Update 12/3: California is in a massive drought of historical and possibly catastrophic proportions and the droughtshaming is on. The chief droughtshamers at the State Water Resources Control Board have even started collecting new data so they can get extra shamey—in a September data report released last week, they've included newly-required estimates for the daily water use per person in each water system (residential gallons per-capita per day or R-GPCD). This should make it easier to compare reductions in water use and to see just how little water it's possible to use. As the San Gabriel Valley Tribune puts it, the report shows that "denser, multi-family neighborhoods use much less water than leafy suburbs with single-family homes surrounded by manicured lawns and non-native landscaping." Not a shocker, just a shamin'!
The water board staff "cautioned that R-GPCD data should not be used to compare water suppliers, or even hydrologic regions, unless relevant factors are taken into account," including population density, temperature and evaporation rates, socioeconomic measures, lot size, etc. etc., but everyone else seems to be doing it, so we are too. The top three per-capita water users in the LA area in September were rich, suburban Claremont; sprawly, deserty Quartz Hill; rich, suburban Arcadia; sprawly, deserty Antelope Valley; and rich, suburban Beverly Hills. (Update: According to their public information manager, Beverly Hills has submitted revised water usage numbers for September that take into account more accurate population numbers [the city water district includes parts of WeHo]. Their new daily per capita water use rate is 184 gallons, not 285.) East LA, which is none of those things, used the least water per person; Park Water, which covers Compton, Willowbrook, Lynwood, Rancho Dominguez, Bellflower, and Norwalk, came in with the second lowest water usage per capita per day.
Meanwhile, San Francisco is kicking LA's ass at conservation: the Bay Area averaged 85.2 gallons per person per day while SoCal averaged 119 gallons per person per day. Overall, Californians cut water use by 10.3 percent in September over the year before, but they were down 11.6 in August over the year before.
· PER CAPITA DAILY WATER USE NUMBERS RELEASED BY THE STATE WATER BOARD [SWCB]
· Drought [Curbed LA]
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