Homes & Land&& LandLand2011 Edition

The Idyllwild

Town Crier’s Annual Guide to Better Living

Improve your curb appeal: Easy home-sell fi xes ...... 3

Plant an Idyllwild-perfect fl ower garden .. 5

Chief Walker’s perspective of life on the Hill ........... 5

Water conservation is a constant must .............. 11

What is a Disaster Aid Station? ....................... 8

Keep your fi replaces & woodstoves clean ...... 4

The virtues of a tankless

water heater ........ 10

i m p r o v em e n t

Cartoon by Ernie Maxwell, published in the July 23, 1949, edition of the Town Crier

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For information or to donate or volunteer visit our website at www.MDP-idyllwild.com

Pine Cove Water DistrictPO Box 2296, 24917 Marion Ridge Rd., Idyllwild CA 92549

When buying or selling a house in Pine Cove, please contact Becky or Vicki at 951-659-2675 or email us at info@pcwd.org, so we can help with a smooth transition of water service. Visit us on the web at www.pcwd.org and you can read more atwww.pinecovewaterdistrict.blogspot.com. Stitch says “Conserve Water”

Page 2 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011

Homes & Land

Index

Grace’s greetings ............... 2By Grace Reed, Idyllwild Town Crier Publisher

Low cost tips to sell ......... 3By Marshall Smith, Town Crier Staff Reporter

Clean your fi replace and wood stove .......................4By Jerry Holdber, retired chimney sweep

Chief’s Corner: Fire Abatement on the Hill ........................................ 5By Norm Walker, Idyllwild Fire Protection District

Planning a Hill fl ower garden ........... 6-7By Harold Voorheis, Idyllwild Garden Club

What’s in a DAS? ............................ 8By Veronica Alt, Mountain Disas-ter Preparedness

Sewers and septics in Idyllwild .............................. 9By Terry Lyons, Idyllwild Water District

Virtues of tankless water heaters ..................... 10By Marshall Smith, Town Crier Staff Reporter

Water conservation ................ 10By Vicki L. Jakubac, Pine Cove Water District

Town Crier staff who compiled “Homes & Land” are: Publisher Grace Reed; Editor J.P. Crumrine; Staff Reporter Marshall Smith;

Production Manager Halie Johnson; Advertising Sales Rep Shane Fender; Production Assistant James Larkin; and Copy Editor Beth Nottley. Cover image and cartoons throughout: Ernie Maxwell; cover design: Halie Johnson

Improvement2011 edition

By Marshall Smith, Town Crier Staff

Clean your fi replace and wood

Chief’s Corner: Fire Abatement

Sewers and septics in Idyllwild

Virtues of tankless water

By Grace ReedIdyllwild Town Crier Publisher

Homes and Land is one of our special publications. Special in the sense that its content is not news. Long-time residents may be very familiar with these ideas and suggestions. New residents and prospective residents will learn something about our special life on the Hill. And the contents’ value will not fade with time. This informa-tion will be just as important next month as next fall. The real estate market may be gradually improv-ing, but Marshall’s tips on preparing your home for sale will help.

Whether you are visiting for a weekend or live here year-round, Jerry’s warnings about cleaning your chimney and how to dispose of ashes and Chief Walker’s abatement admonition need to be heeded. Living in a forest, as we do, is quite special, and Harold’s tips on how to plan a fl ower garden will make your verdant green view spectacular with the added color. Disaster Aid Stations, not decorations. Veronica ex-plains their purpose and use. Idyllwild Water District incorporates a sewer district. Terry discusses that and the future septic systems. Conservation — energy and water — is important on the Hill. Marshall has investigated the tankless water heaters and Vicki discusses water conservation. Remember, when in doubt, hire a professional. Finally, I’d like to thank our contributors and advertisers that make special publications like this possible.

Grace’s greetings

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By Marshall SmithStaff Reporter

In normal housing markets, there is con-ventional wisdom about what “fixes” can help sell a home. There are also generally agreed approaches on how best to stage or prepare your home to create a positive emotional re-sponse in potential buyers. In housing mar-kets in which prices are static or falling, how much a seller spends to make a home more attractive to buyers becomes a carefully calcu-lated decision. According to real estate agents, the first step in selling a home is to set a competitive price. Recent comparable sales within a specific geographic area are used by banks to deter-mine market value of a home for purposes of how much a bank might lend. Your home might be worth more in your eyes because of high-end features, but comps may not support your price. “Generally Idyllwild and Pine Cove are considered one market,” said Steve Taylor, real estate agent and current president of the Idyllwild Board of Realtors. Once a price is set, the seller needs to look at what likely profit they will get from the sale before deciding how much money to spend to facilitate the sale. Taylor cautions restraint.

