Californians exceed state mandate for second consecutive month

Even during the peak of summer, Californians are answering the call to use less water. July numbers released by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) this week show a 31.3 percent reduction in water use compared to 2013, exceeding Governor Brown’s mandate for a second consecutive month.

The cumulative statewide savings for June and July was 29.5 percent. Conserving water in the summer months is crucial to meeting the State’s overall 25 percent savings goal through February 2016. Summer is usually when the greatest amount of water is used, particularly outdoors. State officials are urging residential water users to keep up their efforts to conserve.

“Californians’ response to the severity of the drought this summer is now in high gear and shows that they get that we are in the drought of our lives. This isn’t your mother’s drought or your grandmother’s drought, this is the drought of the century,” said Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board in a statement. “Millions of conscientious Californians are the real heroes here — each stepping up to help local water resources last longer in the face of an historic drought with no certain end date.”

July’s water savings moved the State 74.6 billion gallons closer to the goal of saving 1.2 million acre-feet by February 2016, as called for by the Governor’s executive order. Cumulative savings for June and July is 414,800 acre-feet, or 35 percent of the savings goal.

The emergency water conservation regulation requires urban water suppliers to provide monthly water use reports to the Board. Urban water suppliers are expected to meet, or exceed, their individual conservation standard starting in June and continuing through February 2016. The year 2013 serves as the baseline for determining water savings statewide. The current report is posted here.

July highlights from the SWRCB report:

• The percent of water saved by the State’s large urban water agency suppliers increased from 27.3 percent in June to 31.3 percent in July, in same-month water use comparisons of 2015 to 2013. A four percentage point increase in conservation is exceptional considering July is historically one of the highest water-consuming months in California.

• The amount of water saved in July 2015 (74.6 billion gallons) is more than four times the amount of water saved in July 2014 (18.0 billion gallons), when the State’s voluntary 20 percent conservation goal was in effect.

• Statewide, the average residential water use was 98 gallons per capita per day for July 2015, a similar level of residential water use as reported in June 2015 (98.1 residential gallons per capita per day, or R-GPCD), but significantly lower than residential water use in July 2014 (statewide average R-GPCD of 132.9).

• 290 water suppliers, serving 29.2 million people, met or exceeded their conservation standard in July, up from 265 water suppliers in June. 98 water suppliers exceeded their conservation standard by 10 percent, while 67 water suppliers exceeded their conservation standard by 15 percent or more.