Surf City scores high on water saving

Huntington Beach continues to beat its state-mandated water-use reduction targets and has done so for the last six months, according to data released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board.

The board told Surf City in April to reduce local water use by 20% from June 2015 to February 2016, compared with those months in 2013-14, in an effort to cut statewide water consumption by 25%.

Huntington Beach, which serves 196,041 customers, managed to reduce its water use by 24.1% from June to November, according to state figures.

“We just have to give credit to the public’s participation and really cutting back on their water usage,” said Brian Ragland, Huntington Beach’s utilities manager.

Neighboring cities and agencies have not fared as well as Huntington Beach has. Newport Beach failed to meet its goal of 28%, only reducing water use by 20.1%. The Mesa Water District also missed its 20% mark, only cutting back its water use by 18.9%, according to state data.

Ragland said it is the city’s aggressive public outreach that made residents recognize the importance of water conservation. Some people even took their conservation efforts a step further than just making sure leaky pipes are fixed.

In 2015, 423 residents opted to replace their lawns with artificial turf. The city is also currently replacing portions of the civic center and a fire station’s lawn with turf, Ragland said.

Additionally, the city installed a sprinkler monitoring system in all of its parks that allows the Public Works Department to remotely check on each sprinkler and get notifications if one needs to be replaced.

Tuesday also brought the first of many El Niño storms to hit Southern California, which Ragland said should make residents conserve more.

“There’s a requirement that people aren’t supposed to be watering their lawns 48 hours after a storm,” he said. “We’re hoping with all the storms that people actually be shutting off their irrigation systems to conserve water.”