SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Water.

I have a relationship with water. It refreshes me. It fills 75% of this body.  

Water gives me life. 

Water gives Southern California life. 

Some years water is plentiful and we say it is a good year. Some years water is not plentiful and we use the dreaded label "drought." We live through the drought years looking forward to the time when water will be plentiful again. It is time to reframe that word "drought" and to create a new relationship with water. 

Over 50% of the population of California lives in Southern California yet we have only 2% of the rainfall for the state. The water we are lacking we import. The water that is not imported is found in groundwater beneath our feet. 

Our ground water is in the aquifer called the Raymond Basin. Its name comes from Walter Raymond who owned the Raymond Hotel on Raymond Hill here in Pasadena in the 1800's. The fight over the water in this basin started shortly after this time. The population had grown to the point where water was in short supply. 

The Raymond Basin is approximately 40 square miles. It extends north to the San Gabriel Mountains, west to the San Rafael Hills, and south and east along the San Gabriel Valley. The Raymond Basin is a natural formation that is replenished from the San Gabriel Mountains by the Arroyo Seco, Eaton Canyon, Santa Anita Wash and rainfall. 

The Raymond Basin is a sand and gravel aquifer capable of holding 1 and 1/2 million acre feet of water. Along the edges the depth is 450 to 750 feet and at the center of the basin in Pasadena the depth is 1,200 feet. Imagine below your feet water extending down 1,200 feet or the length of four football fields. 

The water from this aquifer is pumped out through wells. At one time there were 141 active wells being pumped by 16 different water district. The over-draft of the Raymond Basin was noticed as early as 1913. Pasadena sued the other water districts and a watermaster was created to regulate allotments and institute replenishment programs.

Today the Raymond Basin supplies over half of the water we use annually. 45 wells pump 33,000 acre feet of water. There are spreading grounds to replenish the Raymond Basin in Arroyo Seco, Eaton Canyon, Santa Anita Wash, and Sierra Madre. In the past these spreading grounds have collected 37,000 acre feet of water annually. But when there is a "drought" this number drops. The rainfall that could percolate down by other means is  blocked by the roads, the parking lots, and buildings. The sewer system takes water out to the ocean. If the spreading grounds can not replenish the aquifer what can be done? 

We can create a new relationship with water. 

Much of our water outside the spreading grounds goes down the drain and out to the ocean through our sewer systems. What if we kept that water and created our own spreading grounds. What if we create our own infiltration swales or planters. These are trenches or ditches composed of gravel and rock for the storing of water while it infiltrates into the ground. We already save our water from our shower. Right? What if you took that water and put it into an infiltration ditch instead of down your drain? What if you created a channel from your rain gutters to an infiltration ditch instead of letting that water disappear into the sewer? What if you asked your city to create infiltration trenches or ditches along sidewalks to capture water that would have gone down the sewer?

Now this was a simple story. There are many more parts to the water story. My message to you is... it is up to us to create a life giving relationship with water. It is up to us to refill the Raymond Basin aquifer. 

I've been interested in solar power for many years, and as possibilities for residential electricity became more realistic, I began looking into ways to bring it home. When we bought our house in Sierra Madre, I wanted to reduce our carbon footprint. The house was originally built in 1912, with a two story addition in about 1956. The addition has a flat roof, which seemed like an ideal place for solar panels, tilted to take advantage of the southern exposure of the house.

A solar installation is not inexpensive. Begin by reducing your consumption as much as you can, to reduce the size of the suggested system. When you contact vendors (from a list you can find online), the first thing they'll ask for is numbers to show your average electricity usage, which they'll use to suggest the appropriate size for your system. We got estimates from three companies over the course of about a year. In the end, we chose Phat Energy, out of La Crescenta, mostly, I think, because we like the salesman, Fabian with whom I had talked at the Green Fair at Neighborhood Church. Most companies offer financing in one form or another, we chose to limit the size of our system to make it more affordable,and financed our mortgage. 

Fabian led us through the process of applying for an incentive from Edison, which reserved our rebate at the present amount, as it keeps changing (downward). An electrician came to evaluate our existing wiring, and recommended upgrades. So we got more estimates, and essentially replaced the circuit box, with and additional box on the outside of the house, to connect the solar system to Edison's grid. 

We were advised about shading issues, and had to have a large tree next to the house cut back, so it does't overhang the roof where the system will be installed. 

The people at Phat Energy handled all the necessary contacts with Edison and the City of Sierra Madre, which became the next issue. Different cities charge widely varying fees for a license. Sierra Madre demanded a structural inspection of the roof, which is not required in any of the surrounding communities. I believe that problem has been resolved by simply supplying the city with measurements of the beam spacing, which was easy because the beams in the upstairs room are exposed and Jeff has been working on installing insulation. 

We are not expecting installation in early November,followed by further inspections. Once Edison has inspected and approved the installation it can be connected to the grid, and they will issue a rebate. We also expect tax credits of about 30% of the cost.

For those of you living in Pasadena, I offer the following information. The city also offers incentives for non-profits. As part of the City of Pasadena's Green City Action Plan and the State's Million Solar Roofs Initiative, the Pasadena Solar Initiative (PSI) is PWP's commitment to helping its customers install a total of 14,000 kilowatts of solar power by 2017. With that goal in mind, PWP now offers solar rebates to all customers. They will also reimburse permit fees paid to the Department of Planning and Development associated with residential installations. And federal incentives signed into law on Oct. 3, 2008 make solar even more affordable. Check out Pasadena Solar Initiative at PWPweb.com/solar for more information. 

Our youth answered these questions for us. They decided that it is all about doing one project at a time. They got together, brainstormed what that project would be, and decided to do it. They decided to change all the light bulbs in our church to CFLs. This was a simple but huge project. Do you know how many light bulbs we have in our church? Hundreds. They determined that if we changed all of these light bulbs, besides saving electricity and reducing our carbon footprint, the church would save $1,000 over one year. Remarkable. The lights have been changed for a couple of years now. 

This small seed of what can be possible has led to several other projects for our church. One of those projects is to start a blog and tell our stories. We invite you to read through our stories as we write and share them here. Maybe one of these stories will inspire you to start your sustainable living project. One project at a time. That is doable. Don't you think?