Water saving exceeds mandate, but more still needs to be done

All our efforts to save water are working, Californians have surpassed the mandate to conserve for a third month in a row.

State Water Resources Control Board reports the state used nearly 27 percent less water in August than the same month in 2013.

The goal was 25 percent, a mandate set by Gov. Jerry Brown because of this historic drought.

The Valley’s five local water districts saved more than the state average, but most of them didn’t meet their individual mandate set much higher, between 32-26 percent.

Saving water was the topic at the Energy-Water Summit Thursday in Palm Springs.

“People in California have really stepped up,” said Felicia Marcus, Chair of State Water Resources Control Board. “The public overwhelming gets that we are in the drought of our lives and we have got to do something.”

Marcus said most of the cuts have come from reducing watering outside.

“Californians on average, 50 percent of the water they use is on ornamental landscaping. I don’t think most people even realize that’s the case,” said Marcus.

Switching to desert landscaping is an easy way to save, something Marcus said the Coachella Valley knows how do and do well.

“You are good at desert landscapes made beautiful. People do talk about this area and they talk about lush golf courses and some lush lawns and artificial lawns, but you also have incredible examples of desert landscapes that are absolutely beautiful and don’t take anywhere near as much water,” said Marcus.

“We have a turf rebate, it’s been very popular. We’ve had customers remove over 6 million sq feet of turf since we started this program and we have additional funds that are available now,” said Coachella Valley Water District board president John Powell.

For those who still have grass, Coachella Valley Water District is urging its customers to skip over-seeding this year.

“If one of our customers over-seeds, most likely that is going to force them into the drought penalty and it is going to be expensive. This is the real time to look and say is this the year I want to over-seed? Or maybe you take a year off to save money and to save water,” said Powell.

Marcus said the state is on the right track, but people can’t let up even with an El Nino forecasted.

“If an El Nino comes, we don’t know whether it will be a strong one or a weak one. We are going to have one, but that doesn’t mean we are going to get a lot of rain,” said Marcus.

If we do get rain, it may not be in the right pace and that’s only one year.

“We need to be mindful of the fact that it could happen again. In Australia they had a 10, 12 year drought depending on where you were. They didn’t do all of these things until year six, because they kept thinking it would rain the next season. That is why we’ve acted earlier,” said Marcus. “Then it rained a little bit, like our El Nino, and they stopped thinking, ‘OK great, we are saved,’ and then they had the three worse years yet.”

Marcus also stressed conserving water doesn’t mean you have to live in a dust bowl. She said plants are important especially trees. Make sure you are deep soaking the roots of your trees with water so they can survive the drought.