California’s cities and water districts have a long way to go to cut water use by 25 percent, the amount Gov. Jerry Brown is now demanding, according to a new analysis of state records by this newspaper.
Last year, only 14 of the state’s 412 largest cities and water districts –just 3 percent — reduced consumption by that amount despite the historic drought.
On Wednesday, facing a worsening drought, Brown signed an executive order requiring cities and water districts to cut water use by 25 percent compared to 2013 levels or face fines of up to $10,000 a day this summer.
When Brown asked for a voluntary 20 percent reduction last year, most cities, private water companies and water districts responded with mostly voluntary measures, delivering only a 9.7 percent statewide reduction. Fines for wasting water were almost nonexistent.
Those days will soon be over, state officials say, now that the drought is heading into a fourth year with virtually no Sierra snowpack and no end in sight.
“It’s been disappointing,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, which will enforce the new rules.
“Some areas have stepped up enormously, but others have not,” she said in an interview Thursday. “It’s sort of a case of collective denial. Getting people over the hope that rain will save us is a psychological barrier. Change is hard.”
Marcus also offered new details of how the governor’s new rules will be enforced.
At its meeting on May 5, the state water board will vote on specific regulations, now being drafted by its staff, that will set varying conservation targets for each city and water district.
Every community won’t be required to cut water use by the same 25 percent. The board, she said, will closely analyze per-capita water use records from each area and set a sliding scale based on who has already conserved significantly and who hasn’t.
Since June, every water agency in California with more than 3,000 customers has been required to submit monthly reports to the state water board.
A review of those reports by this newspaper found a wide disparity in per-capita residential water use.
The state average is 109 gallons per person per day. But many major urban areas — with years of conservation campaigns, recycled water projects and rebates for people who install water-efficient appliances or replace lawns with drought-tolerant plants — use substantially less than that.
From June through January, for example, the 1 million customers of San Jose Water Company averaged 85 gallons a day. The city of Los Angeles averaged 83. East Bay Municipal Utility District averaged 82, and Contra Costa Water District 113.
San Francisco, where many residents live in apartments with no lawns, averaged only 45 gallons, similar to Santa Cruz, whose strict rationing program last year cut its residential per-capita use to 46 gallons a day.
Some of the largest water-guzzling communities are in the Southern California desert. Palm Springs, for instance, averaged 347 gallons.
After the state water board decides on the conservation targets, the new rules will take effect June 1, Marcus said.
How each water agency will hit its target will be up to local leaders. But Marcus said California residents should expect many cities and water districts to impose new penalties for high water use, hire “water cops” to write tickets for watering on the wrong days or wasting water, and set up more programs to fund rebates to remove lawns and replace old appliances, with the state helping fund them.
“We hope to see greater enforcement from local agencies,” she said. “We want people to act quickly because the summer months are when most water is used. We don’t have any time to waste.”
The reaction from major Bay Area water providers Thursday was mixed.
Abby Figueroa, a spokeswoman for East Bay Municipal Utility District, said the district’s board will vote April 14 on a host of new water-conserving actions. Among them: deciding which two days a week people can water lawns and imposing an “excessive use penalty” on people who use three times as much water or more than the East Bay average. The district also plans on raising water rates by 24 percent on the average homeowner, in part to cover the costs of buying more water to make up for supplies it lost in the meager snowpack this year.
What San Jose Water Company, a privately held firm that supplies Silicon Valley’s largest city, will do to meet a statewide mandate was unclear Thursday. The company’s customers cut water use 12.9 percent last year from the prior year.
San Jose Water has asked customers to water lawns no more than three days a week, but it has not fined violators or imposed penalties for excessive water use. But the company has increased voluntary water audits and public relations campaigns, in addition to proposing a 21 percent rate increase over the next three years.
Spokesman John Tang said the company is waiting for direction from the state Public Utilities Commission, which regulates private water companies. Asked what options it has suggested to the PUC, he declined to say.
Like cities, many water companies are reluctant to cut water use because it reduces their revenue.
“It will be up to us to figure out how best to spur people to respond, and we’ll try to figure that out,” Tang said.
Santa Cruz officials say their City Council will vote April 14 on whether to reinstate a rationing program that cut water use by a quarter last year by providing every home 10 units of water for about $4 per unit — and basically charging $50 per unit above that.
“I think it’s fair that the state is cracking down on communities who haven’t taken this drought seriously,” said Eileen Cross, a spokeswoman for the Santa Cruz Water Department. “It’s a statewide problem. We all have to address it together.”
Some of the highest per-capita water users say they are moving quickly to put in new rules. The City Council in Hillsborough, with its large lots, affluent residents and the Bay Area’s highest per-capita daily water use at 250 gallons, will take up the issue April 13.
“Historically, every time there has been a statewide call to reduce water use, we have come out very strong,” said City Manager Randy Schwartz. “We have cut water use almost 25 percent in the past year, and we are sending out notices letting residents know about the governor’s order.”
The best way cities and residents can get immediate, significant water savings is to reduce how often they water their lawns, experts say. Lawns use up to 50 percent of all water in California’s urban areas.
Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN.
