Water Authority Comments on Release of Statewide Residential Per Capita Water-Use Figures
November 04, 2014
“We appreciate the State Water Resources Control Board’s efforts to draw attention to water conservation across California with today’s release…
“We appreciate the State Water Resources Control Board’s efforts to draw attention to water conservation across California with today’s release of residential per capita water-use figures. However, significant differences in climates, land use and economies mean that it is often difficult to make accurate comparisons between regions and water agencies using this metric. What’s more important is to measure each region’s progress toward greater water-use efficiency.
“For more than two decades, San Diego County has been a statewide leader in water conservation, helping to fashion some of the nation’s first water-use efficiency standards for toilets and clothes washers, and embracing a range of outdoor conservation measures to make the most of every drop. Our large and diverse region with 3.1 million people and a $206 billion economy has decreased its overall per capita water use by more than 20 percent since 2007.
“This region is engaged and striving to conserve more as we prepare for the possibility that 2015 will be a fourth consecutive dry year. Despite extremely high temperatures, water users cut water use by 6 percent in August and 4 percent in September, compared to the same months in 2013. A host of community partners is helping reinforce the water-saving ethic – from San Diego Zoo Global and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to the San Diego Padres and Chargers and local restaurant industry associations. Residents, businesses and institutions are responding: our classes for WaterSmart landscape makeovers have a waiting list, and applications for our WaterSmart Turf Replacement Program have grown at an amazing pace.
“Our region is moving in the right direction for water conservation, and we know that San Diego County residents will answer water-saving calls for action as they have in the past – by continuing to find ways they can conserve even more.”
— Maureen Stapleton, general manager, San Diego County Water Authority
NOTE: For information about drought conditions and conservation-related resources, go to www.whenindrought.org.