“Don’t spend much, because there is no guar-antee that you will get it back,” he said. Taylor believes that exterior “curb appeal” first impressions may be most important with many buyers. “I feel most buyers make up their minds before they get in the door,” he observed. Taylor notes curb appeal fixes may also be the most cost effective — shutters on a plain house, decorative split rail fences, hanging flower baskets, and staining of wood-en front porches or front decks. Taylor talked about the psychology of a buyer. “Even in the most high-end house a buyer will remem-ber that chip in the bathroom sink or that small hole in drywall,” he said. “Get rid of all distractions. No one notices a clean floor or carpet, only the dirty floor or carpet.” Veteran real estate broker Marge Muir agrees. “It doesn’t hurt to do a few things,” said Muir, “but putting a lot of money into it — no!” When considering a home’s interior, Tay-lor recommends installing new light fixtures. “It makes a house look new and they’re not [comparably] expensive,” he said. Muir said that if one is selling in the low end of the market, they should just do minor maintenance. If selling in the higher end of the market, she recommends maximizing the emotional appeal of both exterior and inte-rior. For exterior fixes, clean windows, paint or replace a front door and install new hardware; replace older exterior light fixtures, espe-

cially those near the front door; power spray the house to remove dirt and cobwebs; and hang baskets of yellow flowers (why “yellow”? Because it is a motivational color that suppos-edly sells, according to Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com). For interior fixes: thoroughly clean the house before putting it on the market — clean carpets, they may not need to be replaced; dust tops of doorways and window frames; polish all interior wood and ceramic flooring; wash or clean all light fixture cover-ings and ceiling fan blades. Because a kitchen is the “heart” of a home, and if one has the budget: re-grout kitchen counter tiles; strip and re-stain or paint kitchen cabinets; replace all cabinet knobs or pulls with new hardware; replace worn kitchen faucet and hardware; buy new sink basket strainers; consider new and up-to-date lighting in the kitchen over counters and sink. Real estate professionals agree that it is important to eliminate clutter and make the house “neutral” when staging it for sale. Remove family photographs so that a buyer can imagine the home as theirs; pack up your bookcases (you’re hoping to move anyway); clean your closets, make them look orderly, and store non-essential items; tidy up kitchen pantries and cabinets. Muir has some encouraging words for sell-ers. The Idyllwild market is unique.“We’re a jewel in the world,” she said. “The desire to live here may not be quantifiable.”

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Page 4 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011

By Jerry HolldberRetired Chimney Sweep of 25 Years

There is nothing like sitting around a toasty, warm fi re while the snow gently falls outside. However, it is imperative that you keep your woodstove or fi replace in peak operating condi-tion so that you can enjoy the warmth of a wood fi re safely. The two most important tasks to perform when using a woodburning appliance are to properly dispose of the ashes you remove from the appliance and to have yearly inspections done. When disposing of ashes, always remember to discard them properly. Never use paper bags, wood or paper boxes to remove ashes. Use a good quality metal can to place ashes into and then put it outside. It is best to wet down the ashes with some water. Do not place a can full of ashes on a wood deck. They can stay hot for days, so you must be careful storing them. After the ashes have cooled, the best way to dispose of them is to properly mix them into the soil in the planting areas around your

Clean and maintain your fi replaces and woodstoveshouse. They will help the soil to retain mois-ture and add vital nutrients as they compost down into the soil. A qualifi ed chimney sweep or a licensed heating contractor should inspect all wood-burning appliances yearly. Don’t wait until win-ter weather has arrived to have your inspection done. The warm weather, when you are not using your appliance, is the best time to have it inspected. Below are some key indications that your woodstove or fi replace needs to be cleaned. • You smell smoke or your fi replace stinks. • It is hard to start a fi re. • When you do start a fi re, it continues to smoke back into the room. • Smoke comes out of the woodstove when you open the door. • The fi re just doesn’t seem to get hot or put out much heat. • Black stuff comes out of the stove pipe joints. • When outside, you can see ashes falling on your deck or you can’t see thru the spark ar-restor screen.

