Landscape Architect Articles

LASN Letters September 200608-31-06 | News

Re: What Can You Say About Water?

Editor?EUR??,,????'?????< This letter was written in response to publisher George Schmok?EUR??,,????'?????<

Dear Editor:
As the primary supplier of imported water for 18 million Southern Californians, Metropolitan Water District appreciates George Schmok?EUR??,,????'?????<
The challenge of creating a sustainable water supply has grown increasingly complex since Metropolitan was formed by a partnership of Southern California communities to build an aqueduct during the Great Depression, bringing Colorado River water to Southern California. Today, with up to 70 percent of a household?EUR??,,????'?????<
Landscape architects are incorporating cutting-edge irrigation techniques, using ?EUR??,,????'?????<
At Metropolitan, we regard the provision of high-quality water as a public trust. We also understand that we cannot squander nature?EUR??,,????'?????<
Very truly yours,
Roger K. Patterson
Assistant General Manager
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Los Angeles, Calif.

Re: ?EUR??,,????'?????<

I was privileged to receive a prepublication copy of this (feature). WOW!!! He is right on target. He points to all that we have abandoned for the sake of our scared chariots. His concepts worked perfectly in the medieval towns, the old college campuses and more recently, after a similar housing/employment crisis in Greenbelt, Md., Greenhills, Ohio and Greendale, Wis. FDR established a Resettlement Admin. (isn?EUR??,,????'?????<
We should encourage students (and legislators) to look at Lewis Mumford?EUR??,,????'?????<
Unwin?EUR??,,????'?????<
As a final thought, Venice, Italy is able to manage tourists as well as a stable community with no cars, just a railroad station and a parking lot?EUR??,,????'?????<
Thank you for your fine magazine.

Joe Cascio, Landscape Architect & Site Planner
Cascio Associates
Fairfax, Va.

Re: ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Shade trees in the desert? Where will they get the huge amounts of water needed to keep them alive? Phoenix is a human built environment in the desert; the solution needs to be part of the built environment. Sorry, this is not a good place for a solution using living plant material.

Rick Marley, Assistant City Engineer
City of Champaign
Champaign, Ill.

Re: ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The New Mexico pool builders have been dealing with the attempts by Santa Fe County to ban swimming pool construction since 1995. Not only have we been equipping pools with features designed to dramatically reduce water usage, we have also been making it easier to harvest water captured on covers and from decks to offset water loss from evaporation. Additionally, our owners are increasingly requesting that hydrants be plumbed to the pool to allow use of the pool water for fire protection in rural areas. Nonetheless, because pools are a very visible water use, this is an issue of perception rather than fact.

Your article mentions that we were not notified of the decision. In fact, we were not contacted at all prior to discussion and passage of this resolution.

Furthermore, the commission has acknowledged that perhaps this resolution was indeed done hastily without any input from the pool builders but the commission is not planning on any additional fact finding.

Linda Hermanson
Hermanson Construction, Inc.
Albuquerque, N.M.