Stricter mandatory water conservation goals are on the way for non-farm water users across California, but each water supplier is setting its own course to meet that goal.
Despite having the same target, new water restrictions taking effect June 1 vary wildly between jurisdictions. While state residents in aggregate will be ordered to cut their water usage by a quarter compared to two years ago, customers of different water utilities face vastly different targets.
How much depends in large part on how well, or how poorly, one’s neighbors have saved water in recent years. Customers of utility districts using very little, including Arcata, San Francisco and Santa Cruz will face a further 8 percent in cuts. Areas deemed more profligate, including many in our region face some heavy lifting, with cuts as high as 36 percent.
Max Gomberg is a senior environmental scientist with the state water board.
“We need everyone to conserve as much water as possible because we don’t know if the drought’s going to end this winter, and if the drought continues, we’ll be happy that we saved every drop of water, its insurance against even more drastic cuts if the drought continues,” Gomberg said.
Local residents in that top tier include those served by the Bella Vista Water District, Paradise Irrigation District, South Feather Water and Power Agency, Olivehurst Public Utility District, along with the cities of Redding, Anderson, Red Bluff, Susanville and Lincoln. Cuts in many other localities are only slightly less draconian. Customers in Yuba City, Chico and in the Linda County Water District will have to cut usage by about just under a third.
“We are calling upon water suppliers to target their efforts at their highest users,” Gomberg said. “Residents and businesses that have already cut back and are using say 55 gallons per person per day or less, they don’t have a lot more room to conserve.”
In coming days, we’ll focus in on the different ways individual water districts in the North State plan to achieve those goals.
To see the water conservation performance of all North State regions, view this PDF.