July Heat Pushed Use of Water to Danger Point

All records for monthly water consumption in San Diego County were broken in this summer’s July heat wave, according to the county water authority.

The heavy demand has strained water reserves statewide, and conservation measures are needed to forestall shortages, water authority officials warned.

The authority’s water sales hit 56,944 acre-feet last month, or more than 18.5 billion gallons--enough to supply the water needs of 57,000 families of five for a year, if that makes the amount any easier to imagine.

Water usage climbed 15% from May to July, and a lot of the extra water was devoted to wasteful attempts at keeping cool, according to Pete Rios, a spokesman for the authority.

For instance, he said, it makes more sense to keep a container of cold water in the refrigerator than to come home on a hot day, turn on the faucet and wait for the water to get cold enough to drink.

Likewise, Rios said, there’s nothing to be gained from giving lawns an extra watering during hot weather. “You can cook your lawn,” he said; lawns should be watered early in the day.

Long showers should be curtailed and cars washed less frequently, Rios added.

“When we have a history of two or three months of water consumption going up so dramatically, we have to inform the public we can’t keep going up at these rates,” he said. “Just being more conscious of using water would be a way of reducing consumption.”

San Diegans used even more water last month than they did a year ago, when July temperatures set an all-time record. Daytime high temperatures averaged 77.2 degrees in July of 1984, compared with the 75.3 degree average last month. Temperature peaks were higher this July than last, however. The recorded highs of 95 degrees on July 1 and 9 tied for the second hottest July days in history, falling short only of the 100 degree reading for July 30, 1930.