The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners announced today that the City of Long Beach set another 10-year record low for water consumption during the month of August. According to a statement released today by the Water Department, “Citywide water demand for the month of August was 19.2 percent below the city’s historical 10-year average, making this the second consecutive August that water use in Long Beach has been almost 20 percent below the historical average. Since the beginning of the current Fiscal Year, which started on October 1st, Long Beach water consumption is nearly 17 percent below the historical 10-year average. The 10-year historical average is from FY ’98 to FY ’07, which were the 10 years prior to the call for extraordinary conservation and prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. August ’09 represents the fifteenth time out of the last sixteen months that a new record low for water use has been set in Long Beach.”
“We are squarely in the midst of a statewide water crisis,” said John Allen, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners in the statement. “It is important that we remain committed to eliminating our inefficient and wasteful uses of water,” added President Allen.
The California Legislature has convened a special legislative session to specifically address the state’s ongoing water crisis. A 14-member bipartisan, bicameral joint conference committee has been formed and will have a little over a week to draft some kind of an agreement that would create a long-term, comprehensive water management plan for the state.
The committee will consider a package of five different bills, each with a unique purpose, such as water conservation, Delta sustainability, and groundwater reliability. With such a limited timeframe in which to craft a solution, legislators will be hard-pressed to find a deal that is satisfactory to each of the wide range of interests represented throughout the state, including agriculture, urban users, and environmentalists. Making the situation even tougher is the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto any plan that doesn’t include some kind of financing mechanism for the construction of new water storage projects, including dams and reservoirs.
“It is absolutely essential that California immediately reduces its consumption of water. Time is running out for us to do anything else in the short-term,” said Kevin Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department. “No matter what gets accomplished during the remainder of the legislative session, the legislature should immediately approve and pass AB 49, the statewide water conservation bill,” added Wattier.
Disclosure: The Long Beach Water Department is a lbpost.com advertiser.