The parable reads like a riddle: two raccoons walked into a yard, looking for a drink . . .

(For an immediate lift, scrowl way down to WHAT’S NEW/LAUGH:
a spot-on send-up of the over-allocated Colorado River and Western water policy.)

Plenty of creatures have dropped by the homestead lately in search of oasis: robins and towhees taking cooling baths in the water dishes; quail parents herding their fast-growing young chicks into the shade.

Top visit for the week: two raccoons (one adult, one cub) who paused to sniff at my study door. Their frosted fur blended with the gray, predawn woods. They walked on to the water dish that’s usually guarded by tenacious Steller’s jays. With the jays marauding somewhere else, the raccoons could drink their fill.

(Link: National Audubon Society on Building Wildlife-Friendly Fences)

Next les deux masqueraders trundled uphill toward the neighbors’ wire fence. The cub, half the size of the parent raccoon, just squeaked under the bottom wire. Turning back, he touched noses with his mom or dad.

The adult hesitated. The cub kept poking his snout between the wires—not about to leave. A tender gesture. The adult eventually flattened low and squeezed under.

No doubt we would host far fewer deer, fox, raccoons, and songbirds if we didn’t offer them something to drink. They’re like many of us: no refreshments, no party.

But they don’t ask a lot. A gallon or so a day for their thirst. Even when our household supplies that, we can keep our consumption around 20 gallons/person/day for both indoor and outdoor use, well below the median California indoor use of 48 gal/person/day.

(Median daily use for indoor plus outdoor is much higher. The average for Sacramento and Placer Counties, for instance, was 313 gallons/person/day in 2020 and, in Kern County, 327 gallons/person/day.)

(Link: Here’s Where California Household Use Is Highest)

Old habits die hard, but they can be changed. Take the story of the 2017 water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, and the phenomenal response of its citizens and government officials to avert “Day Zero.”

“After months of warnings through an anomalously long drought, Cape Town was on the verge of becoming the world’s first major city to run out of water” (MIT Technology Review). Reservoirs were heading toward 13.5% capacity, at which point the city would turn off its taps.

Day Zero never came. Something about the word zero spurred citizens to action. They complied with the 50-litres/person/day (13.21 gallons) restrictions. They installed water-capture systems to prepare for the next time it rained. They collected their shower and culinary water to douse critical plantings.

“By the time the drought eased in 2018, Capetonians had cut their water usage by nearly 60% from 2015 levels” (Princeton University’s Successful Societies). Cape Town became the most water-conserving city in the world. They also used the time they had bought with their Day Zero campaign to install three emergency desalinization plants.

Today Cape Town hasn’t shaken its drought conditions, and many of Cape Town’s people still use minimal amounts of water. They say they haven’t forgotten the fear of having nothing to drink.

(Link: What California Can Learn from Cape Town)

The turned-off tap is an unforgettable experience. Once I lived with a well that ran dry, and that moment when the pump brings up nothing is devastating. Maybe that incident constituted my own Day Zero, though California’s certainly looms as we draw down our reservoirs.

For now, waiting for direction from U.S. agencies is like waiting for a train on an abandoned line, now that the highest court in the nation has hamstrung unelected expertise.

(Link: Heather Cox Richardson on Implications of the June 30, 2022, Supreme Court Decision)

So, at our place, we’ve taken matters into our own hands and our own buckets to gather lightly used gray water from the shower and kitchen to meet minimal outdoor needs. The goal: conserve non-recycled water for all to drink.

(Link: Easy Gray Water Collection)

True, agriculture uses the bulk of our state’s fresh water. (You really do have to watch John Oliver on that. See below . . . ) Farmers, too, have long habits to change, and there are social justice questions to resolve around all of this.

Meanwhile, I can’t stop thinking of those raccoons. When the adult joined the cub on the other side of the fence, they strolled up the hill, chatting like two peers. Maybe talking over the big challenge they’d just overcome? Whatever their topic, they were definitely in it together, with a sweet camaraderie I yearn for more in my own species.

And now tell me: how are things in your garden?

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WHAT’S NEW

LAUGH: John Oliver’s funny and spot-on take on Western water policy. (Thanks to the multi-talented consultant Chelsea Peil for sharing.)

READ: My latest contribution to Writers on the Range: development and water on a mountainside in Sonoma Valley, California.

LISTEN: “Swimming Grand Canyon,” the title poem from my first collection, Swimming Grand Canyon and Other Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2021).

DONATE: Sales of my books still benefit UNICEF helping children and families in Ukraine for the foreseeable future. Help keep water flowing to refugee kids by purchasing copies of my water-driven fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

REVIEW: Not in a buying mood? Email me about receiving a complimentary review copy in your favorite genre.

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