Newport meets softened water-use reduction target, city says
Newport Beach achieved a 29% water-use reduction last month, according to the city. It’s the highest yet for Newport and puts its cumulative water savings at 21% from June through March.
California officials’ recent decision to loosen water-use reduction mandates for several Orange County water districts appears to have given Newport Beach a leg up in March.
According to preliminary data from the city utility, Newport achieved a 29% use reduction last month — the highest yet for the city — putting its cumulative water savings at 21% from June through March. That equals the revised requirement the state gave the city last month.
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George Murdoch, the city’s municipal operations director, attributed improved conservation to the notices of violation and fines the city sends to people who are found to be wasting water.
“It’s not something that we like to do, but we will continue to fine,” Murdoch said.
The city of Newport Beach, which serves 66,219 water customers, had struggled month after month to reduce its water use to meet its original 28% conservation target. However, the state agreed to lower Newport’s mandate to 21%, which officials said could help the city’s water service meet its target by the October deadline.
It doesn’t mean the drought’s over.
— George Murdoch, Newport Beach municipal operations director
State water officials in February extended restrictions on urban water use through October but indicated that some water districts could apply to have their conservation goals reduced based on population growth, warmer-than-average weather in certain areas and “significant investments” in “drought-resilient” water sources. Reductions to conservation standards ranged from 2 to 8 percentage points, according to data from the State Water Resources Control Board.
The state reduced conservation targets for several Orange County water districts, partly because many of them receive a large portion of their supply from the Orange County Water District’s groundwater replenishment system, Murdoch said.
The system, which started operating in 2008, is a water-purification project that can produce up to 100 million gallons of water every day, lessening the county’s dependence on imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River. About a third of Newport’s water is imported and the rest comes from groundwater, according to Robert Hunter, general manager of the Municipal Water District of Orange County, a wholesale water supplier and planning agency that serves most of the county.
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But Hunter cautioned residents and business owners during a Wake Up Newport meeting Thursday presented by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce that they shouldn’t let water flow freely just yet.
Hunter said he expects that the state board at its next meeting will ease restrictions on local districts, given improved snowpack and reservoir levels in much of the state. But he doesn’t think the reduction mandates will be rescinded completely.
Murdoch applauded the city’s performance in March but emphasized that the community still needs to conserve.
“It doesn’t mean the drought’s over,” he said. “People have to remember that we need to remain at 21% cumulatively until October.”
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Hannah Fry, hannah.fry@latimes.com
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
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