Hey, Long Beach, give yourself a pat on the back.
In this time of a statewide water shortage crisis, the Long Beach Water Department is reporting that the city set a record ten-year low for water consumption in the Fiscal Year 2008. The city of Long Beach consumed less water in 2008 than it had in any other year in the past decade. The month of September also set a record ten-year low, making it the 9th record setting month in the last year – since the Board of Water Commissioners declared a water shortage in September of 2007.
“This is an entire community coming together and engaging itself in worthy endeavor,” said John Allen, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. “We simply must change our lifestyle so that inefficient and wasteful uses of water, particularly outdoor uses, are no longer tolerated by anyone.”
Water consumption in 2008 was 9.2% below the ten-year average, and 9.4% lower than consumption in 2007. This level of conservation is unheard of in Southern California and perhaps even statewide, in a time when water supply is a serious concern that could potentially develop into a full-fledged shortage that requires government mandates and rationing. While the state faces another year of severe drought and water supply reservoirs are lower than they have been in decades, the city of Long Beach has set the standard for conservation in California.
“We no longer have enough water to meet demand here in southern California, even in normal hydrologic years,” said Kevin Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department. “Every city in southern California needs to implement mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water, and make those prohibitions permanent.”
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
Disclosure: The Long Beach Water Department is an advertiser of the lbpost.com.