Long Beach Continues Record Setting Conservation

Long Beach Continues Extraordinary Water Conservation
City's water consumption nearing 20 percent below 10-Year Average for Fiscal Year '09; February '09 is
27.6 percent below average

"So. Cal no longer has enough water to meet demand, even in normal hydrologic years." LB Water Official, Sept. 13, 2007

LONG BEACH, CA - Today, with an announcement that the City of Long Beach has again set another 10-year record low for water consumption, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners are reminding Long Beach residents, and regional media, that the need for sustained, extraordinary water conservation remains a priority, and that drought conditions in the state are a small part of the reason. Last month, Long Beach set a new record 10-year low for water consumption, using 27.6 percent below the city's historical 10 year average. For the Fiscal Year, which started October 1, Long Beach water consumption is over 18 percent below the historical 10-year average. The 10-year historical average is from FY'98 to FY'07, which are the 10 years prior to Long Beach's call for extraordinary conservation and prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. February '09 is the sixteenth record setting month for low water consumption since September 2007.

"Long Beach implemented extraordinary conservation measures long before people were talking about weather conditions or the drought," according to Kevin L. Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department. "Southern California faces a structural imbalance between its water supplies and its water demands, even in normal years, and every Southern Californian needs to heed the Governor's call to reduce their water consumption by 20 percent."

On September 13, 2007, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners issued a Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage and activated the City's Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan. As a result, the Board of Water Commissioners issued mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. "The Board took the action it did, over a year ago now, to specifically forestall and lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage," states John Allen, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. The Board's Declaration and implementation of permanent outdoor watering prohibitions in 2007 was specifically necessitated by the profound impact of permanent reductions to imported water deliveries into southern California; dramatic reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California, along with climate realities.

Today, twenty months later, the State of California, even with the recently improved snowpack conditions, is still planning on delivering 85% less water than has been requested by water contractors in the Bay Area, the Central Valley and in Southern California; and, the Federal government continues to tell farmers in the Central Valley that they should plan on receiving very little water from Federal water sources this year. Today, we continue to be impacted by legal rulings restricting the amount of water the State of California is able to move from the north to the south part of the state, where two-thirds of the population lives. These restrictions have already resulted in a significant cut in water deliveries to southern California. Just yesterday, the State imposed additional protections on two different species of fish that reside in the Bay Delta estuary, and over the next several weeks their will be additional legal opinions and rulings to protect additional fish species, which will likely result in additional restrictions on pumping, with additional cuts in deliveries. Today, our most critical water supply reserves continue to remain dramatically low with little to no prospect of recovery this year. Today, most of southern California continues to gamble with our water supply future by hinging all bets on unlikely to happen weather events.

"A water shortage is imminent, and Long Beach has prepared itself to deal with it," according to Allen. "Prepare for the worst, hope is not a responsible option."