The City of Sacramento has the cleanest drinking water of any city in California! It’s time to celebrate by protecting this high-quality resource instead of wasting it needlessly. Let’s all party green together with these helpful tips:
- Write to the City and tell them to install your water meter today. Water meters have been called the “most effective way to encourage sensible water use†by The Guardian newspaper. We can’t wait till 2025 (the lengthy timeline set for the actual installation throughout the city). We need to start conserving today. Think of this way: if you’re a family of three, and you’re doing your part to save a little water here and there, you’re paying the same amount on your water bill as your neighbor who has a family of five and runs their sprinklers in the rain. Do it for the planet, and do it for your own water bill!
- Stop buying bottled water! A giant bottling company is about to move into town and set up a bottled water factory. In all likelihood, they’ll be pouring our delicious, pure tap water straight into those bottles and then charging you more than the City to drink it. Make your own bottled water instead: wash out empty applesauce jar; fill with tap water; drink. (Okay, maybe this doesn’t conserve water, but it’s good for the planet and keeps plastic out of the landfills, which keeps chemicals from seeping back into our groundwater.)
- Follow the rules! Karma—and Santa—are watching. If you live in Sacramento, you should only be watering your lawn one day per week (even-numbered addresses on Sundays, odd-numbered addresses on Saturdays). There’s water falling right out of the sky this time of year. You seriously don’t need any more than that.
For more info on drinking water quality in Sacramento—and throughout the U.S., read the full report issued by the Environmental Working Group. Some interesting tidbits: Sacramento’s water quality ranks 18th in the nation, ahead of both Seattle and San Francisco. Riverside and San Diego, California rank among the lowest cities in the nation for water quality. If you’re traveling there, fill up your applesauce jar in the drinking fountain at Sac airport before you go!
The Sac Rag 
You said exactly what I think! I can’t believe the City’s given themselves until 2025 to install water meters, especially with the dry years we’ve had lately and increased water demands. It’s crazy that they charge a flat rate based on house size, instead of how many people actually live there and how much water is being used. I think once meters are installed and people actually have to pay for what they use, we won’t see as many folks washing their sidewalks with water in the middle of a 100 degree day.
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this is not quite true. the numbers the city has reported to the federal government show a slightly different story; several cities that take water from the hetch hetchy source have substantially cleaner water. in fact, we have a lot of nasty stuff in our water:
http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/CA/City-of-Sacramento-Department-of-Utilities/3410020/
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Sacramento is taking until 2025 to install water meters. I question why they are in such a rush. Remember, Sacramento’s commit to install water meters in the first place were born from a threat by SoCal water users (ie we will force you to spend huge somes of money for meters if you don’t cave to our water demands).
And besides, 87% of water usage in the Sacramento valley returns right back to same water shed. So it’s not like my water lawn water is being atomically destroyed in a super-collider.
Yes, there is energy and expenses from processing and delivering water that is ultimately wasted. And even that 13% that makes its way over the summit to Nevada is still a substantial amount.
But lets be realistic. There are massive water shortages in California, but not necessarily in Sacramento.
I know I sound like a regionalist. But sometimes I have a hard time getting motivated to skip flushes at home so another new Southern California golf course can water their lawn with water from our neighborhood river.
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Meters probably are an excellent way to reduce water usage, but why invest in fixing a problem that doesn’t seem to exist (right cogmeyer?)
Sacramento’s per capita water usage has declined since 1985 (remember St. Elmo’s Fire?)
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/1431106.html
Instead of investing in water meters, the City and county can invest that money in something with a real ROI like filling in potholes.
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And it ain’t the “City” paying for them meters. You think they are free? One guess where the money is coming from, Mr/Mrs water user. No rush here to cough up the extra dough.
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Good find, Saconomics!
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Thanks for pointing that out, Moe, I was totally skeptical about these findings as well, considering the quality of the water drawn from Hetch Hetchy generally kicks the shit out of Sacto’s supply.
You want clean water? Go to the Co-op and fill up your recyclable jugs there using their super duper reverse osmosis micro filtration system.
“Delicious, pure tap water?” Ha, I say.
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Does that chart take into account agricultural use? The central valley’s massive use of irrigation kind of skews things compared to regions whose agricultural lands have been turned into suburbs…one assumes it isn’t just that people along the coast bathe less.
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Wburg
Per the fine print at the bottom of the sacbee page, ag & industrial usage is not included.
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Note: Figures show water usage from public water supply, minus use for industry and irrigation, divided by population taking public water (no well water included).
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