By Hector Gonzalez
Staff Writer

June 3, 2015 -- Residential water use in the bayside city was down in April from a year ago, and Santa Monicans also used less water that month than in March, new figures released by state water regulators Tuesday show.

Santa Monicans used about 80 gallons of water per person per day on average in April, down from about 82 gallons per person per day in March, according to newest data from the state Water Resources Control Board.

On average, the City’s 92,185 residents used about 8 percent less water this past April compared to April 2013, the board’s water conservation report for April shows.

Dean Kubani, Santa Monica’s director of sustainability and the environment, was on vacation and unavailable Tuesday to comment on the report.

Residential water savings become especially important this month, when California begins imposing a statewide mandatory 25 percent conservation rate, officials said.

In May, the Water Board adopted a sliding scale that gives communities that have been conserving water lower conservation mandates than those that have not conserved. According to the state’s formula, Santa Monica’s conservation rate is 20 percent.

At their meeting Tuesday, state Water Board members reviewed the report’s data and heard from staff about some its highlights and low points. It was a mixed bag of good and bad news, with some water agencies reporting big gains in water savings and others lagging far behind.

On the positive side, local water agencies reported a cumulative savings of 175 billion gallons of water from June 2013 to April 2015, enough to supply 2.3 million Californians for a year, state water regulators said.

“We see conservation gains in all regions of the state, but we don’t know whether it was because of cooler weather or concerted action,” said Water Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus.

The real challenge will come this summer, she said, when outdoor watering demands typically increase.

Statewide, residents on average used 91 gallons of water per person per day in April, up from 83 gallons in March, officials said. But the April savings rate statewide was around 13 percent more than in April 2013, officials said.

A number of local agencies reported average per capita daily consumption rates of 55 gallons or less.

Some of the lowest water users in April include Seal Beach, which reported a daily per person use of 57 gallons; Huntington Park, where each resident used about 60 gallons a day on average, and the Golden State Water Company Bell Gardens, which reported a per person daily use rate of 55 gallons.

“It can be done,” said Marcus.

But many water sellers reported “residential per capital per day use” of 200 gallons or more.

In the Quartz Hill Water District near Palmdale and Lancaster, for example, the consumption rate was 252 gallons per person per day, and customers of the Casitas Municipal Water District in Ventura County used a whopping 424 gallons of water per person per day on average, the data show.

State water officials say every person in the state should easily be able to limit indoor water use to 55 gallons per day.

Water regulators said they plan to look closer at local agencies that repeatedly report high per capital daily use to see if those agencies need to step up local water restrictions or curtail the number of days they allow residents to water yards.

Officials said 97 local water suppliers reported having no restriction on the number of days per week outdoor watering is allowed, “which is not sending the right message” to consumers, said Marcus.

“On average, 50 percent, and in some cases, 80 percent of urban water use is on outdoor landscapes,” said Marcus.

Santa Monica allows outdoor watering seven days a week, but only between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Exemptions are included for drip irrigation systems, maintenance and hand-watering, according to the City’s website.

Overall, however, state water regulators said they’re seeing more local water suppliers getting tougher on water wasters.

As of April, the 320 reporting agencies said they’ve received more than 22,670 water-wasting complaints. Of those agencies, 260 said they issued more than 22,170 formal warnings.

Forty-three water agencies have issued actual penalties to water wasters. So far, 838 penalties have been issued around the state, officials said.

“We know that when people pay attention to their water use they can make significant reductions, so we need everyone to make conservation a part of their summer routine,” said Marcus. “This summer, watering lawns should be the exception rather than the rule.”