Laguna’s water districts are using less; outdoor watering limited to 1 day a week

For the fourth straight month, South Coast Water District customers cut water use by at least 30%, while the Laguna Beach County Water District moved closer to meeting its conservation target, according to September water use figures released Oct. 30 by the State Water Resources Control Board.

South Coast, which serves residents and businesses in South Laguna, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and San Clemente, used 30% less potable water than in September 2013, the year the state board set for comparison purposes.

The Laguna Beach County Water District, which serves customers in the city’s downtown core and parts of Crystal Cove State Park and Emerald Bay, reduced water use by 24.5% last month, an improvement from 21.8% in August.

Averaging usage since June, South Coast customers have used 31.4% less water than the same period in 2013, while Laguna Beach County customers have used 22.8% less water.

Both South Coast and Laguna Beach County water districts must cut potable water use 24% by next March to comply with state-issued conservation targets that went into effect in June. Gov. Jerry Brown mandated a 25% cutback statewide in response to the drought, so every water agency in California has a goal it must meet or face punishment, such as fines.

South Coast limits customers’ outdoor watering to one day a week and Laguna Beach County followed suit last week when its board voted to begin the practice Dec. 1. Laguna Beach County customers may only use their outdoor sprinklers before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. Mondays through May 1 with no runoff escaping from their properties.

“The need to meet the district’s reduction target is crucial. As we move into the cooler winter months, it will become more of a challenge to meet our 24% reduction target and maintain the savings we’ve achieved so far,” Laguna Beach County General Manager Renae Hinchey said in a statement.

“In the midst of the fourth consecutive year of extreme drought conditions, we all have a responsibility to reduce our daily water use in order to protect our limited water supply,” she said.

The state board uses a sliding scale for setting conservation standards, so that communities that have already reduced water use through past conservation will have lower mandates than those that have not made such gains since the last major drought.

For June through September, the cumulative statewide savings rate was 28% — 777,739 acre-feet or 253 billion gallons of water. This amount is 65% of the overall goal of saving 1.2 million acre-feet.