The results are as follows: As California endured the driest three years on record, urban water users went to great lengths to conserve water, but Gavin said he would cut water use by 15%. It fell far short of Governor Newsom’s demands.
Between July 2021, when Mr. Newsom first called for water users to voluntarily cut back, and March of this year, when he withdrew that request after a very wet winter, the statewide savings rate was 7%. , that is, about half of the requested amount. That’s about 9 gallons less per person per day, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.
Findings varied significantly by region and water body, with the North Coast and San Francisco Bay regions saving the most water at 14% and 12%, respectively, compared to the base year 2020. The inland Lake Tule and Colorado River regions had the lowest savings, at 4% and 2%, respectively. (Analysis does not include agricultural water use.)
State officials say the figure reflects the long-term savings Californians have made in recent decades, including significant savings during the 2012-2016 drought that ended just a few years before Newsom’s request. They say they are misrepresenting conservation efforts.
But they also acknowledged that there is considerable room for improvement. Statewide residential usage averaged about 85 gallons per person per day. For comparison, if a Californian cut their usage by 15%, they would use 79 gallons per day.
Charlotte Ealy, conservation supervisor for the State Water Resources Board, said, “We could definitely do better than that.”
In July 2021, California was nearly two years into what was fast becoming one of its most devastating droughts. Fifty counties were under a drought emergency when Newsom stood in front of San Luis Obispo County’s dwindling Lake Lopez and urged residents to cut water use by 15 percent.
Newsom said on March 24, 2019, after a flurry of atmospheric rivers replenishing reservoirs, bringing record and near-record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, and drought conditions easing significantly across the state. canceled this call.
But many experts criticized Mr. Newsom’s voluntary stance during the drought and called for mandated cuts, like his predecessor Jerry Brown, who ordered a 25% cut during the 2012-2016 drought. argued that it should have been Residents have reduced their water usage by 24.5%, just short of the target.
The Newsom administration has focused on a targeted drought response based on local conditions, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach that fails to take into account past investments in key water use factors such as conservation and climate. said there is.
“7 percent is still an amazing number, considering what was achieved in less than two years, and more than the water savings the state has maintained since the last drought,” Ealy said. “So I think what we’ve seen in the last decade is really a conservation success story.”
But some experts say the results are evidence that more could have been done.
“This number is disappointing given that it’s just under half the amount requested,” said Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a water think tank.
A 2022 report from the Institute found that Californians could reduce their water use by 30% to 48% by adopting many technologies, efficiency standards and low-water landscaping. Cooley said indoor usage could be around 25 to 35 gallons per person per day.
He blamed the governor’s spontaneous appeals for the lackluster overall state response, saying messages were inconsistent and often unclear about the seriousness of the situation.
“I think it was potentially a disaster,” Cooley said. “If it had been another dry winter, we would have been obliged.” [restrictions] Because it helps us conserve the limited water we have and allows us to stretch it further. ”
Still, the effort seemed to work better in some areas than others. Los Angeles and the South Coast region, which includes half the state’s population, saw a 6% reduction in water use, or about 7 gallons per person per day, according to the analysis.
In June 2022, as the drought deepened, the Southern California Metropolitan Water District, the region’s leading water wholesaler, relied on the State Water Project, an extensive network of canals and pipelines to bring water from Northern California to farmlands. ordered unprecedented restrictions on areas where and southern cities.
The order was primarily in response to state quota cuts, including a 35% reduction in water use for approximately 7 million people in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties. was
Brad Coffey, MWD’s water resource management group manager, said local residents “will use enough water to extend the supply of available water for the next nine months until restrictions are lifted in March.” We were able to reduce it,” he said.
But while the region has been successful in supplying scarce supplies, operating under emergency restrictions is seen as a last resort and “is not a sign of success,” Coffey said.
“We have been working for years to prepare for climate change, but these changes are coming even faster than we expected and we need to act quickly to adapt,” he said. I was.
The agency is committed to a more sustainable reduction of water use through investments in: New infrastructure and local suppliesand encourage more water-efficient landscapes, irrigation systems, indoor plumbing and appliances, he said.
In response to MWD’s order, one of its largest customers, the Los Angeles Water and Power Authority, has elected to place its entire service area, home to approximately 4 million people, under a two-day per week watering limit, or during a drought. below the volumetric distribution of
DWP says the effort was a success.
“LADWP has been able to stay below the monthly MWD volume allocation that was in effect from June 2022 to March 2023 through the tireless efforts of our customers and staff,” said spokesperson Mia Rose. Wong said in an email.
However, the analysis found that DWP fell short of the 15% reduction demanded by Newsom, resulting in cumulative savings of just 5%, or 5 gallons per person per day.
Rosewong said customers have been striving aggressively for efficiency over the past 30 years, making it “increasingly difficult for customers to cut” the gallons per person per day. I was.
“Nevertheless, water usage has decreased by more than 30% over the past 15 years, so we are proud of the response from our customers who are enthusiastic about maintaining water-efficient habits,” Rosewong said.
He added that DWP uses a 12-month moving average to track savings because it accounts for changes in population and weather throughout the year. The 12-month moving average for residential, commercial and industrial users in the City of Los Angeles went from 113 gallons per person per day in July 2021 to “less than 105 gallons” in March. For comparison, the same 12-month moving average was 126 gallons statewide, she said.
However, not everything in the Los Angeles area was so successful.
From July to March 2021, El Segundo used 25% more water than the rest of the state. City officials said the high consumption was largely due to a large sewage spill at the Hyperion sewage treatment plant in 2021. As a result of the spill, recycled water production was lost and had to be replaced with potable water for several months.
Far north in California, the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District is technically the highest performing district in the state, reducing water usage by 41%. But general manager John Friedenbach said the numbers were somewhat distorted because power plants, the largest water users, shut down in 2022. He said the rest of the district’s savings were “pretty average.”
Healdsburg, Sonoma County, the next largest saving city in the state, saw a 35% reduction. Healdsburg has long been touted as an example of effective water conservation, achieving significant water savings through household water caps, a recycled water transport program, a near-total ban on outdoor irrigation, and other conservation efforts. I was.
But while the wet winter has given California some much-needed reprieve, experts and officials say now is not the time for residents to let their guard down. While extreme precipitation is frequent, climate change is expected to make the region generally hotter and drier.
“People may wonder why we should worry about our savings when Lake Tulea is shaping up again, but it really helps us face these long-term challenges. I think they’re just aware of what they’re doing,” said Ealy of the State Water Board. He noted that hotter, drier conditions could reduce existing water supplies by 10% by 2040.
“So all the water-saving habits we’ve developed over the last decade will continue to help us in the face of long-term dryness,” she said.
The state is working on the deployment of a new “”.Making Conservation a California LifestyleEaly said the framework will help more than 400 urban water retailers set their own goals, drive long-term savings statewide, and more.
The state legislature is also considering two bills that could lead to further savings. Among them is a bill banning the use of drinking water. some decorative grassthe other requires non-residential projects to: Migration to low water and local native plants.
But in the next few years, California also faces a major disruption to one of its water lifelines, the shrinking Colorado River.
Cooley of the Pacific Institute said these cuts, combined with the forecast for even drier conditions, mean that maintaining efficiency and a spirit of conservation is critically important to California and the West.
“We need to continue to drive efficiencies to make the most of the resources we have, and start preparing for the next drought that may be around the corner,” she said. said.
