, and when possible manage them without chemicals.

Bottom Line: The common products you use to maintain or remodel your home can be hazardous and harm wildlife in and around the Bay and Ocean and threaten our most valuable resource - water.

Maintaining Your Home Can Pollute the Bay. Unless we take steps to prevent it, motor oil, paint products, pet wastes, chemicals we use to clean our homes and pesticides used to beautify our gardens are washed day after day into neighborhood gutters and storm drains by rainwater and water from lawn watering. These pollutants flow through the storm drain system into local creeks and empty directly into the Bay or the Ocean. They present an ongoing hazard for the fish, birds, and other wildlife living in and around the Bay and Ocean and for many of us who use and enjoy our most valuable natural resource - water.