Water shortage redux

But truly, there can be no doubt about what is more important -- is it a green lawn, or having water reservoirs that are nearly full and ready in the event of a fire?

The green grass will come back when it rains, but if someone's house burns down, that kind of loss cannot be replaced.

The main thing is, don't water every day; don't water excessively; and don't water in the heat of the day. Running sprinklers at high noon, for example, is very inefficient -- much of the water evaporates before it can soak in, and as a result that approach is especially wasteful. Water in the early morning or early evening, because that's when you'll get the most value for the amount of water used.

Most of us did not enjoy the cloudy weather and unusually cool temperatures we had throughout June. It seemed like real summer would never arrive. But we've been fortunate in having the cooler weather. It has kept the wildfire danger relatively low, and we were very lucky those conditions lingered through the July 4 weekend of fireworks.

Now that the 90-degree days are here for awhile, water conservation is again crucial. But conserving this resource is not something just for right now, or just for the height of summertime. Water is always going to be an issue, regardless of whether White Salmon gains additional water rights or has a new water filtration plant or if it's raining steadily.

Although we often tend to take it for granted, water is simply a scarce resource -- especially in the Western United States. We need to treat it as such all the time, and not just when the reservoirs start getting low. Regardless of conditions, being conservative with our water supply is always a wise approach to take.

JB