City conserving enough water to meet state mandate
–Water users in the city of Paso Robles are conserving enough water to meet state-mandated water usage cuts. In April, California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order calling for mandatory reductions in urban water use. The state-wide reductions are based on percentage of gallons of water used per person per day, as some areas use more water than others; for Paso Robles, the required cut is 28 percent.
Paso Robles Public Works Director Dick McKinley recently updated the Paso Robles City Council with the above chart showing water usage has dropped significantly over the last two years.
The blue line shows city water usage by month in 2013. The red line shows 2014. The dotted blue line shows the city’s mandated conservation target; while green line shows this year’s actual usage.
In August of this year the city used 174 million gallons, compared to the conservation target of 192 million gallons. In August of 2013, which is the state’s baseline year, the city used over 275 million gallons.
Update Sept. 10, 2015 from Paso Robles Public Works Director Dick McKinley: We are making it so far, and have saved about 270 million gallons of water since June 1st, which is amazing. The issue is making the 477 million gallons in savings by the end of February 2016.” The city has about 200 million gallons more to save, but as we move from the summer irrigation season to the winter season there is a lot less ability for people to conserve water. That is why we have been trying to get our actuals as low as possible to bank some of the savings. I would love to have the entire 477 million gallons saved by early December, but we need a good push these last couple months of fall-type weather.
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