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Californians saved about 30 percent less water in September than they did a year earlier, and state water officials said Tuesday they might revive mandated cuts. Overall, communities statewide conserved 18.3 percent this September compared with the same time three years ago, according to data released Tuesday. But compared with the same time last year — when Californians saved 26.2 percent in water consumption — water use increased by nearly 8 percent. The state changed its water conservation program in May, switching from mandatory cuts to voluntary cuts. Officials said they would consider another change if drought conditions persist and water consumption continues to grow.

As California faces the prospect of a sixth-straight year of drought, fears have been somewhat tempered that residents and businesses would abandon water savings in response to state officials lifting mandatory conservation standards. The State Water Resources Control Board announced Tuesday that urban water use across the state, as well as in San Diego County, declined in September after having been on the rise for several months.

 

 

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board proposed a City of San Diego wastewater discharge permit to increase ocean water quality protection and water reuse. The proposed permit for the City’s Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant would ensure that all federal and state water quality standards are met.

In 2014, the City and environmental organizations signed an agreement for the City to implement a potable water reuse plan.

The real water crisis in California is water management. Two northern California reservoirs have been delayed for a decade or more. The citizens living near the proposed reservoirs want the jobs they will provide. California taxpayers have funded Water Bonds almost every two years since 1970 (40 years) but still no new northern California reservoirs.

The San Juan Water District showed the rest of California how to save water when the state needed the savings most. The supplier for eastern Sacramento and southern Placer counties cut consumption 41% from 2013 levels during the summer of 2015 — the height of a years-long drought. District residents let their acre-sized properties fade, livestock went thirsty, vineyards decayed. Then, the rain arrived. Regulators relaxed the rules and on went some spigots. This summer, the district used almost 600 million more gallons than it did last summer. Lacking a state mandate to conserve, residents’ daily consumption climbed to more than 500 gallons per person.