Dear Oxnard Residents,
Have you ever realized how much water you use per day? Throughout this paper we will be explaining how much water people use per day and what you can do to conserve water.
In our opinion we think that even though it has rained in the beginning of the year, we are not close to ending our four year drought. Since in Oxnard there are about 200,000 people, and every person uses about fifty-seven gallons per day, we use about 11,400,000 gallons per day in Oxnard! Because of the severe drought in our state, Governor Jerry Brown has asked all California residents to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 20%. If we reduce 20% like we were asked we would be reducing 912,000 gallons per day in Oxnard.
Now that you know how much water you use, we thought you would want to know about our local reservoirs. We will be talking about Lake Casitas since it’s our nearest reservoir. Did you know that in 2012 it was 80% full? It was the fullest since 2010. Most reservoirs near our area never get full. For instance, Lake Casitas first reached a full capacity and spilled in 1978. Because of the drought, in 2015 it was only 52% full. This was the lowest level between 2010 and 2015 . This is another reason why we should still conserve water.
It is very important to conserve water so we decided to explain some ways on how to conserve water. One easy and big way to save water is to try and take a ten minute shower, but you don’t necessarily need to reduce the time the most important thing is to turn off the water. Another easy way to save water is to water your yard and plants early or late in the day to reduce evaporation. You could also conserve water by sweeping your driveway instead of using your water hose. If you ever want to wash your car, you can drive your car on your lawn so it falls into your grass instead of the street or your driveway. Have you ever dropped an ice cube on the floor? If so, you should throw the ice cube in a plant.
We hope we made you understand that even though it has rained, we are still in a drought. That is why even if we get more rain we should still conserve water. We need to work together to lessen the effects of California’s drought.
Sincerely,
Desirae, Jessica, and Mariah
Your Fellow 5th grade Rio Lindo students
From Mr. Connelly’s class