• You see sparks coming out of the top of your stove pipe or chimney. All these points are signs and indications that your chimney or woodstove needs to be cleaned. Once your stove or fi replace has been inspected and cleaned, you are ready to start using it. However, it is very important to burn good, dry, seasoned fi rewood. Use a softer wood, such as pine or avocado, during daytime operations and then load up at night with harder woods such as oak, citrus or eucalyptus. If your fi re-wood is not seasoned, you can create problems in your fi replace or woodstove within weeks or even days. It is also very important that all installations are properly and legally done to meet fi re safe-ty codes and manufacturer’s recommendations for safe operations. Only use qualifi ed heating contractors to install, replace or repair heating units as well as pipe and/or spark arrestors. You can now enjoy your woodburning appli-ance with peace of mind. After all, wood heat is the best heat to have when the weather turns cold.

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Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011 - Page 5

By Norm WalkerIdyllwild Fire Chief

Are you considering purchasing a house in the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains? Whether you move up here permanently or purchase a weekend cabin, you won’t be disappointed. This mountain is a sparsely populated island surrounded by a sea of humanity in Southern California. The air is clean here and the scenery compares to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Mountain communities have a different life-style than the cities have. In the winter, residents should be ready to shovel snow, drive in snow and ice, be prepared to spend some time with-out electricity and generally live in very cold winter weather. For most folks who have lived up here for a while, this is part of the fun and not the burden it may appear to be at first glance. In the spring it’s cleanup time in the com-munity. Fire abatement is very important to all properties and inspectors from Idyllwild Fire Protection District, Riverside County Fire De-partment and the U.S. Forest Service will be coming around (in their jurisdictions) to enforce PRC 4291 (fire abatement) requirements. After passing an inspection, the home owner is still responsible for keeping pine needles and leaf litter off of the roof, deck, rain gutters and

Chief’s Corner: Living on the Hill10 feet away from all structures. This is something the homeowner should expect to do regu-larly (or pay to have done) whether you are a full-time or part-time resident. On this moun-tain, the risk of a large wildland fire is real and presents itself ev-ery year. Even with three fire agencies here, the survivability of any home is mostly dependent on the owner. There will never be enough fire engines to station one at every house during a wildland fire. Therefore, the more preparation the owner takes in advance, the more likely the structure will survive a fire. Wooden shake shingles should be replaced with composition, cement shake or tile roofing. Old-style vents should be replaced with new ember-proof vents. If you are in the market for a home in the wildland urban interface (WUI), be on the lookout for these and other fire resistant fea-tures: Is there room for a large fire engine to access your house and is there anywhere for it to turn around? An engine captain will certainly be considering the safety of his or her firefight-

ers and fire engine when trying to decide if your home is defendable or not. The key to success is that all of the survivability factors must be in place before the wildland fire starts! In my career, I

have literally seen people destroying their entire yard with a chainsaw just prior to evacuating in front of an oncoming fire. This effort does no good and puts your life in danger in the pro-cess. It may seem like odd timing to be talking about fire season when the San Jacinto Moun-tains are covered in snow, but the wildland fire agencies are already preparing for the 2011 fire season. Fire Management Teams are filling their vacancies and seasonal firefighters are being selected. Being prepared for fire season is part of the lifestyle for people living in the wildland or the WUI. The fire departments and the Moun-tain Communities Fire Safe Council are here to help you be successful. The extra steps that must be taken are a small price to pay for the privilege of living on this beautiful mountain.

Town Crier file photosThe difference between a property that has not been abated (left)

and has been (right).

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• Hands-on activities for every “energy” and “ability” level

At the same time, you have the option to learn byparticipating in many community beautifi cation

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Community residents are welcome as guests to any 3 luncheon/program meetings before deciding to join. We meet on the1st Tuesday of each month (April-December) at Fellowship Hall, Idyllwild Community Presbyterian Church.

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Page 6 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011

By Harold Voorheis Idyllwild Garden Club

Starting your fi rst fl ower garden or a new fl ower bed can be a little challenging to some of us, but it is both an exciting and positive experience. Here are some practical guidelines for where to put it, how to begin and what to plant. First, your fl ower garden does not exist in a vacuum. It grows in and as a companion to your landscape. It should serve a function and complement existing features so it fi ts seam-lessly into the scene. For example, plant fl ow-ers to: • provide a focal point adding curb ap-peal • bring fragrance and beauty to a seat-ing area • pretty up a blank garage wall • highlight an entry area • surround a fl ag pole, bird feeder or bench • soften the edge of a path, walkway or driveway The fl ower garden should be integrated into the landscape so it seems to belong there naturally.

