1. Public Utilities Department
San Diego’s Water Conservation Story Halla Razak, Director, San Diego Public Utilities

2. Public Utilities Department
Background
Apr 01, Governor Brown’s Executive Order (EO) mandated 25% water use reductions
May 05, SWRCB adopted emergency regulation, approved 16% reduction for City
Mar 10, SWRCB approved 8% reduction for City
May 18, SWRCB allowed agencies to self certify and enacted permanent water use restrictions
Aug 16, 2016 SWRCB accepted self certification reports, City given 0% reduction target
SWRCB – State Water Resource Control Board

3. Public Utilities Department0%
Level 1 Restrictions Began July 1, 2014
Level 2 Restrictions Began Nov. 1, 2014
16% Requirement
Began June 1, 2015
8% Requirement
Began March 1, 2016

4. Public Utilities Department
What Worked for San Diego
Modification of Level 2 restrictions to limit irrigation to 2 assigned days per week and 5 minutes max run time per day
Visible enforcement of these restrictions, and regular reports on usage reductions and enforcement efforts, including citations issued
Outreach message that specifically told customer what actions to take
City added 5.0 temporary staff (4.0 Field Reps for enforcement and 1.0 Customer Service Rep to handle calls).
5 minute max run time per day is for standard, fan-type spray sprinklers.

5. Public Utilities Department
What worked for San Diego (cont.)
Coordination of messages with other agencies
WasteNoWater smartphone app
Trucks were outfitted with magnets that said “Enforcement”.
Leveraged funding for outreach by making sure efforts are not duplicated and that CWA funds were used, while City focused on media not covered by CWA.
A large portion of water waste reports were received via the in-house developed smartphone app.

6. Public Utilities Department
Moving Forward
Baseline GPCD in 2013
55 GPCD is the State recognized water efficient indoor consumption, and January 2016 was a really rainy month enough for residents to turn off their irrigation systems for most of the month. From this chart, we can say that:
1. A good estimate of indoor use in San Diego is 46 GPCD, or 9 gallons less (or  17% less) than the State average, based on January 2016 usage.
2. Using August 2015 as a basis, peak irrigation use adds another 20 GPCD during times when drought messaging is high.  When drought messaging is not high (Summer 2016), irrigation can add 26 GPCD (using preliminary July 2016 numbers).  This also shows how much of a “bounce back” in usage we can see during the summer when Level 2 restrictions are lifted.  (It would have been ideal to use Aug 2016 usage but we won’t have it in time for your presentation.)
The 2013 R-GPCD used as baseline for determining the 16% reduction target for San Diego was 82 GPCD.
Many agencies have already achieved very low R-GPCD usage numbers and there should be a consideration for these agencies when determining future restrictions, such as a GPCD floor beyond which restrictions do not apply.