Water-conservation efforts come up short; now, some residents can only water lawns 1 day a week
In an attempt to meet state reduction goals, local water suppliers are once again tightening the spigot for customers — and a reduction in the number of allowed watering days for some customers is in the works.
While the Mesa Water and Irvine Ranch Water districts failed to meet state reduction targets for September, they still appear to be on track to meet their cumulative conservation goals. However, Newport Beach’s city utility continues to fall further behind its state-mandated target.
Newport’s cumulative water savings from June to September were 22.1%, some 5.9% short of the state-mandated goal, according to data released Friday from the State Water Resources Control Board.
The board ordered Newport, which serves 66,219 customers, to cumulatively cut use 28% from June to February compared with those months in 2013.
The city hit the goal one time, in July, but missed the mark in June, August and September, when it reduced only 21%, 20% and 20.5%, respectively, the data show.
Mesa Water, which serves 108,000 customers in Costa Mesa and portions of Newport, is required to reduce water consumption by 20% compared with two years ago, but managed a 17.8% cut in September, according to the district. September is the first month the district has not met or exceeded its monthly goal.
Irvine Ranch Water District missed its goal, 16%, in September, having reduced 12.8%. Prior to September, the district, which serves 387,501 customers in parts of Newport, Irvine and unincorporated areas, missed its goal once — in June.
While it failed to meet monthly goals in September, Irvine Ranch Water District and Mesa Water still appear to be on track to meet cumulative conservation standards by February 2016 because they’ve met or exceeded reduction targets in previous months.
“We’re proud of the way our customers have saved water at their homes and businesses,” Steve LaMar, president of the IRWD Board of Directors, wrote in a prepared statement. “While we’ve done a great job of using less water this summer, we need to continue working hard to sustain this positive momentum during the fall and winter months, when it becomes more difficult to maintain higher levels of outdoor water conservation.”
Newport Beach has a bit of catching up to do, if it wants to meet state standards, according to George Murdoch, the city’s general manager for utilities.
Over the summer, the city launched an aggressive communications campaign, adding signs along street medians that remind users that “brown is the new green” and placing door hangers on houses citywide.
“We’ve exhausted most of our public-outreach efforts, in my opinion,” Murdoch said.
Beginning Nov. 1, Newport Beach residents are only permitted to water their lawns once a week, down from twice. The day of the week varies, depending where in the city residents live, but information will be provided on the city’s website this week.
The Mesa Water District board on Nov. 12 will also consider reducing watering days from twice to once per week.
Newport is also ramping up the number of warnings and citations issued to water wasters. In September, the city handed out 296 warnings and 44 penalty citations, which range from $100 to $500.
City staff also recently compiled a list of the top 100 residential water customers and top 50 commercial customers who are not meeting reduction goals. They will receive notices of violations in the next week and will have between 30 and 60 days to comply before they are issued a fine.
“We don’t like to do it, but we have to ramp it up,” Murdoch said.
Mesa Water’s General Manager Paul Shoenberger believes the reason conservation rates declined at the beginning of fall is because it has been hotter this September and October than it was during those months in 2013.
