Morgan Hill is number one for water conservation over the first half of 2015, according to statistics provided by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Locally, city water savings were at a county-best 30 percent compared to 2013, after recording 42 percent reduction in usage throughout the month of July. That figure is up from 35 percent the previous two months.
In neighboring Gilroy, SCVWD stats show 35 percent savings in July, and 25 percent conservation for the first six months of the year.
On the other side of the district, the city of Santa Clara conserved its most in one month at 16 percent, which was still lowest among the 11 water retailers with posted savings, according to the SCVWD’s August 2015 Drought Status Report.
The entire county has cut down 25 percent of water usage, after a third straight month of at least 34 percent savings in July, according to SCVWD staff. The county was at 36 percent savings in July and May, with 34 percent savings recorded in June.
“We’re glad that people have really taken this to heart and are doing their part to save water,” said water district Board Chair Gary Kremen. “We thank everybody for their hard work and ask them to keep it up so we can really make a difference by the end of the year.”
In March, the water district board of directors called for a 30 percent reduction in water use over 2013 levels based on local conditions: how much groundwater the district is projected to have by the end of 2015, and how much imported and local water in reservoirs is available. The board also called for a two-day-a-week limit on watering landscapes, a call that local water providers echoed.
Countywide, water providers adopted a watering schedule allowing those with odd-numbered addresses to water on Mondays and Thursdays and those on the even-numbered side of the street to water Tuesdays and Fridays.
Even if there is heavy rain—widely known as El Nino—and Sierra Nevada snow, it is unlikely that the state’s largest reservoirs and the local groundwater basins will fully recover from four years of drought, according to the SCVWD’s Aug. 24 press release.
