San Diego Area Water Use Tumbles in July

Photo: Southern California residents share their opinion on the drought. Photo by Renee Schiavone, Patch Editor

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San Diego County residents continued their strong conservation measures last month, with only three local water suppliers exceeding state-mandated cutback targets.

The largest water distributor in the region, the city of San Diego, saw a 29 percent reduction in July, compared to July 2013, the standard set by state water officials. The conservation target for San Diego is 16 percent over 2013 monthly figures.

Cumulatively, San Diegans cut back on water use by 27 percent between June and July.

Statewide, the reduction was just over 31 percent, beating Gov. Jerry Brown’s call for a 25 percent reduction as California faces a fourth straight year of drought.

“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,” said Felicia Marcus, who chairs the State Water Resources Control Board. “This isn’t your mother’s drought or your grandmother’s drought; this is the drought of the century.”

She said “conscientious Californians” were heroic, “each stepping up to help local water resources last longer in the face of an historic drought with no certain end date.”

However, customers in the Fallbrook Public Utilities District missed their state-assigned conservation target of 36 percent last month after cutting back consumption by 31 percent. Cumulatively, Fallbrook customers saved 28 percent between June and July.

The other two San Diego-area water agencies that exceeded their assigned targets last month didn’t miss by much.

Residents and businesses in the North County community of Rainbow, also with a target of 36 percent, reduced use by 35 percent. The cumulative total was 28 percent.

In the San Dieguito district, customers saved 26 percent, two percentage points shy of the goal. The cumulative total was just 22 percent.

The city of Carlsbad exceeded its conservation target of 28 percent by one point last month, but the June-July combined total of 27 percent fell slightly short.

The state reported the following figures for other local districts, with July’s reduction, the cumulative total, and conservation target:

-- Santa Fe Irrigation, 48 percent, 43 percent, 36 percent;

-- Valley Center, 48, 43, 36;

-- city of Poway, 43, 40, 32;

-- Olivenhain, 40, 36, 32;

-- Padre Dam, 40, 34, 20

-- city of Escondido, 40, 36, 20;

-- Ramona Municipal, 39, 34, 28;

-- Rincon del Diablo, 37, 33, 32;

-- Lakeside, 36, 34, 20;

-- Vallecitos, 35, 34, 24;

-- Vista Irrigation, 34, 30, 20;

-- California-American Water San Diego, 33, 30, 8;

-- city of Oceanside, 32, 29, 20;

-- Helix, 32, 28, 20;

-- Otay, 29, 28, 20; and

-- Sweetwater Authority, 27, 26, 12.

State officials said districts that lagged in conservation in June showed “big improvements” last month.

--City News Service; Photo by Renee Schiavone, Patch Editor