Conserving water during the drought
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,file)
Alameda - KTVU – A free water conservation workshop was held Saturday at Alameda High School to talk about the continued need to save water.
The workshop was sponsored by Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, Dist. 3, the University of California, and East Bay MUD.
“We’re here to really help people meet their goals,” Chan said.
Drought resistant plants were raffled off, people were offered lawn alternatives, and buckets were given away.
The biggest lesson of the workshop was that El Nino may not be the cure to our drought problems.
Water Analyst Faith Kearns with the California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California said despite predictions for a strong El Nino climate pattern, one of our biggest challenges is the lack of snowpack in the Sierras.
“It’s supposed to be a wet winter, but also a very warm one so the idea that we’re going to recharge our snowpack is probably not going to happen,” she said.
Chan said people should continue to save water for a long term solution.
“I just think our area has done a great job of saving, but they’re going to have to continue to conserve water over a longer period of time to get us out of this situation,” Chan said.
Two more conservation workshops are scheduled to take place next month. One will be held at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church on October 10 and the other will be held at the San Leandro Senior Center on October 17.