I live in Winterhaven, and I have a major concern that needs to be brought to the attention of all Tucson residents.
This concern: the negligent and irresponsible water usage in the Winterhaven neighborhood. As most of us are aware, the National Weather Service’s Southeast Arizona Drought Monitoring data clearly indicates that all of Pima County is in a severe drought.
The reason for my alarm pertains to the various water companies and communities that utilize—and waste—more water than others from the main water aquifer that sits beneath Tucson. There are numerous water companies serving Pima County. Some companies are big, but many are small—and there is one particular water company that flagrantly disregards the drought situation in Pima County. This company belongs to Winterhaven and is known as the Winterhaven Water and Development Company (WWDC).
The WWDC board of directors meets regularly and often; the members seem overly consumed with making sure that the landscape and building/painting bylaws given to each homeowner are followed, especially since Winterhaven became recognized as a historic neighborhood. As everyone in Tucson knows, Winterhaven is the one neighborhood you can drive through where 95 percent of the homeowners maintain fairly large grass-based lawns. About a decade ago, the WWDC passed a ruling that residents must maintain at least 50 percent of their front yard in grass, with the other 50 percent having WWDC-approved landscaping materials and foliage. Many homes were grandfathered and did not have to follow this regulation. Hence, there are a couple of homes that have been xeriscaped, which is exactly what we need since we do live in a desert community.
This winter, the scuttlebutt in the neighborhood is that the WWDC wants to propose a new rule that would require homeowners to maintain their grassy yards throughout the winter, most likely by requesting a seeding of winter rye. Sure, this sounds nice, having beautiful green lawns throughout the year, but let’s not forget the enormous amount of water that is needed to keep these grasses green all year long, not to mention the related costs of maintaining these lawns.
The average Tucson homeowner with a family of four uses around 15,000 gallons of water each month for cooking, bathing, flushing toilets, watering their yards and doing laundry. When they use more water, the increase in their monthly bill is very noticeable. However, in Winterhaven, each homeowner is allotted 40,000 gallons per month, and it costs only $54—and that includes trash pickup. Only about a third of the $54 per month goes toward supporting the WWDC to supply water to their residents; essentially, each resident can use 40,000 gallons each month for a direct cost of less than $18.
With Pima County being in a severe drought, the fact that the WWDC is allegedly proposing that each resident continue to use that maximum amount of water throughout the year to keep their lawns green is preposterous. Although the WWDC has suggested that residents install certain kinds of sprinkler systems or change to low-flow toilets, the reality is that the WWDC is unrepentant and uncaring in helping to solve the problem of conserving water. While many homeowners would like to xeriscape their yards, the WWDC requires a costly and lengthy review, which ultimately leads to a negative response. The WWDC wants lawns, period.
If certain climatic conditions improve, the drought of Pima County may change, possibly for the better, but it is more likely to remain as it is, or even worsen as time goes by. It is time for the WWDC to allow its residents to conform to living in a desert environment. The WWDC will not listen to its own residents, so perhaps the cries of thirsty Tucson residents would demand some restraint on behalf of the WWDC.
The neighborhood that once reminded many of us of where Ozzie and Harriet lived is long gone. It is time to request a responsible conservation effort by the WWDC regarding the one factor that enables all living creatures to survive: water. Essentially, the WWDC needs a wake-up call. We live in a desert. We are in a severe drought. The need to be responsible and take the necessary actions to conserve water and not waste it on lawn-based landscaping has long passed.
Open your eyes, Winterhaven. The aquifer that sits below the region will not survive with your elitist sense of entitlement.
Ken Mowbray is a paleoanthropologist who has traveled the world in order to better understand human and nonhuman primate evolutionary pathways. Dr. Mowbray has written and/or collaborated on numerous publications in scientific journals. He is a native Tucsonan.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2009.
Several points:
1. The average water use in Winterhaven in 2008 was slightly more than 15,000 gallons per month per household — pretty much right in line with the average cited by Mowbray.
2. In 2005 Winterhaven adopted aggressive education and incentive programs to reduce water use. These have resulted in a 40% decline in water use.
3. The landscape guidelines are not imposed by Winterhaven’s “leaders.” They are instead adopted by a majority vote of the homeowners. If Dr. Mowbray wants to change the landscape guidelines, he could — and should — bring his suggestions to the membership for a vote.
For the sake of Dr. Mowbray’s professional career, I hope he does a better job of researching his scientific publications than he did this article. “Scuttlebutt” and speculation are no substitute for facts and truth.
To the individual who is posted the first opinion, you are clueless and are reminiscent of the bellowing sounds of a crying elephant. Your average for Winterhaven water usage is faulty. The bylaws governed by the WWDC specifically note that lawns be maintained, and there has been many letters threatening assessments sent to the homes that do not water their lawns. If you average the homes that follow the rules, the average is well over 40,000 gallons.
In addition, a letter of ruling to be voted on was circulated to a select group of residents, in which the year-round green lawns is proposed. It is not speculation, you are probably not in loop, or you are on the WWDC board and prefer to ignore our responsibility to conserving water.
