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Long Beach ends fiscal year with record low water consumption: City achieves near 10 percent reduction in water demand for the year; urges others to strengthen efforts

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 9, 2008 at 7:27 am

From the Long Beach Water Department:

The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners has announced that Long Beach water demand for Fiscal Year 2008 has set a new record 10-year low. The announcement means that less water was consumed in Long Beach this past fiscal year, than any other year over the past decade. In fact, Long Beach consumed less water this past fiscal year than the city did during the height of the 1987-1992 drought, with mandatory rationing and a population 15 percent smaller than today. September 2008 also set a new record 10-year low, marking the city’s 9th record setting month for low water use since the Board of Water Commissioner’s declaration of an imminent water supply shortage in September 2007.

Long Beach Conservation Effectiveness Indicators

1. Water demand for FY 2008, was 9.2 percent below the 10-year average.
2. Water demand for FY 2008 was 9.4 percent below water demand for Fiscal Year 2007, and 8.5 percent below water demand for FY 2006.
3. September 2008 demand is 11.1 percent below the 10-year average for September, and a new 10-year record low.
4. Long Beach water demand in FY 2008 was 4,250 acre-feet lower than the lowest year on record over the past 10 years (an acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water)
6. Long Beach used 6,368 acre-feet less water in FY 2008 than the city used in FY 2007, and 4,540 acre-feet less than the city used in FY 2006.
7. Long Beach used 6,200 acre-feet less water in FY 2008 than the 10-year average (this is a year’s worth of water for a town of 40,000 people)
8. Long Beach set record 10-year lows for water consumption in 9 of the last 12 months, and near record 10-year lows in 3 of the last 12 months.

John Allen, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, cites marked human behavior and attitude change as the reason for the city’s record setting year. “This is an entire community coming together and engaging itself in worthy endeavor. We simply must change our lifestyle so that inefficient and wasteful uses of water, particularly outdoor uses, are no longer tolerated by anyone,” he said.

According to Kevin Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department, Long Beach took the action it did more than a year ago now not because of a “drought,” but because “we recognized then the need to permanently reduced our water consumption specifically due to the permanent reductions in water supply imports to southern California.” “We no longer have enough water to meet demand here in southern California, even in normal hydrologic years. Every city in southern California needs to implement mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water, and make those prohibitions permanent.”

On September 13, 2007, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners issued a Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage and activated the City’s Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan. As a result, the Board of Water Commissioners issued mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. “The Board took the action it did over a year ago now to forestall and lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage,” according to Board president, John Allen. The Board’s Declaration was necessitated by the profound impact of permanent reductions to imported water deliveries into southern California; the dramatic reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California; and climate conditions.

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

Ryan J. Alsop
Director of Government & Public Affairs
Long Beach Water