Mayor Sanders: San Diego on the Right Track with Water Conservation

On June 1, the city of San Diego implemented the most comprehensive water-conservation requirements ever established for our city. These requirements gave every city water department customer specific directions on how to cut back on their water usage to help the city avoid serious shortages.

 

Like many San Diegans, I have at times found it tough to adjust to the new restrictions. They forced me to change the way I use water around my house and yard – which meant breaking some pretty ingrained habits.  But I could see what the larger picture was, and I hoped that others were getting the message that small changes to water-use habits can add up to big savings.

 

Now, we have the first full picture of how San Diego is doing. New conservation statistics – measuring changes in water consumption in July of this year against July of 2008 – show San Diegans have stepped up, and are meeting the challenge.

 

Citywide, San Diegans used 13.9 percent less water this July than they did in July of last year. That conservation success extends to each of the major categories of water users supplied by the city. Residential use is down 15.4 percent. Commercial and industrial use is down 6.5 percent. And irrigation consumption is also down by 24.4 percent.

 

People are obviously getting the message about the Level 2 restrictions and our city’s ongoing water emergency. While we may be able to attribute some of this conservation to fairly mild weather we’ve had this summer, it’s clear San Diegans are taking extra steps.

 

The good work includes city workers too. I am happy to report that the city of San Diego continues to lead by example by reducing its own water consumption in July by 19 percent when measured against last July’s figures.

 

All of this is great news and a testament to the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing effort and to the conservation ethic of all San Diegans.

 

The next few months will offer a tough test of that ethic. Despite the brief sprinkles last weekend, San Diego has gone without any substantial rain for most of the year – and September and October are our hottest and driest months.

 

San Diegans have shown we’re able to sustain the kind of responsible, efficient use of water that helped us achieve very good numbers. We’re on the right track, and we need to keep the momentum through the fall.

 

Mayor Jerry Sanders