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Commentary: Residential conservation alone will not solve drought

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The state of California is entering its fourth year of severe drought. On March 17 the State Water Resources Control Board adopted and expanded emergency regulations to safeguard the state’s remaining water supplies.

Since the water conservation emergency regulation was first adopted in July, water suppliers and communities have saved a substantial amount of water.

Haven’t we heard this all before?

As recently in 2008, Californians were asked to reduce water usage. In the end, the goal was accomplished by everyday California residents. We took shorter showers, washed our dishes only when the dishwasher was full, fixed leaky pipes and bought new washers and toilets.

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That is what we did for state California, but what has the state of California (specifically, our politicians) done for us?

Did it develop any strategies to prepare our state for the impending drought? Has it ensured that farmers are watering crops efficiently with water-conserving equipment that ensures the reduction of waste?

With all these regulations why is the focus of water conservation on the residents of California?

You would think that residents would be responsible for the majority of water consumption. Well that is just not the case. Only 10% of water is used in what the California Department of Water Resources has identified as “urban” consumption, and 50% of urban water consumption is used for residential and commercial landscaping (so, yes, we’re partly to blame for that).

Is restricting the water consumption of urban users going to fix the problem? Do we want to take water away from the farmers who make our food? Should we deprive our habitat or environment of water just so we can live?

No, we cannot and should not do any of those things.

So, depending on where you live in California, you can drive west and eventually run into this thing called the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, it’s this huge body of ... water. Crazy, right?

While we cannot drink or use the saltwater in the Pacific Ocean, there are ways to purify it. Many places around the world that have limited supplies of fresh water use desalinization. Israel, and many parts of the Middle East, have used this process for years.

The concern with desalinization is that historically, it is seen as being energy-inefficient and cost-heavy. The good thing about California is that we have a lot of really smart people who can create technologies that would make water desalinization cheaper and more energy-efficient.

Let’s request that the state government fund research on the desalinization process and the creation of more desalinization plants, if not for consumption, at least for agricultural and landscaping purposes. We have Ivy League quality schools and private technology companies here in the state that would not only benefit from the funding, but could provide answers to the problem that the entire world is facing.

There are already water shortages in many parts of the world, and while we think of this drought as a California problem, it has actually been dubbed, “the North American Drought,” and is affecting our entire nation.

Providing funding for research and the creation of desalinization plants will move California into the 21 century and will provide us with a limitless resource that we need to live and flourish. It may currently be expensive and energy-inefficient but with the support of science we believe we can make this a viable option.

Being water-conscious is the appropriate thing to do, and yes, all residents should participate. But thinking that reducing water consumption will fix this problem is short-sighted and simply wrong. We need a long-term answer to a very real and serious problem, and we need it now.

JOSEPH ALONZO of Anaheim and NICOLE SKINNER of West Covina are graduate students at USC’s Irvine campus.

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