Size, location and preparation The fl owerbed size and shape should echo or balance the dimensions and proportions of the dominant features in your landscape. For example, a fl ower bed along the garage should run the length of the garage and the

How to start a fl ower gardenPractical tips from the Idyllwild Garden Club

bed along your patio should extend the entire length of it. If the patio is huge, make your fl ower bed deep enough to visually balance the expanse of patio. A fl ower bed along a walk should be wide enough to look pleas-ing. Too narrow and it will look skimpy, like a skinny row of marching soldiers. Its size should be appropriate to the proportions of the overall space, so it neither overwhelms nor looks so tiny it is lost. If you are just starting out on your very fi rst fl ower garden, a modest sized fl ower bed is probably better than too big. An area about three or four feet wide and eight or 10

feet long is manage-able yet will give you lots of room to play with. Equally impor-tant, how much time do you have weekly to maintain your fl owers? (Even low maintenance plantings require regu-lar care.) Think carefully about where you locate your fl owerbed. It will draw the eye both winter and summer. In winter, bare soil topped with mulch can look bleak. In summer,

colorful fl owers will pull the eye right to a not so-attractive storage area or log pile. Ex-isting plantings can suggest a fl ower bed. For example, if you have a small tree or shrub-bery, plant fl owers beneath or in front. Select fl owers that refl ect a quality or characteristic of the woody plants, perhaps a woodland theme or a color theme. They could all bloom at once, or extend the display by using only

fl owers that peak at a different season than the shrubs. For your fi rst beginning fl ower garden, try to pick a spot that is in full direct sun. It should be sunny all day long or for at least half the day including noontime. Shady gar-dens can be terrifi c, but for a fi rst garden with lots of fl owers, a sunnier spot is better. For a beginning gardener, a relatively fl at area of ground is best because it is the easiest to manage. A slight slope will also work, but the steeper it is the more diffi cult it is to garden on. First, remove any existing grass or weeds, including the roots. The more thoroughly you do this chore now, the better your results will be later. Next, loosen the soil and mix organic matter into it. Organic matter is a catchall term for decomposed materials such as compost, old rotten leaves, well-aged stable manure/bedding, spent mushroom soil, or

California Fuschia

Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011 - Page 7

whatever materials you have available locally at reasonable cost. For a fi rst fl ower garden try starting on the small side. This way you are less likely to be-come overwhelmed by the preparation phase and won’t be swamped by the maintenance as the season progresses. You can always build on your success and expand it later!

Selecting flowers to grow “What should I plant?” is the big question and every gardener will have their own per-sonal answer to it, depending on the grow-ing conditions where the garden is and other practical considerations, plus the style of garden, and of course based on personal taste. Do you like a formal or informal style? What color(s) do you like? What mood? What kind of backdrop will it have? Practical considerations suggest that we should select low-water usage plants (like

Mediterranean varieties) or native Californian varieties that are already adapted to our type of soil and dry summers. You’ll have the best chance for success if you start by understand-ing the concept of Right Plant, Right Place and select plants accordingly. This means you should match your plants to the growing conditions that exist in your garden, rather than vice versa.

Plants have needs: hot, cool, dry, wet, humidity, sun, shade Experienced gardeners recognize that plants have needs. If you meet their needs, they will be healthy and grow well with few problems and minimal care and maintenance. Here are some examples: Lilacs and peonies need a certain amount of cold winter chilling in or-der to bloom, so it’s not surprising they don’t grow well in the valleys but love our moun-tains with a winter season. Some fl owers need a long, hot extended summer season. Tropicals that grow in the valleys such as mandevilla may not bloom in a cooler clime with a short summer season. A semi-tropical plant like lantana is not going to make it through an Idyllwild winter outside. Plants that need a rich organic soil with steady soil moisture and high humidity won’t thrive in the dry, warm summer months. A plant that requires “perfect “drainage and

loves a sandy soil, such as lavender or pen-stemon or sages, will not accept an area that holds too much moisture.

Research your plants With a little research and observation of gardens near yours, and an awareness of the growing conditions in your garden, you should be able to make educated guesses about what will thrive for you. Look for plants that grow well in a spot similar to where your fl ower garden is located. Visit web sites of native garden plant nurs-eries or search for draught tolerant varieties. Your local garden club’s website will offer many suggestions about what works well here (www.idyllwildgardenclub.net). Don’t hesitate to ask more experienced successful gardeners about how they select, site and nurture their plants.

