Long Beach Saves Water When Every Drop Counts
By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor
Long Beach’s water use has continued to decline over the year, nearing a per capita 100 gallons per day not seen since 1945.
That’s a good thing, since water supplies continue to dry up, even during the “El Niño” year. Long Beach will continue to enforce its three-day-a-week watering and other water use restrictions, according to Kevin Wattier, general manager of the Long Beach Water Department.
Summer 2010 should be the best in the last four years in terms of water supply, Wattier said, with a higher allocation from northern California and a replenished ground water aquifer here. An El Niño winter has provided good snowpack in the northern California mountains and a rainy winter season here.
“It looks now like we will be able to get the same amount of water as last year and begin replenishing the reservoirs,” Wattier said. “But this is just one year, and they’re already talking about a La Niña year coming up.”
A La Niña weather pattern would create colder ocean temperatures, pushing the jet stream north. That would leave Southern California dry, and could limit snowfall even in the northern mountains.
Long Beach still relies on imported water for about two-thirds of its supply, with the majority of that coming from the Sacramento River Delta. Court rulings protecting the Delta Smelt and Delta Salmon have cut the amount of water allowed to be pumped from the Delta by 30% even in good years.
The rest of Long Beach’s imported water comes from the Colorado River basin. That source continues to dry up, Wattier said.
“The Colorado is going to be the next big water story,” he said. “Lake Mead has dropped 110 feet in the last 10 years, and the forecast is for it to go to the lowest it has ever been this year. The runoff there is 65% of normal.”
Long Beach began addressing what now appears to be a permanent water shortage in September 2007, implementing mandatory conservation measures. That includes allowing restaurants to serve water only when asked, prohibiting washing down driveways, sidewalks, etc., and restricting outdoor watering to Monday, Thursday and Saturday. No watering is allowed between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Those restrictions continued an ongoing trend of reducing water use. The city recorded double-digit percentages of water reduction every month over the next two-plus years, culminating in a record April 2010 where the city water demand averaged 102 gallons per person per day. That average includes industrial and commercial uses.
“That’s still a lot of water,” Wattier said. “But when you look at the percentage reduction, it is impressive.”
Long Beach water use peaked in 1980, when the city’s total consumption translated to 175 gallons a day for every man, woman and child in Long Beach. That amount dropped in fits and starts until the call for extraordinary conservation in September 2007. Since then, the use has dropped from 125 gallons per capita — a more than 18% reduction in just two and a half years.
Another effort for create a new water source — desalination of seawater — has reached another milestone. The test plant at the Haynes Power Plant has been decommissioned, and the department currently is studying potential sites for a full-sized plant.
That’s a good thing, since water supplies continue to dry up, even during the “El Niño” year. Long Beach will continue to enforce its three-day-a-week watering and other water use restrictions, according to Kevin Wattier, general manager of the Long Beach Water Department.
Summer 2010 should be the best in the last four years in terms of water supply, Wattier said, with a higher allocation from northern California and a replenished ground water aquifer here. An El Niño winter has provided good snowpack in the northern California mountains and a rainy winter season here.
“It looks now like we will be able to get the same amount of water as last year and begin replenishing the reservoirs,” Wattier said. “But this is just one year, and they’re already talking about a La Niña year coming up.”
A La Niña weather pattern would create colder ocean temperatures, pushing the jet stream north. That would leave Southern California dry, and could limit snowfall even in the northern mountains.
Long Beach still relies on imported water for about two-thirds of its supply, with the majority of that coming from the Sacramento River Delta. Court rulings protecting the Delta Smelt and Delta Salmon have cut the amount of water allowed to be pumped from the Delta by 30% even in good years.
The rest of Long Beach’s imported water comes from the Colorado River basin. That source continues to dry up, Wattier said.
“The Colorado is going to be the next big water story,” he said. “Lake Mead has dropped 110 feet in the last 10 years, and the forecast is for it to go to the lowest it has ever been this year. The runoff there is 65% of normal.”
Long Beach began addressing what now appears to be a permanent water shortage in September 2007, implementing mandatory conservation measures. That includes allowing restaurants to serve water only when asked, prohibiting washing down driveways, sidewalks, etc., and restricting outdoor watering to Monday, Thursday and Saturday. No watering is allowed between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Those restrictions continued an ongoing trend of reducing water use. The city recorded double-digit percentages of water reduction every month over the next two-plus years, culminating in a record April 2010 where the city water demand averaged 102 gallons per person per day. That average includes industrial and commercial uses.
“That’s still a lot of water,” Wattier said. “But when you look at the percentage reduction, it is impressive.”
Long Beach water use peaked in 1980, when the city’s total consumption translated to 175 gallons a day for every man, woman and child in Long Beach. That amount dropped in fits and starts until the call for extraordinary conservation in September 2007. Since then, the use has dropped from 125 gallons per capita — a more than 18% reduction in just two and a half years.
Another effort for create a new water source — desalination of seawater — has reached another milestone. The test plant at the Haynes Power Plant has been decommissioned, and the department currently is studying potential sites for a full-sized plant.
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