The results are in: As California experienced its three driest years on record, urban water users made significant efforts to conserve water, but fell far short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for a 15% reduction in their use.
Between July 2021, when Newsom first called on water users to voluntarily save water, and March this year, when he withdrew that call amid a very wet winter, the nationwide savings were 7%, about half the required amount. That equates to about 9 fewer gallons per person per day, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times.
Results varied significantly by region and water district, with the North Coast and San Francisco Bay areas saving the most water compared to the 2020 base year — 14% and 12%, respectively. The inland regions of Tulare Lake and Colorado River saved at least 4% and 2%, respectively. (The analysis did not include agricultural water use.)
State officials say the numbers belie the long-term conservation efforts Californians have made over the past few decades, including significant savings during the 2012-16 drought that ended just a few years before Newsom’s request.
However, they also recognized that there is significant room for improvement. Residential consumption nationwide averaged about 85 gallons per person per day. For comparison, Californians would have used 79 gallons per day if they reduced their consumption by 15%.
“We can definitely do better,” said Charlotte Ely, conservation officer with the State Water Resources Control Board.
In July 2021, California experienced one of the most devastating droughts in about two years. Fifty counties were on a drought emergency as Newsom stood in front of a receding Lake Lopez in San Luis Obispo County and urged residents to reduce their water use by 15%.
Newsom withdrew the call March 24 this year after multiple atmospheric flows refilled reservoirs and dropped record and near-record snowpack in the Sierra, significantly alleviating drought conditions across the state.
But many experts have criticized Newsom’s voluntary stance during the drought, arguing that he should have made cuts mandatory, like his predecessor Jerry Brown, who ordered a 25% cut during the 2012-16 drought. Residents narrowly met this goal, reducing water use by 24.5%.
The Newsom administration said it was more focused on targeted drought responses based on local conditions than on a “one-size-fits-all approach” that couldn’t account for past investments in conservation or key drivers of water use like climate.
“Seven percent is still an impressive number considering that’s happened in less than two years and it’s on top of the water savings the state has maintained since the last drought,” Ely said. “And so I think what we’ve seen over the past decade is really a success story in conservation.”
However, some experts say the results are evidence that more could have been done.
“The numbers are disappointing as they represent just under half of what was called for,” said Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a water think tank.
A 2022 report by the institute found that Californians could reduce their water use by 30% to 48% by adopting a variety of existing technologies, efficiency standards, and water-saving landscaping. Indoor use might be as little as 25 to 35 gallons per person per day, Cooley said.
She attributed the state’s overall lackluster response to the governor’s voluntary appeal, saying the messages were inconsistent and often opaque as to the seriousness of the situation.
“I think it was potentially a recipe for disaster,” Cooley said. “If it had been another dry winter, we would have really wished we had gone to the compulsory event [restrictions] last year because it would help us conserve the limited water we had and expand it even further.”
Still, the effort seemed to be working better in some areas than others. The analysis found that the South Coast region, which includes Los Angeles and half of the state’s population, reduced water use by 6%, or about 7 fewer gallons per person per day.
In June 2022, as the drought worsened, the region’s major water wholesaler, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, ordered unprecedented restrictions on areas dependent on the State Water Project, a vast network of canals and pipelines that drain water Northern California transported to farmland and southern cities.
Largely in response to cut allocations from the state, the order included a 35% reduction in water use for nearly 7 million people in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.
Communities were able to “reduce their water use to the point of running out of available water supplies for nine months until restrictions were lifted in March,” said Brad Coffey, manager of MWD’s Water Resource Management group.
Though the region managed to expand tight supplies, Coffey noted that operating under emergency restrictions was seen as a last resort and “not a sign of success.”
“We’ve been working to prepare for a changing climate for years, but these changes are coming even sooner than predicted and we need to adapt quickly,” he said.
The agency is working towards more sustainable reductions in water use through investments in new infrastructure and local utilities, and promoting more water-efficient landscapes, irrigation systems and indoor sanitation and appliance installations, he said.
In response to the MWD’s order, one of its largest clients, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, chose to place its entire service area of approximately 4 million people two days per week under irrigation restrictions to comply or under a volumetric Allocation during drought.
According to the DWP, the attempt was successful.
“LADWP has been able to stay under the MWD volume allotment, which ran from June 2022 to March 2023, each month through the tireless efforts of our customers and employees,” spokeswoman Mia Rose-Wong said in an email.
However, the DWP fell nowhere near the 15% reduction required by Newsom, with cumulative savings of 5%, or 5 gallons per person per day, the analysis found.
Rose-Wong said customers have made aggressive efforts toward efficiency over the past three decades, making it increasingly difficult for our customers to reduce daily gallons per person.
“Nonetheless, we’re proud of the response from our customers who are diligent in maintaining their water-saving habits as water use has fallen by over 30% over the past 15 years,” said Rose-Wong.
She added that to track its savings, the DWP uses a 12-month rolling average to account for changes in population and weather throughout the year. LA’s 12-month moving average for residential, commercial and industrial occupants rose from 113 gallons per person per day in July 2021 to “below 105” gallons in March. For comparison, the same 12-month moving average nationwide was 126 gallons, she said.
However, not all of the Los Angeles area was so successful.
El Segundo used 25% more water between July 2021 and March, more than any other county in the state. City officials said the high consumption was largely due to a massive wastewater spill at the Hyperion treatment plant in 2021. The spill resulted in lost production of recycled water, which had to be replaced with potable water for several months.
The Humboldt Bay Urban Water District in far northern California was technically the highest-performing district in the state, reducing its water use by 41%. But director-general John Friedenbach said the numbers were somewhat skewed because the biggest water user, an electric utility, went offline in 2022. The rest of the district’s savings are “pretty average,” he said.
The second-largest saver in the state, the city of Healdsburg in Sonoma County, saw a 35% drop. Long touted as an example of efficient water conservation, Healdsburg has achieved significant savings through residential water caps, a recycled water transportation program, a near-total ban on outdoor irrigation, and other conservation efforts.
But while the wet winter gave California some much-needed respite, experts and officials said now is not the time for residents to relax. While extreme precipitation is becoming more common, the region as a whole is becoming hotter and drier due to climate change.
“People might wonder why we should care about conserving when Tulare Lake has re-formed, and I think it’s really just because we’re aware that we face these long-term challenges.” , said Ely of the state water agency. She found that hotter, drier conditions could result in a 10% drop in existing water supplies by 2040.
“And so all the water-saving habits we’ve cultivated over the last decade will continue to serve us well in the face of long-term drought,” she said.
The state is working to roll out its new framework, “Making Conservation a California Way of Life,” Ely said, which will set unique goals for its more than 400 retail urban water suppliers and, among other things, help drive long-term savings efforts across the state.
The state legislature is also considering two bills that could result in further savings, including one that would ban the use of potable water for some ornamental grasses and another that would force non-residential projects to switch to low-water and local native plants.
But California will also face significant cuts in one of its lifelines, the shrinking Colorado River, in the coming years.
The Pacific Institute’s Cooley said these cuts, along with projections for drier conditions, mean maintaining efficiency and a conservation ethos are critical to California and the West.
“We must continue to push for efficiency so that we make the most of the resources we have now,” she said, “and prepare for the next drought that may be imminent.”