Have fun! Growing fl owers and fl ower gardening is fun and healthy for the mind and body! For some, it is so much fun that it can even become addic-tive. It’s even good exercise. Most of all it is a creative endeavor and rewards both the beginner and expert gardener year after year.

Photos courtesy of the Idyllwild Garden Club

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Page 8 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011

By Veronica AltMountain Disaster Preparedness President

Recently, concerned residents have raised questions about the contents of our Disaster Aid Stations (DAS) located throughout our moun-tain community. From the questions, there ap-pears to be some confusion about the purpose of DAS units and their emergency contents. So we thought this would be the place to clarify why we do not store enough water, or other items, for the entire unit area. First and foremost, it is important to understand that the DAS units are not sub-stitutes for our personal preparedness. It will never be possible for Mountain Disaster Pre-paredness (MDP) or any of our sister organi-zations to stockpile water, medical equipment, hygiene supplies, food and other materials for the needs of all of our mountain residents. That is our individual responsibility and the mantra of all the emergency agencies and volunteer organizations on the Hill, across the county, and up and down the state and throughout the nation.

What is a Disaster Aid Station? A DAS has limited capability. It can and will strive to provide certain specifi c functions: It serves as a collection point for residents and visitors to “check in.” A DAS is also a deploy-ment point for trained Com-munity Emergency Response Team (CERT) search and rescue teams, damage assessment and medi-cal triage and limited fi rst aid care. It’s a source of resources for DAS command-ers to communicate all necessary information regarding injuries, power lines, damages, special needs and more, through its own radio net-work to its own incident command, then to Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RAC-ES) and to OES (Offi ce of Emergency Services) and Red Cross and of course the local Idyllwild Fire and Sheriff ’s departments. Supplies such as food, blankets, warm drinks, lights, water and other necessary com-forts are needed to keep working teams safe, warm and rested as best as possible so that they can continue to perform rescue and as-

sessment work. All DAS units are marked with our MDP logo. This bright red, yellow and black insignia will help you fi nd your closest unit and also identify our MDP patrol vehicles. A detailed map of the locations is presented in the glass display case on the Post

Offi ce. We encourage all residents, innkeep-ers and other business people to familiarize themselves with these locations. You never know where you will be when the assistance is needed, so if you can drive by each one and check out which is closest to your home, to your kid’s school, and to your business it would be wonderful. We cannot emphasize enough the need for your own particular preparedness. If you need assistance with this please contact us on our website at www.mdp-idyllwild.com where you can fi nd emergency preparedness information and more about MDP itself. Our e-mail is mdpidyllwild@gmail.com and we check it often.

Town Crier File

Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011 - Page 9

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The Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council is a Nonprofit Public Corporation formed by residents of the Hill to protect our communities from wildfire. We are funded by grants and donations.

We currently have programs to financially assist property owners in meeting fire safety codes. We can help you pay the cost of bringing your home into compliance with the 100-foot defensible space law. If you would like help, contact our office at 659-6208.

MCFSC PURPOSE• Educate the community on forest health and safety.• Assist government agencies in fire prevention efforts.• Reduce fuel levels through grant programs and volunteer work.

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Homes & Land Improvement

By Terry LyonsGeneral Manager

Idyllwild Water District The Idyllwild Water District (IWD) provides sewer collection service to 582 customers within our Sewer Improvement District 1 boundaries. Currently our sewer plant receives an average flow of 125,000 gallons per day (gpd) or nearly half of our state-permited use of 250,000 gpd. The current capacity hook-up fee for sewer service is $5,447. A sewer service connection is required within the District 1 boundaries. No new septic systems or replacements are allowed inside the District 1. Locales with septic systems have the potential to affect the quality of groundwater supplies. Some popu-lated areas with septic systems will eventually leach nitrates into the groundwater. This, combined with high ground water levels, may affect

Sewer and septic within Idyllwild Water District

existing septic systems. IWD is responsible for the existing sewer plant and collection system. The IWD sewer district has worked with the community and suppliers to find a solution to address failing septic systems. In the event a property with a fail-ing septic system is not within the IWD Sewer District bound-aries there are alternatives. An advanced “Advantex” Residential On-Site Wastewater Treatment Unit is available as a replacement for failing systems. Currently this is the only alter-nate system approved for use by Riverside County. These pack-aged systems are expensive and access, terrain or subsurface rock obstacle fixes can add to the cost of installation. In the future, you will see similar sewer treatment packages designated as small community units that can collect and treat entire housing tracts.

