(High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. Call Nathan Adams at 361-8354 or e-mail information about smart timers and rebates visit or Also visit Contact the writer: or 94įred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. Attendance is limited to 30 participants. 20 public workshop on how to landscape and irrigate your yard in a way that will look nice, conserve water, reduce runoff and save money on your water bill.Ĭasa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens will host the free workshop from 9 a.m. The city’s water conservation program is accepting signups for a Jan. The city also has education programs in the schools and periodically offers free landscape classes for residents.Ĭity Treasurer Pall Gudgeirsson said the city is looking into what it would cost to add a “how much you could save” feature to the water bill as suggested by Tengdin. And it may be poorly angled, so it goes onto the sidewalks.”Īdams said the city will send out brochures with conservation and rebate information to new homeowners and with letters sent to high water users. “And then you have the spray heads, which control the amount of water that comes out. “You have the controller – the scheduling end of it,” he said. “Even turf doesn’t’ require everyday watering,” Tengdin said.Ĭouncilwoman Lori Donchak said she hopes the ordinance and the conservation program will be an incentive for more San Clementeans to use the new technologies.Īsked about those technologies, Adams said smart timers aren’t the only answer. He said he uses a smart timer and programs it to every other day. He also disputed the contention that an every-other-day rule doesn’t support smart timers. John Tengdin, a San Clemente conservation advocate, asked the city to keep intact the every-other-day rule, since it’s easy to track violations and try to take corrective action. “When they’re able to use it, they overuse it,” he said. It also retires the old ordinance’s ban on everyday watering.Īdams said there is strong anecdotal evidence that requiring people to water their landscape only every other day my result in over watering on the proscribed day. The new conservation ordinance, which will require one more vote of the City Council to adopt into law, expands the prohibitions outlined in the old law enacted in 1991 while changing the city’s contingency plan for water shortages, said A.J. Smart-timer controllers may cost a homeowner $300 to $400, plus $100 for installation, but rebates are available at $60 per valve, or $360 for a typical home with six valves. The nozzles cost $4.30 to $4.50, and water agencies are preparing rebates that may cut that to almost zero. Newly developed rotating nozzles can reduce water consumption 20 percent when screwed on in place of old irrigation heads. It’s “a ripe opportunity to study the savings we can get,” Adams said. ≚s part of an effort to reduce urban runoff at Poche Beach, the city got 474 homes in that watershed to use smart timers. Sensor-based or weather-based smart timers are a way to avert over watering, capable of saving 30 gallons a day for a typical homeowner. Most of the water wastage around town is from irrigation. The cheapest new source of water for San Clemente, he said, is conservation. Nathan Adams, San Clemente’s water conservation specialist, told the City Council that education, water-saving technology and tiered water rates are the tools the city will use to keep consumption down. The city is even looking into adding a new bit of information to your water bill, indicating how much money you could save if you reduce consumption. It’ll go hand in hand with a new water conservation ordinance introduced Tuesday by a 4-0 vote of the City Council. Soon, you can expect the city to step up its campaign encouraging San Clementeans to install sensor-based irrigation systems and water-saving irrigation nozzles in their yards and neighborhoods.
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