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Long Beach named California’s Leader in Water Management; the city wins California’s Green Leadership award

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 9, 2008 at 6:51 am

From a press release from the rightfully proud Long Beach Water Department:

Long Beach has been named the winner of the 2008 Green California Leadership Award for Water Management at the Green California Summit, being held this week in Sacramento. The Green California Leadership Award recognizes outstanding environmental achievements by state and local government. Awards were presented in each of the following categories: Climate Change; Waste Management; Energy Innovation; Transportation; Green Building; Water Management; Purchasing: and Green Culture. Rosario Marin, Secretary of the California State and Consumer Services Agency, and Linda Adams, Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, lead the Green California Summit Advisory Board, made up of senior government officials, business executives, and distinguished members of academia. The Advisory Board selected this year’s award winners.

“I’m proud of our City, I’m pleased with the job our Water Commission is doing, and I am especially grateful to our citizens for really stepping up and showing some strong leadership here,” states Mayor Bob Foster. Patrick West, Long Beach City Manager, added, “we have all coalesced around the effort to permanently change the way we think about and use our water, so that inefficient and wasteful uses are no longer tolerated. Implementation of strict prohibitions on certain outdoor watering activities, bolstered with aggressive public communications, is the future, and this city is embracing the future.” [emphasis added by Aquafornia]

Long Beach’s Board of Water Commissioners officially declared a water supply shortage imminent in September of last year, triggering prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water, among other things. The Declaration also increased, in both frequency and scope, communication with the public. Since September of last year, Long Beach has achieved an additional 8 percent reduction in water consumption. The City set records for low water use in September, November and December of 2007, with October of last year, and January and February of this year, at near record lows.

Just last week, the Long Beach Water Department announced that northern California water supply reservoirs have been rapidly depleted this year to meet California’s demand for water, due to the effects of record drought. In fact, the volume of water stored in these critical supply reservoirs is, collectively, 2.6 million-acre-feet (30 percent) less today then at this time last year. Despite this year’s average snow pack in the Sierra Mountains, the California Department of Water Resources has announced that water deliveries to the Bay Area, the Central Valley and to southern California “will be far below normal this year,” due to a recent Federal court ruling which has significantly restricted pumping in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta.

“The only way a successful conservation effort is going to be sustained, is if we ultimately have all of southern California on board,” according to Bill Townsend, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. “We’re very happy to have this acknowledgment and we hope it inspires others in southern California to be more aggressive in this cause.”

The Long Beach Water Department is an urban, southern California retail water supply agency and the standard in water conservation and environmental stewardship.

Coverage from the Long Beach Press Telegram by clicking here.

April 9, 2008 · Filed Under Long Beach Water Department, Water Agency News (all)