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Page 10 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011

By Marshall SmithStaff Reporter

Tankless or “on-demand” water heaters have the virtues of being space saving, energy effi -cient (use of less propane or gas), Energy-Star qualifi ed, quick to produce a virtually inex-haustible supply of hot water and have fewer corrosive leaks than standard storage tank heaters. They use less en-ergy because the cache of water, stored in the standard water heater, does not exist. The supply of 30 to 50 gallons of water is not being heated constantly. Tankless water heaters also can func-tion at a variety of temperatures that an owner can set depending on per-sonal preferences. They can be installed to heat separate parts of a house and different sets of appliances. Manufacturers claim they maintain their effi ciency throughout the life-time of the unit, whereas storage tank heaters decrease in effi ciency over time due to mineral build-up inside the tank. Average unit size is 26

The virtues of tankless water heatersinches high by 14 inches wide and weighs about 50 pounds. Tankless heaters use high-powered burners to quickly heat water as it runs through a heat exchanger to the place of use, i.e. a shower or dish-

washer. Until hot water in a shower or appliance is needed, no water is heated. Water is heated only on demand. A consideration for prospective purchas-ers is that on-demand heaters are also more expensive than tradi-tional water heaters

and, as a result, it could take years to recoup the difference in price from energy savings alone. In a 2008 series of tests and a subse-quently published report, Consumer Reports (CR) found that on-demand heaters proved, on average, 22 percent more effi cient than

gas-fi red storage tank models. That translates into energy savings of around $70 to $80 per year based on 2008 national energy costs. CR advises that the energy savings could take longer than 10 years to recoup the cost differential over standard stor-age tank heaters. CR compared average storage tank heaters costing from $300 to $500 with on-demand heaters from $800 to $1,200. Jim Adams at Forest Lumber in Idyllwild

believes the local propane costs are likely to reduce the recovery time to less than 10 years.

Forest Lumber, Village Hardware and Com-munity Lumber all stock or can order on-de-mand water heaters and can advise prospective buyers which models might best suit their needs. Marshall Smith can be reached at marshall@towncrier.com.

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Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011 - Page 11

By Vicki L. JakubacConservation Specialist

Here at the Pine Cove Water District (PCWD), General Man-ager Jerry Holldber feels that conservation should be a part of our daily lives, whether or not we are in a drought situation. And this winter has produced a variety of weather patterns that raise the question, “Are we still in a drought?” December brought a signifi cant amount of rain in a very short span of time. January brought some warmer, dry weather. February brought a large amount of snow and so it certainly seems like we are having a wet winter. Regardless of what weather conditions we are experiencing at any point in time, the real issue is how long it takes to recharge ground water defi cits resulting from years of drought. When you are sitting in your home with snow piled up to your windowsills, it is hard to imagine that we are actually still in a drought situation. But it is important to remember that while the

precipitation totals might look impres-sive, they can be deceiving. Recharging the water table takes more than one wet winter. And just because we

may appear to have a suffi cient water supply at a particular point in time, it doesn’t mean we should use that supply with reckless aban-don. Water conservation, along with tapping

Water conservation on the Hill is importantinto alternative water sources such as rainwater harvesting, helps to assure that there will be a consistent supply of fresh, clean drinking water

for years to come. Water is a precious commodity everywhere, but especially here on the Hill. By making water conser-vation part of our daily lives, we are being good stewards of the resources we have available here on the Hill. At PCWD, we believe it is best to practice water conser-vation on a daily basis, rather than waiting until the situation gets desperate. PCWD has three water conser-vation stages. Each stage has spe-cifi c water-use requirements that Holldber said he feels are impor-tant for maintaining an adequate water supply for residents in Pine Cove. We are currently in Stage 1,

which is the least restrictive and calls for voluntary compliance. And the simple fi xes,

like repairing leaky plumbing, prevent-ing irrigation run-off, and refrain-ing from washing down sidewalks, driveways or park-ing areas ensure we don’t move into more restric-tive conservation stages. Run full loads in the dish-washer and wash-ing machine. Use compost in your garden and add wood chips to retain moisture. These are all simple things that we can all do every day. With proper management of our resources, we can assure ourselves an adequate sup-ply of potable water for many years to come. For more information on what you can do to conserve water, please contact your local water district.

Town Crier File

Town Crier File

Town Crier FilePCWD General Manager

Jerry Holldber

Page 12 - Idyllwild Town Crier, Homes & Land 2011