Water Conservation Works for Long Beach

In San Diego we are in the middle of a series of storms that are going to help us meet our rainfall totals. While this is really helping us with regards to our local totals, it does not significantly impact San Diego's water crisis. 90 % of San Diego's water is imported from Northern California or the Colorado River.

Here is an article about how water conservation efforts helped Long Beach to cut its water use and avoid water rationing. I think other cities and water districts should take notice. They have taken their case to the residents of the city by having a blog, facebook page, myspace and twitter.

The original article can be found here.

South state city turns down tap

The city of Long Beach says it won't require additional customer cutbacks this year, because it successfully changed residents' water habits.In 2007, Long Beach – which depends on imported water from the Delta and local groundwater – predicted long-term shortages. Rather than order residents to ration water, the city set out to make it socially unacceptable to waste water.

The city outlawed certain types of water waste, especially irresponsible landscape irrigation. It encouraged residents to report violators. It imposed tiered pricing to punish gluttons. And it used the Internet to spread its message.Since then it has received 4,500 complaints about water waste. It followed up on every one with enforcement action.

The city achieved an 11 percent water savings in 2008, including 24 percent in December."I expect it to be a hardship for every other city in Southern California that has a significant reliance on imported water, because they haven't been as proactive," said water department General Manager Kevin Wattier.