Resilience

March 25, 2022 -

While rain comes and goes, California’s climate trends steadily toward drought

• You never know when (if) the next rainstorm is coming
• Winter doesn’t guarantee consistent rain
• 2000-2021 was the driest period since AD 800
• Largest accumulated soil moisture deficit since the 1500s (Nature)
• “There is Never Enough Water to Waste”

 

What to do?

• See these tips from Save Our Water & SFPUC
• Consider a rain barrel; use all year to water plants during dry spells
• Tips from Lab Employees —
  • Install aerators & efficiency fixtures
  • Plant a waterwise yard; with native, drought-tolerant plants
  • Reuse shower warm-up water for plants, flushing toilets
  • Use a small kitchen sink basin to catch rinse water to soak pans, rinse recyclables

What is the Lab doing?

• Installing & calibrating water meters, to better monitor water use, potential leaks
• Managing cooling, which is a big portion of the lab’s water use

November 4, 2021 -

Even with this fall’s heavy rainfall, most of California remains in Extreme or Exceptional Drought. California reservoirs are at about half of historic levels for this time of year due to severe drought conditions that have become commonplace in California:

• The Lab received just 40% of its average precipitation in the last rain year (Oct 2020 – Sept 2021)
• Meanwhile, the Northern Sierras received a paltry 24% of “average” precipitation, the least since 1977.
• The resulting smaller Sierra snowpack is also melting too early in the season to adequately support water supply during the dry season.

You can access data from the Lab weather station, US Drought Monitor, as well as California rainfall, reservoir, and snow-pack data, on the SBL Water Page under Resources.

What can you do?

During the last major drought, the Lab saw a significant decrease in water use that was attributable to individual conservation. Here are some ways you can Waste Less Water, at home and at work:

• Find CA Rebates to upgrade fixtures and appliances.
• Convert your yard to be waterwise and use low-water native plants.
• Use a small bucket to capture and re-use “shower warm-up water” for toilets, plants, etc.
• Use a small basin in the kitchen sink to catch rinse water, and re-use for soaking pans, etc.
• Turn water off when you’re not actively using it.
• Check out more tips at CA Save Our Water, and Your Sustainability Role.

What is the Lab doing?

• The Lab is currently installing two new main site water meters near the Lawrence Hall of Science and the Strawberry Gate. This will allow us to more accurately measure our water consumption, and not be reliant on off-site metering maintained by UC Berkeley.
• At the building level, we focus water conservation on cooling towers, which represents about 65% of the Lab’s water consumption (restrooms and break rooms are less than 5%). Careful tracking of cooling tower operation helps to ensure that the periodic refresh of the towers (which involves dumping water that has gone through many tower cycles and refilling with fresh water) only occurs when necessary.
• The Lab also recently completed a feasibility study to investigate two options for water reclamation that could serve the cooling towers at NERSC, both of which require further exploration:
  • reclaiming and treating on-site sewage
  • using reclaimed water from off-site partners