Last week, the Long Beach Water Department reported that residents and businesses reduced water use in January by 13 percent compared to January 2013.
The city used about 3,770 acre-feet of water in January. Last month’s water use was the lowest of any January in the last 50 years, since 1966. Long Beach has hit its mandated 16 percent cumulative target since June 2015 to January of this year, according to Long Beach Water.
“El Niño helped bring more rain and snow to northern California last month than to us here in southern California,” said Frank Martinez, president of the Board of Water Commissioners. “That’s good news for our reservoirs, but the drought still remains exceptional throughout the state. We cannot scale back on water conservation.”
Long Beach Water’s “MissionH2OLB” conservation campaign aims to help the city use water efficiently, meet the state’s target and still enjoy the community’s lifestyle, water officials said. By visiting lbwater.org/mission, residents can calculate their water usage to see if they are meeting the Long Beach target, take the pledge to save water and listen to song playlists by two local bands to remind them to take a one-song shower.
“We have to stick to our permanent conservation habits and save every way we can,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. “There is still a serious water deficit.”
Residents and businesses are urged to turn sprinklers off during and after rain storms to achieve big water savings.
There are still rebates available for many devices, including weather-based irrigation controllers ($120 rebate) that automatically shut sprinklers off when it rains and clothes washers ($150 rebate) that save water and energy.
Funding is limited and provided on a first-come/first-served basis at socalwatersmart.com.
The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has mandated Long Beach to cut its water use by 16 percent cumulatively compared to 2013 until February of this year.