You are irresponsible in thinking that Winterhaven is saving water and you sound as foolish as the current WWDC President who was seen on TV this last week by berating a resident over a hot chocolate stand; by the way, the previous president ran a hot chocolate stand in his yard during the Festival of Lights and was not shut down. Wake up and smell the creosote…….oh you can’t because there is nothing but lawns in Winterhaven.
The WWDC has made efforts in reducing the amount of water usage throughout the neighborhood. They promote the usage of and offer rebates on some low water flow appliances and devices. The primary reason in their efforts to cut water usage was to keep the WWDC rated as a “Small Water Company”. You see if a water company exceeds more than 250 acre feet per year of water usage that Water Company could be considered a large water company and would therefore be forced to follow more stringent state regulations that would be costly for the WWDC to maintain. At one point the WWDC did exceed that amount so they instituted a water policy that would possibly help to ensure they stay below the 250 acre feet per year usage of water, and they have since that point. So as you see the efforts to conserve were initially based on monetary concerns.
The current landscape guidelines do require the large lawns yet do offer a listing of plants that may be acceptable for use in the neighborhood that are more water friendly. I believe that the point to be made is there is no allowance to completely xeriscape ones property to try to be in harmony with our desert surroundings and take full advantage of the low water use technology and landscaping that is available in sympathy of our drought situation. Yes the home owner’s decided to institute the current guidelines, but due to the nature of our drought situation an individual home owner that feels a desire to be in concert with the Sonoran Desert (and the fact that this area is severely under our average rainfall) is not able to make the changes to their landscape that they feel would be responsible.
The current water policy for the WWDC (which was instituted by the WWDC Board and not a vote of homeowners) allows each homeowner with single lot 40,000 gallons of water each month and 25,000 gallons a month if Tucson Water calls for a “Water Emergency” Now most homes in Winterhaven do not use the 40,000 gallon allotment each month but many do. According to the November 2009 listings of the WWDC 82 homes used more than 15,000 gallons which is above the average usage for the rest of Tucson. There were 6 homes above the 40,000 gallon limit (fines are assessed), an additional 17 homes above 30,000 gallon usage, and an additional 59 homes above the 20,000 gallon usage. There are many homes under 15,000 gallon usages but lawns are dormant in November and there are some of these homeowners that choose not to maintain their property in accordance with the WWDC guidelines. I will admit that I have at times exceeded the 40,000 gallon limit and in November I used more than 20,000 gallons. I have 6,000 square feet of lawn to maintain that I would prefer be lush Sonoran Desert vegetation.
Now what the responder “Sun Dried Curmudgeon” needs to realize is that this article was talking about allotments of water and MEAN usage values based on population studies which are completely different than just a base average per lot. The writer of the article was trying to make a point that we in Winterhaven do use more water and that an individual homeowner is powerless to make the changes they may feel is necessary just because the majority people in the area are not sensitive to the concerns of a single homeowner, which does not invalidate the majority position.
Personally I feel that the residents of EWinterhaven that wish to maintain their landscape as they are is fine but exceptions need to be made for those that wish to make the changes they feel necessary in their hearts that are appropriate to our current drought situation.
If you don’t like the weather, MOVE!!! Winterhaven is the one bright spot in Tucson where you can look at something other than creosote…yuck. Winterhaven is still Ozzie and Harriet. The day the neighborhood goes Sonoran is the day I move out. Until then, you can leave in search of browner pastures. No offense, of course. The reason one moves to Winterhaven is for the greenery…I’m just saying…
A friend of mine wrote an article about Winterhaven at Christmas and how much joy the community brings to Tucson. Winterhaven has been an oasis in winter and summer. We, in Winterhaven, enjoy sharing our community with Tucson, especially at Christmas, as we have done for 50 years.
We have reduced our water usage throughout the year with conservation programs. We will continue to do so, while providing an oasis in the desert.
The Wishing Tree
Published
by
Hildy
on December 21, 2009
in My Inspiration
.
Last night we were part of an annual tradition for many here in Tucson – we walked through Winterhaven.
Winterhaven is an entire square ½ mile neighborhood where virtually everyone decorates their homes for the holidays. With the exception of two or three nights of the two-week Festival of Lights, traffic is confined only to walking. Over the course of that two weeks, 60,000 people will stroll aimlessly, staring at display after display of color and art and beauty.
Winterhaven is always pure joy, and last night was no exception. The thing that is always striking, though, is that of all the hundreds of homes in Winterhaven, there are only two where people stop, gather, claw to get to the front. The obvious one – the one where fountains and lights are synchronized to music – is not the one I feel the need to visit every year.
It is the second house that calls to me and amazes me. That is the house with the Wishing Tree.
People writing wishes
Every year, the family who creates the Wishing Tree sets a folding table at the curb of their home, garnished with strips of construction paper, crayons, markers, staples and tape. Visitors are invited to write their wishes on those strips, and to attach those wishes to a huge pine tree in a chain that drapes to the ground and around the girth, layer after layer.
