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Water agencies use pleas and penalties to schieve conservation goals

Posted by: Maven on May 27, 2009 at 7:33 am

From PublicCEO.com:

After three years of drought that has left the state’s biggest reservoirs well below capacity, water agencies up and down the state are using a variety of methods to cajole customers into conserving California’s most precious commodity.

The Association of California Water Agencies reports that 62 agencies statewide have implemented voluntary conservation measures and 32 have imposed mandatory water restrictions. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which accounts for a third of the state’s water supply, stands at 66 percent of normal.

The two biggest reservoirs in the state, Shasta and Oroville, are well below their average storage at 76 and 71 percent respectively. The State Water Project expects to provide just 30 percent of its normal deliveries to contractors and the federal Central Valley Project will deliver just 10 percent of its normal amount.

Water purveyors around the state are spending millions of dollars convincing their customers that they need to conserve water. Some are issuing tickets for blatant water wasting and many are imposing drought rates that discourage high usage. In most cases, consumers are getting the message.

In Los Angeles water conservation teams in clearly marked cars patrol the streets on the lookout for water wasters, the thoughtless few who are water when they aren’t supposed to or flooding the gutter by overspraying. Violators get a warning the first time – but after that could be hit with a ticket. Repeat offenders could be dinged up to $600 for ignoring previous warnings.

Read more from PublicCEO.com by clicking here.

May 27, 2009 · Filed Under Conservation

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