Regional Dashboard
1. Water - Consumption
2. Water - Beach Closures & Advisories
Water Consumption
What is the measure?
The average amount of water consumed per person each day in San Diego County (municipal and industrial). This number includes residential, commercial and industrial consumption divided by the population of the water district’s service area.
How are we doing?
On average, per capita municipal and industrial
water use declined by 7% from 2010
to 2011. Water usage varies among different water
districts due to variations in lot size, microclimates, pricing, education
campaigns, and numbers of businesses or industries present in a community.
Residential-only per capita water consumption decreased by about 12% from
2009-2010 and 1% from 2010 to 2011, as a result
of drought-related, mandatory conservation efforts as well as the impact of the
recession. Some of this decline will be
permanent thanks to many homes and businesses installing new technologies
or water-efficient landscaping in recent years. However, data suggest there is more opportunity to use our water resources more efficiently.
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Why is it important?
- San Diego’s semi-arid climate means local water sources are scarce, yet our growing population, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and high-value agricultural sector depend upon a consistent water supply to thrive.
- The region imports approximately 80% of its water from the Colorado River and Northern California, but steadily increasing water rates, extended droughts, aging infrastructure, legal and regulatory concerns, climate change, and the potential for earthquakes put this supply at risk.
- The movement and treatment of water is also energy intensive, accounting for 20% of California’s total electricity use.
- California State law SBX7-7
requires urban water suppliers to achieve a 20% reduction in per capita water
use by 2020.
How can we improve?
Policy Options:
- Implement budget-based and/or steeply tiered volume-based pricing structures that accurately reflect the value of water and cost of replacing wasted water, and to reward those who conserve.
- Utilize smart meters and billing formats to inform consumers of their water consumption, how they compare to neighbors, and help them more quickly become aware of leaks or overuse.
- Encourage and incentive rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse.
- Provide financing options to consumers to use water more efficiently, for example “on-bill” low interest loans to install low-water use landscaping or to retrofit homes with efficient appliances.
- When allocating infrastructure funds, prioritize the integration of water, storm water, and wastewater reuse systems.
Water - Beach Closures and Advisories
What is the measure?
The number
of days San Diego beaches were closed or posted with advisories because of
health risks on contact with water, as measured in beach mile days. (Beach Mile
Days = # of days X length of beach posted with an advisory or closed)
How are we doing?
Budget cuts in recent years have resulted in
insufficient funding for water quality monitoring, making yearly performance comparisons a challenge. While overall water
quality in the region appears to be improving, public health, tourism and
ecosystems surrounding the Tijuana River
are still threatened. The chart reflects an increase in closure days in
this area as a result of precautions the County took to protect public health
during storm events in 2010. SB 482, which was signed into law by Governor
Brown in October 2011, should help address funding issues related to water
quality monitoring of our beaches and marks a step in the right direction for
our beaches and bays.
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.jpg "Beach Closures & Advisories")
(Right-click the image to view a full-sized map.)
Why is it important?
- Protecting our beaches is a key part of protecting San Diego’s way of life and regional economy. San Diego’s pristine beaches draws tourists from around the world (30 million in 2010), who annually spend more than $7 billion at local businesses, making tourism San Diego’s third largest revenue generator after manufacturing and the military.
- Activities upstream generate storm water and irrigation runoff that pollutes our rivers, creeks, bays, and oceans, thereby damaging our ecosystems.
- Adverse water quality also threatens the health of local residents, who can catch illnesses from swimming in contaminated waters, and ultimately forces the closure of beaches for swimming, fishing, and other activities.
How Can We Improve?
Policy Options:
- Ensure consistent, adequate monitoring of San Diego’s rivers, creeks, bays and beaches.
- Support programs to educate homeowners and the agricultural sector about environmentally-friendly practices like reducing pesticide and fertilizer use, sweeping outdoor areas with a broom rather than a hose, cleaning up after pets, and not overwatering landscaping.
- Prioritize and support cross-border efforts to improve wastewater and sanitation infrastructure to prevent pollutants from reaching the Tijuana River and ultimately ending up in our ocean.
- Allocate funds to implement more frequent maintenance of storm water infrastructure and installation of emergency back-up energy sources to prevent sewage spills such as the one during the September 2011 blackout.
- Support implementation of low impact development (LID) infrastructure such as natural water filtration to purify urban runoff as it travels downstream.