Resident In Sustainable Eco-Village In L.A. Lives On 10 Gallons Of Water A Day
KOREATOWN (CBSLA.com) — With new state-mandated water restrictions, every Californian has to be water-wise, and a small community in Southern California is leading the way by going to extremes to conserve water.
In Los Angeles' Eco-Village, a two-block community in Koreatown, Laura Allen and other residents are committed to sustainable urban living.
As CBS2's Laurie Perez reports, they're mostly car-free, grow their own fruits and vegetables, raise chickens, and conserve and recycle water.
Allen has been hearing and heeding the drought warning with every wood-chipped step for almost two decades.
"One side sends the water to the sewer system and the other side sends it out to the gray water irrigation system," she said.
Every time Allen washes her clothes, she says she is also watering her plants and has also diverted the sink water.
A similar set of easy-to-install and affordable pipes, she says, give water new life.
"It's watering some thorn less blackberries. It's watering a grapevine and a mulberry bush, and it's also watering some raspberries," she said.
Allen figures she lives on about 10 gallons per day while she says the average L.A. resident uses hundreds a day.
"The good thing about our houses and our home landscapes is we can change tonight we can today do something different," she said.
As an advocate with GreywaterAction.org, Allen has helped craft local and state water regulations.
She says the state's new mandated restrictions and goal to reduce overall water use by 25 percent are a great start but are only a start.
"It could easily be more. I mean, we are wasting so much water every day," said Allen, who has written a book that describes how to make the change to conserve more water.