Guest View

If you have been considering changing your landscape to make it more drought tolerant, now is the time. Last month, the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors voted to continue supporting higher rebate amounts for water conservation programs until next June.In most of Santa Clara County, you could be eligible for a rebate of $2 per square foot of converted landscape. In Palo Alto, Morgan Hill and San Jose Municipal Water’s service area, local cost sharing makes the incentives even larger.Our landscape conversion rebate program is one of the many conservation programs that is helping us through this drought. More importantly, it will help us manage dry periods for years to come. We are working to save nearly 100,000 acre-feet of water a year by 2030. That’s enough water to fill Lexington Reservoir five times.Fortunately, the response to this program during the drought has been overwhelming. From July through October 2014, about 410,000 square feet of thirsty lawns have been converted. The conversion of another 1.4 million square feet of grass is in process.Some people mistakenly believe that a drought-tolerant landscape only means a cactus or rock garden. In fact, our program allows a long list of approved plants, shrubs and groundcovers that are lush, flowering and very colorful. More and more, these types of landscapes will become the norm in our region, in place of lawns that requires mowing, fertilizers and frequent watering.In addition, the water district offers rebates for irrigation equipment that can help you reduce your water use. This includes weather based irrigation controllers, rain sensors, high-efficiency nozzles, dedicated landscape meters and efficient sprinklers. Those rebate amounts have been increased as well. About 90,000 pieces of irrigation equipment have been replaced or are in the process of replacement.To find out about our water conservation programs and their eligibility requirements, visitwww.save20gallons.org or call our water conservation hotline at (408) 630-2554. The water district strives to make the application process as easy as possible, but it is important to check the program requirements before starting any project.The board also extended our call for water use reductions of 20 percent until next June. Despite all the recent rain, our local reservoirs and our groundwater levels are still severely depleted. It will take many more significant storm systems to make up for the three long years of dry weather.Much of this county’s water is imported from outside the county. Those water supplies depend on the Sierra snowpack and the conditions at key state and federal reservoirs such as Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville. State officials estimate that we will need precipitation rates of 150 percent of normal before those reservoirs will recover.As a result, the state has issued an initial forecast for the amount of water it can deliver to our county in 2015 of only 10 percent.The bottom line is that we will start 2015 with far less water than we had at the beginning of 2014. It is essential that we continue saving, rain or shine, for the foreseeable future.—Contact Dennis Kennedy, who represents South County on the SCVWD Board of Directors, by email at [email protected].

In 2006, if a person or family was hungry, there was nowhere in Morgan Hill for them to go for a hot meal (except for the wonderful Senior Lunch Program offered for seniors). Brian Cunningham, a Catholic lay person, and Martha’s Kitchen, a nonprofit...

This guest view is part of a periodic series of opinion pieces on tips to prepare for wildfire season, which started May 1 in Santa Clara County.As our children enjoy the end of the school year and our open spaces transition into their seasonal amber waves, we encourage you to teach your children about fire safety. Curiosity is a vital part of a healthy childhood and children are naturally curious about fire. Last year, thousands of children “played” with matches. Only, they didn’t learn anything…Fire is the leading cause of death in the home for young children in the U.S. Tragically, one third of the children who died in home fires last year set the fires that killed them. Burns are also a major cause of accidental death for young children in our country, many of whom are burned when playing with matches or lighters.What’s most tragic about these deaths is that almost all of them could have been prevented. Teach your children about fire so that they, and you, don’t get burned.Teaching Your Child About Fire: ‘What is fire?’Fire is a strong natural force, like wind, water or electrical power, which produces heat. Like all energy sources, fire is a tool we use in our everyday lives: cooking food, heating homes, powering cars, and lighting candles are just a few examples of ways we use fire as a tool.Fire can be extremely dangerous, because the heat it produces can quickly get out of control if not handled properly. Because of this danger to people and property, only adults should use fire.Fire is useful, but it is not magic. It is powerful, but it is practical when used wisely. It is a fascinating process, but it’s also a part of everyday life. Fire is not a toy, and young children should never be allowed to use it like one.How do I know that my child is curious about fire?He may ask you questions, or he may stare at the fire, or point to or try to touch matches and lighters, or he may run to the window when fire trucks race by. But why wait for signs? Whenever you use fire, teach your child about it.What if my child has already begun experimenting with fire?Calmly, but firmly, explain that this is not an acceptable way to learn about fire. Explain—but do not overemphasize—the seriousness and danger of playing with fire and immediately begin teaching your child about the safe way to learn about fire. Someone said that if I burn his fingertips he’d learn the dangers…This is simply incorrect. It’s also child abuse. Burning your child will only injure him or her. It will not teach him or her anything positive about fire. It may even give him the dangerous idea to use fire in anger.Fire Marshal Dwight Good serves the Morgan Hill Fire Department and South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District and the CalFire Santa Clara Unit. He has 24 years of fire service experience. He can be contacted at [email protected].

In June, Valley Water will start building a 1,700-foot long tunnel next to Anderson Dam that will allow us to release more water safely during major storms or emergencies. This work is a significant milestone in our efforts to strengthen Anderson Dam and protect...