About two months after Governor Jerry Brown called on Californians to cut their water use by 20 percent, some statistics are in.
The State Water Resources Control Board released new survey results today. It finds statewide urban water usage was down five percent between January and May compared to the previous three years. Two-hundred-seventy water agencies responded to the board’s survey, which found more than half have formally invoked their drought or water shortage plans.
Dave Bolland is with the Association of California Water Agencies. He says, while saving water is good, the state can’t conserve its way out of its water shortage problem.
“But we need to, at the same time, be doing recycled water, storm water capture, ground water remediation, desalination, new storage, surface and ground water, and that’s all part of the package,” he says.
The Water Board survey found 40 percent of water agencies have increased conservation enforcement and monitoring. Seven percent have instituted short-term drought pricing.