People wait, ten and twenty and thirty at a time, to write down their wishes and pin them to the tree.
Every year, I want to be sure we walk by the Wishing Tree, and obviously I’m not alone. Kids may wish for toys and games, but the adults are all wishing for peace and health, for loved ones and for the world.
There is something in us that is miraculous, this desire for something better. Every year as we stroll through Winterhaven, that desire for a better world comes sweeping over me.
Wishing TreeAnd I smile to think that the biggest competition for the house with the synchronized lights is a lone tree, some construction paper, and the human spirit.
Do you realize that the main article is not about how much water each house in Winterhaven uses, but its entitled allotment? Your Festival of Lights has nothing to do with wasting water. The idiocy of Winterhaven residents is mind-blowing.
If you only knew the reality of what goes on behind the scenes – unfortunately, the majority of Tucson saw a glimpse of the current WWDC President making an fool of himself on a local TV station after berating a local resident – after about $85000.000 is collected from The City of Tucson ($60,000) and though a minimal charging of vendors – except those who’s children wish to sell hot chocolate and learn something about civic responsibility, economy, and community citizenship – the WWDC donates less then $7000.00 to the food bank. Yes the Food Bank does receive donations around $34,000 during the Festival of lights, but that is due to the kindness of visitors, not through any great contribution that the WWDC gives to the Food Bank, so the people of Tucson should know that not penny of money is appropriated to homeowners who pay for the electricity and the lights that everyone love to view each year. In fact, the lights that were purchased through a generous contribution by TEP (a publicly traded company, and for which the Winterhaven Regulations state that no corporate sponsorship is allowed) and hung in trees that are “adopted by the Winterhaven Events Committee, need to receive electricity from someplace, so it comes down to whomever’s the property grows, is responsible for providing the electricity to it, at the cost of the homeowner – not WWDC.
A couple of years a ago, a resident who have a corner house on Country Club and Kleindale Rd, took it upon himself to build a Santa’s house, and dressed up as Santa and greeted visitors of all ages. He asked for help with food or money be donated to the Food Bank. The WWDC was furious with is actions and at a board meeting, accused him of stealing the money raised…by the way is completely ridiculous. The Community Food Bank raised more money and food that year because of the generosity of the sole individual and was officially recognized by the Food bank for his hard work and contributions. And at a Board Meeting, a member accused him of not giving the money to the food bank. The resident refused to help the following year and instead focused on helping out giving toys for tots that is managed honorably by the US Marine Corp. That resident was berated my board members, so the resident has decided not to try and help Tucson via the Festival of Lights.
And another thing, after the individual raised close to $1300 and boxes of food for the Food Bank, the WWDC sent a message to all the residents living in Winterhaven taking credit for his actions – despite the initial threats at the beginning of the Festival that he was going to be shut down, via orders by the President of WWDC.
The Festival of Lights is run by the Winterhaven Events Committee, and with Winterhaven, one of the “hayride” vendors just happens to be a close friend to a Board Member (or former board Member). The amount of money raised by te hayrides does not go to the helping feed the hungry, the money goes to lining lining the pockets of the vendors —- by the way, one of which is allowed to have a concession stand —— and it has been told to me more than once, that the horse vendors survive the entire year just by “financially raping” the Tucson community, hence they work a couple of weeks a year hear in Winterhaven and are able to pay most of their personal financial obligations. Why doesn’t Winterhaven require more money to be charged by the vendors to give to the Food Bank?
And, furthermore, why have these outrageous prices and wagon rides in the first place, unless they were green or needed only a contribution to the Food Bank? Tucson needs to realize that the majority of Food Bank contributions are made during the nights in which cars line up for miles to enter the Winterhaven neighborhood. The walk through nights – albeit nice for residents to stroll though, walk up and onto lawns – without permission – and take pictures – is a lovely idea and can be fun; I do this with my own family each year. BUT, this has nothing to do with Winterhaven being Tucson’s Oasis during the holiday season. (Did you know that the “WWDC Oasis” will make a resident remove any item that promotes a single and particular religious activity – such as having a Nativity scene displayed; and when it is not, it is only because the house that displays it is either not on a traditional viewing route. the homeowner is a friend – or on – the Board of the WWDC.
So you see, the Oasis you think Winterhaven creates has nothing to do with water usage. And taking a monthly – to yearly average is statistically meaningless when it comes to water use. It is the MEDIAN that needs to be referenced, not the MEAN.
And it Winterhaven is so concerned with saving water, why don’t the WWDC Board of Members propose that the “allotment of water each month” be dropped to 15,0000 gallons per home, and if more water than that is used, let the “fines” fall where they will. I know for a fact, though, that the lot sizes are very different throughout the neighborhood and some corner lots have more than 6,000 sq. ft of lawn to water, and if you think that 40,000 gallons of water per month is enough to keep them green, all I can say is that ignorance is bliss and senility must be hell.