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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2009 Media Contact:
PASADENA CAN TAKE A RAIN CHECK This week’s rain may make for a traffic headache, but it’s a welcome – albeit temporary – relief for Pasadena’s water woes. Pasadena can conserve approximately 175 million gallons simply by having residents and businesses skip outdoor watering until three days after the storms pass. Pasadena has had only one significant rainfall in the past six months and, compounded with the year-on-year drought, local groundwater levels have been hit hard. Some of the 2-4 inches of rain expected through Sunday will trickle down to the natural aquifer underlying Pasadena, from which Pasadena obtains about 35% of its water supply. Pasadena has a mandatory “no watering during rain” policy as part of its permanent prohibition on water waste which took effect last July. Watering during rain is excessively wasteful because soil saturated by rain cannot absorb the additional water from sprinklers or hoses. Excess water runs off to the ocean. Fines for violating the anti-waste rules begin at $100. Pasadena Water & Power also recommends that its customers forego outdoor watering for at least three days before and three days after it rains. “If your soil is already soaked from sprinklers before it rains, then you’re wasting a perfectly good opportunity to have your lawn or garden watered for free from the sky because the precipitation won’t be able to soak in,” said PWP Water Conservation Manager Nancy Long. For the same reason, outdoor watering by hand or sprinkler system is unnecessary and wasteful for about three days after it rains, Long explains. “If you walk on your lawn and the grass springs back, the soil is still moist and natering is not needed,” says Long. If this week’s rain predictions hold true, she expects that most PWP customers will not need to water until Tuesday or Thursday of next week. Pasadena observes a mandatory “cool season” watering schedule from Nov. 1 through March 31, which restricts outdoor watering to only one day per week, on either Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. To-date, Pasadena has used 14 percent less water this fiscal year compared to FY 2008-09 as residents and businesses have taken extraordinary steps to conserve and follow the city’s Level 1 Water Shortage Procedures. ### |
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