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Published on 09/22/1999 All articles from this issue

Water district out to educate Hills residents about conservation

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By Wendy Marinaccio

Special to the Town Crier

In the wake of findings that show Los Altos Hills regularly using 20 percent more than its annual Hetch-Hetchy allotment and that residents use 85 percent of their water on landscaping, Purissima Hills Water District is promoting water conservation by education.

The district plans to inform citizens of classes available around Los Altos Hills about drought-tolerant and water-efficient gardening and landscaping.

The district will also consult a landscape architect, study water-saving ordinances in Hillsborough and Alameda, and work with some of its "high-use" customers to try to reduce water use, said Jan Fenwick, president of the district's board of directors.

Conservation is an issue for the district because Los Altos Hills is an area of heavy water use, which may have trouble in a drought.

To provide an emergency water supply, the district received an easement this month to build a well, Fenwick said at a Sept. 8 district board meeting.

District manager Patrick Walter also announced preliminary talks with Santa Clara Valley Water District about extending a water line to the Gunn High School neighborhood. "We want to have a backup supply," Walter said. "It's always good to have a second source."

At its Sept. 8 meeting, the district also discussed implications of a possible pathway to connect La Loma Drive with an open space area behind two district water tanks. Water district officials were concerned a pathway around the tanks would invite vandalism.

could conceivably contaminate the water supply.

Les Earnest, a member of the town's Pathways, Recreation and Parks Committee, told the district Sept. 8 he would look into alternatives to the proposed route, including a path that would curve around the underside of the 20-foot tall tank, which sits on a hillside.