Local agencies fall short in water conservation efforts

Area’s wholesaler will now cut deliveries by 15 percent



 

 

No more gentle nudges. Now it gets tough.

Local residents are being told to cut back on their water use, and this time they won’t have a choice.

Because voluntary conservation has faltered, the wholesale water supplier to the region, Metropolitan Water District, announced Tuesday it would reduce deliveries by 15 percent starting July 1.

On April 1, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order to reduce urban water use statewide by 25 percent based on 2013 usage levels. One week later the State Water Resources Control Board unveiled a plan that will place the heaviest conservation burden on communities that have the highest per capita rate of water consumption.

The mandate comes on the heels of a voluntary 20 percent cutback request in 2014 that residents and businesses failed to meet.

“It’s for real. This is not a manufactured drought in any sense,” said Eric Bergh, resource manager for the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which distributes Met’s potable water to six cities and some unincorporated areas in Ventura County.

Per capita potable water consumption in some California water agencies varies between 40 gallons and 500 gallons per person per day, a function of climate and other factors. The statewide average is about 75 gallons per day.

Customers in Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD)—which serves Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village and nearby unincorporated areas—use 323 gallons of potable water per capita day and reduced their consumption by only 4 percent between June 2014 and February 2015. The City of Beverly Hills cut back only 3 percent, a prisoner of its lavish landscaping.

Up to 70 percent of the potable water used in the Las Virgenes and Conejo valleys, Moorpark, Simi Valley and Camarillo is used for lawns and gardens.

According to Bergh, “The real focus is going to be on outdoor water use, calling for the removal of 50 million square feet of turf statewide. Since January 2014, about 9 million square feet of turf has either already been removed or is slated to be removed within the Calleguas service area.”

Jeff Reinhardt, spokesperson for LVMWD, said the gallon per capita day measurement is not a good one.

The state’s method places emphasis on population density, such as apartments and multifamily dwellings, and ignores property size as the driving factor in water use, Reinhardt said, adding that LVMWD serves a number of larger equestrian ranch and estate properties.

David Pedersen, general manager for LVMWD, said, “This is a time when we need to call on our customers to take extraordinary measures to deal with the state’s record drought.”

The additional cutbacks needed to meet Brown’s new target of 25 percent depend on how much conservation has already been achieved by a city or a water agency.

According to state figures published last week, Moorpark had the best regional showing year over year at 17 percent, but city residents and businesses will be required to cut even further.

Residents who draw water through the City of Thousand Oaks lowered their use by 10 percent, but will need to cut back another 15 percent to meet the conservation standard outlined by the State Water Board.

As the December rains dried and gave way to a parched 2015, the South Coast hydrologic region, home to more than half of the state’s residential water customers, actually increased its water use in the month of February.

New strategies

Cities and agencies throughout California are scrambling to understand what the new regulations will mean for them, and are working to provide feedback to the state.

But Mark Norris, manager of the Triunfo Sanitation District, said the window of opportunity for local water agencies to provide input is short.

“ The heat is really being turned up on our conservation efforts, and it’s out of necessity,” he said.

The City of Calabasas took steps and implemented a citywide Smart Irrigation Control System that automatically adjusts irrigation run times in response to environmental changes. The smart system reduced water consumption by approximately 25 percent, the city said.

Norris said smart meters are being installed in Oak Park to track usage in real time, and Las Virgenes is rolling out a new billing method that will give each household a customized allocation based on the number of occupants, property size and other considerations.

Southern California hasn’t felt the full effects of the drought because the supplies stored in regional reservoirs remain adequate, but as the drought persists the reserves are being depleted.

Water agencies that exceed their Metropolitan Water District allocation will face stiff penalties.

“Everybody is going to have to take it up a notch. The penalty for going over the allotment will be significant,” Norris said.

“ We know it will be difficult, but we’re in an unprecedented drought,” Metropolitan board chairman Randy Record said.

Critics say the new conservation measures focus too much on urban consumption and not enough on agriculture, which uses the lion’s share of the state’s water.

Bergh said while many farmers rely on groundwater, even that source is being depleted at an accelerated rate.

While the local agencies are able to dictate supply, they cannot control demand, and as residential and commercial developers propose new projects that require additional water, it will be up to city and county politicians to decide what construction should or should not be approved.

“We need to cut back on water demand or we could be in a world of hurt in 2016,” Bergh said.

John Loesing contributed to this article.


 

 

 

 

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