The Dry Garden: Want to save energy? Start by saving water

Week before last, more than 1,000 climate experts from around the world gathered in Stockholm for World Water Week. If you didn’t read about it or hear about it on TV, it’s not necessarily because of the crisis besetting modern journalism. It could easily be the subject. If there is anything that can clear a room faster than a plague of toads, it’s discussion of climate change and water. 

Peter Gleick, a MacArthur fellow and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, was in Stockholm for the meeting. He is, above any Californian, our man on the unmentionable.

So are there ways to address this topic, I asked Gleick recently, without leaving everyone feeling utterably depressed and helpless? Absolutely, Gleick responded. “If you want to save energy, save water.”

Aha, logical. Energy saved amounts to greenhouse gas emissions prevented. Energy is a hidden cost of water. In 2004, Gleick published a report with the Natural Resources Defense Council on the subject. As the date of the report suggests, the knowledge isn’t new, but comprehension is so low, thousands of climatologists still feel compelled to sing the message in Stockholm.

It may be the stealthy quality of water. It simply seems to flow naturally into our sprinklers, garden hoses, toilets, baths and washing machines while it’s actually moved to us. This takes so much power that the pumps that convey and treat California’s water account for roughly 20% of the electricity consumed in the state. 

Southern California, particularly, drives that figure way up. We are so far away from the sources of our water in the Sacramento Delta and Colorado River that the energy cost for bringing water to us is 50 times higher than for Northern Californians and five times the rate for average Americans.

Why so high? Water is heavy. In the case of the State Water Project coming from the Sacramento Delta, Southern Californian supplies must be pumped 2,000 feet over the Tehachapi Mountains. This is “the highest lift of any water system in the world,”  according to the Pacific Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council report.

Numbers making you dizzy? Me too. Time to switch to a map. This one comes from the section of the recent White House report on global climate change in the U.S. that pertains to the Southwest.

Scroll down the page until you find the twin maps of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. This is the tale of two futures projected by federal climate modelers. The most optimistic model, the “Lower Emission Scenario” on the left, shows that in the last two decades of this century, Southern California will be lucky to lose only 20% to 30% of its current precipitation.

If we fail to restrict our energy consumption and cap our carbon emissions, the map on the right shows precipitation falling by 40%, not just here but also in the places that supply our water.

Gleick said saving hot water has a double benefit because it saves the energy to move as well as heat the water. But he isn’t picky about where we find the savings.

“If you can, if you’re replacing your washing machine, buy a high-efficiency water machine and you save a huge amount of energy and water and in the long-run money,” Gleick said. “But even if you’re saving cold water, that’s water that doesn’t have to be pumped over the Tehachapi Mountains or water that in the future doesn’t have to be desalinated.”

This column being about gardening, an observation: About 40% to 60% of our water goes outdoors, depending on our climate zone. There’s no time better than now to kill your lawn and go native. What Gleick was telling us, and what those maps were underscoring, was that we could act now to arrest global warming and plant gardens fit for the future.

Rebates are still being given by major water authorities for all manner of water-saving devices: washing machines, dishwashers, garden sprinkler and drip systems, toilets, shower heads. To find out details, look up BeWaterWise.com.

Recommended reading: "California’s Water-Energy Relationship" from the California Energy Commission and "Energy Down the Drain: The Hidden Costs of California’s Water Supply" from the Pacific Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

-- Emily Green

Green's column, The Dry Garden, which covers low-water gardening, appears here weekly. She also blogs on water issues at www.chanceofrain.com.

Photo: Mark Hanauer / For The Times

Note: A previous version of this post incorrectly said the pumps that convey and treat California’s water account for roughly 20% of the energy consumed in the state. The correct term is electricity, not energy. California's water-related energy consumption includes 30% of the state's natural gas and 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually, according to the California Energy Commission.

Comments

[Kenneth Agle]

Damn, we need you guys. Great article. Will you please figure out a way to change us for content? Maybe 50 cents a read or something.

Ken aGle

[HeartFixr]

How many municipalities in California charge for water usage based upon actual consumption? Which ones do not? I understand this is being proposed but I am interested in which municipalities currently do not charge based upon actual consumption.

[Bob in the Valley]

All lawns must die.

Sprinklers flowing into the gutters in our arid climate is a farce of the highest orders.

[leigh]

One of the best ways to save water is to reuse graywater (from bathing, laundry, etc.) for irrigation. Graywater accounts for up to 80% of a household’s water consumption; reusing it for fruit trees and vegetable gardens can save tens of thousands of gallons per year for just one house.

http://graywatercorps.com

[Tom]

Just another propaganda piece from another global warming/climate change/flavor of the month chicken little.

[special]

according to the site you reference in the article, rebates are not offered for dishwashers of any kind, despite that they use significantly less water than handwashing dishes. same with showerheads.

[Stephen Patricio]

How can Dr. Gleick make such distorting one sided comments? Dr. Gleick is very aware that the California water system including the State and Federal parts is one of the largest generators of electricity in the western United States. More than 30 years ago the system was actually generating more than double what was being consumed to pump water the dryer areas of the state. With todays highly efficient pumps, significantly less water being exported, and the increased run off resulting from the reduced snow pack if an honest assessment were made the power used is probably less than 25% of what is generated. I am sure Dr. Gleick is referring to many of the new water conservation and water converting technologies being used by urban areas. But please Dr. Gleick your comments in this article again seem destined to be interpreted as anti agriculture AGAIN! Tell us the truth how much electricity is being cleanly created by this incredible system of hydro electric generation?

[Wayne]

Don't condemn the lawn for using to much water. It is the type of grass that is the problem. Turf-type buffalograss, which is native to the western US, will use 75% less water than fescue, 40% less than Bermuda.

[laura]

Emily, on behalf of landscape designers everywhere and as a concerned Californian I thankyou for your commitment to getting out the message. The public needs your writing on the subject......I will forward this on to many.
thanks,

Laura Morton
Laura Morton Design
Greater LA District, President
Association of Professional Landscape Designers