COUNTYWIDE : Water-Saving Efforts to Be Redirected

Feeling that residential consumers have already gotten the message, Ventura County’s new water conservation coordinator plans to direct education efforts to farmers, businesses and schoolchildren.

“The residential user has been inundated with information,” said Llana Sherman, who assumed the position last month. “But there are developments in ag water efficiency going on, and we want to make sure our growers are aware of them.”

About 85% of California’s water consumption is used for agriculture. Sherman said she will ask the county’s 200 water purveyors to report the percentage of their water used for farming, so a breakdown can be maintained regularly for Ventura County.

“Growers are very motivated to conserve for economic reasons,” said Sherman, who previously held the same position for the city of Ventura.

Sherman also plans to look at a study that she organized as a city employee. Water usage will be monitored at four large sites--a hotel, a hospital and two beverage plants--to gauge the effectiveness of conservation efforts.

“We’ve tended to look at water usage as a separate entity, not seeing that, when you save water, you save energy, and when you save energy, you reduce air pollution emissions,” Sherman said. “You also reduce what flows to waste-water treatment plants.”