A parched farm town is sinking, and so are its residents' hearts (LA Times)

[Cleita]

3. I hope you said something to that woman.

You can wash down your garbage cans but do it in a spot on your lawn or in your garden where the run off will water the plants. My SIL replumbed our houses so that our gray water, showers, dish water, etc. runs off on the property watering the plants and trees. We use bio-degradable, organic soaps and other products that are good for the plants. He did this 10 years ago and now it's paying off. Unfortunately, in many cities gray water goes into the same pipes and sewage treatment plants that your toilet waste goes into.

Cutting down on your water usage is helpful but recycling it is better. Maybe it's something to bring up at meetings of local government that are responsible for water management and disposal services. I hope passage of Prop 1 will address this.

Even though, still our gardens are sad looking but we are keeping foundation plants like trees, and hedges alive with this method until things get better.