EDITORIAL: Californian's Roses and raspberries

The 'Water Wise' award

A rose to residents in San Diego and Riverside counties for reducing their water use by 13 percent.

The reduction comes after the Metropolitan Water District, the regional supplier for most of Southern California, informed water districts in July that water supplies would be cut by 10 percent for the next 12 months.

In Riverside County, consumption is 15 percent under the allocation for Western Municipal Water District, which distributes water to about 850,000 people concentrated in the Interstate 15 corridor, including Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and parts of Murrieta and Temecula.

Over at the Eastern Municipal Water District, which serves 675,000 people in Menifee, Moreno Valley, French Valley, Hemet, Perris and Temecula, water use is down 10 percent.

Of course, we still need to get through the next six months ---- including the hot summer months when water use spikes ---- but these reductions are a good sign