Locals learn to save water ahead of El Nino

The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District hosted a wise water workshop, teaching more 60 people about rainwater harvesting installation.

Through demonstrations and visuals, the audience learned about different capturing devices and methods to save water fromdownpours and potentially El Nino.

“What a great opportunity that we’re going to have if we’re going to have all this rain,” said Dan Finklea, Handy Dan Construction and Greenwise Landscapes owner. “Instead of it running down and causing erosion, we’ll capture this water and we’ll use it again in our gardens or our households even.”

A class was also taught on greywater systems, where people use water from their laundry to landscaping.

Experts say using water twice puts less pressure on the environment and water systems that are running dry.

“So we use that to offset some of the potable water that we use in the garden,” said Finklea. “Instead of using potable water we’re using water from our laundry machine that’s pumped out into a mulch basin around trees or plants.”

Experts also say using greywater and rainwater harvesting can save someone thousands of dollars a year on water.