State Water Board Report Show Cities' Water-Saving Efforts Vary Widely Amid Drought
CONCORD (KPIX 5) -- While all Bay Area residents are being used to conserve water during the drought, a new report shows some cities in the Bay Area are using three times as much water as others.
The State Water Resources Control Board released September water conservation figures which includes the per capita use of water. How much you use depends on where you live, and it's all over the map.
San Francisco is among those cities where the average person uses the least amount of water in the state - 46 gallons a day - probably because of a lack of lawns to water.
The figure rises to 52 gallons a day in Hayward, 79 a day in San Jose, all the way into triple digits – 193 gallons a day in Morgan Hill, the most in the Bay Area.
In Concord, the figure is 140 gallons a day, not surprising to the Contra Costa Water District. "It tends to be warmer in the summer and also it's a more suburban place, so people tend to have lots," said spokeswoman Jennifer Allen.
That's part of the reason people move out to the suburbs and why Contra Costa water customers are in the top five for most water use in the Bay Area.
But the district says customers are improving. "Our customers did save 22% compared to September last year," said Allen.
Those cuts, however, are not keeping up with most of the Bay Area.
The state water board says the September estimates of daily water use per person provide insight into how water systems are encouraging residents to save water.
"This new residential water use data, which is a first for the state, will inform localized conservation efforts and should start conversations in every community in California about the best and most judicious use of our precious water," said Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Board in a press release.
The report shows the statewide conservation rate leveled off in September after three months of steady improvement.
