The Board has announced it will now be closely monitoring conservation levels and scrutinizing actions by water suppliers where use has risen dramatically.
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Felicia Marcus, who heads the board, questioned whether the state will be able to save adequate water over the long term without state-imposed conservation requirements.
In May, the board, which is appointed by Gov.
Starting in June, districts that show they have enough water to get through another three years of drought may relax conservation or completely escape strict conservation orders.
Cover pools and spas when not in use to reduce evaporation of water.
But water agencies, particularly in Southern California and around Sacramento, complained bitterly about the statewide rules, saying that they were costing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost water sales, and did not accurately reflect each community’s water supply conditions.
Californians conserved less water in June, state officials said Tuesday in releasing results from the first month that statewide drought restrictions were eased after a winter of heavier precipitation in the northern half of the state, which supplies most of the water.
Due to an extreme lack of rainfall this summer, NYS Department of Environment Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos issued a drought watch on July 15. Other areas that had won accolades for water conservation, such as Santa Cruz, also dropped their target to zero. The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which serves 1.9 million people in and around San Jose, cut its target from 30 percent to 20 percent, for example. June was the first month since the restrictions were relaxed.
“If you are a resident of California getting water from responsible water agencies … you don’t have to put a bucket in your shower”, he said. Cal Water said the new target will stay in effect through the rest of the year.
Water board staff members said Tuesday that they were still reviewing the piles of paperwork submitted by water districts and hoped to provide an update by the middle of August. Nearly 60 percent of the state is in severe, extreme or exceptional drought, including most of the Sacramento region. Currently, much of the Western and Central New York region has been declared to be facing a Severe Drought.
But some environmentalists said the state should have kept the mandatory statewide targets in place, arguing it is unclear how long the drought will last, and this 2016 might be a one-year temporary bump up in a longer drought. They noted that any water not used on lawns could be used instead for human consumption, fire fighting and other needs. Messaging takes a positive approach to encourage Californians to continue to conserve and make permanent changes to save water as part of the “California Lifestyle”.
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REDLANDS After a challenging year trying to meet California’s mandatory watering restrictions, water users here beat the state average for savings in June. Anyone washing a vehicle must use a shut-of nozzle on the hose and local governments can not irrigate ornamental turf on public street medians.
