Regional Dashboard
1. Water - Consumption
2. Water Quality - Beach Closures & Advisories
Water Consumption
How are we doing?
Per capita municipal and industrial water use increased by about 2 percent, from 130 gallons per day to 133 gallons per day from 2011-2012. Average per capita water use increased in 16 of the 24 water districts in San Diego County. Since over 50 percent of all residential water consumption in the region is used for landscaping, the increase in use is due in part to dryer weather in 2012 compared to 2011.
Why is it important?
- The San Diego region currently imports about 70 percent of its water from the Colorado River and Northern California, but extended droughts, aging infrastructure, legal and regulatory concerns, and the potential for earthquakes put this supply at risk.
- 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, clean water supply to thrive.
- Regional water rates continue to climb due to increasing costs of imported water, construction and financing costs.
- California state law SBX7-7 requires urban water suppliers to achieve a 20 percent reduction in per capita water use by 2020.
- Recent studies at Scripps Institute of Oceanography show that the Colorado River will not be able to support its scheduled exports to California if climate models are accurate.
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 (minus recycled water) divided by the population of the service area.
Ideas for Change
Policy Makers
- Employ steeply tiered pricing structures that incentivize conservation and discourage the waste of water and consider seasonal pricing to take into account supply shortages at certain times of year.
Bright Spots
The Cities of Coronado and Imperial Beach partnered with California American Water Company and the EPA to promote “Fix a Leak” week, encouraging residents to check household plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems for leaks. Local data suggests that on average 12 percent of water used indoors in San Diego County is lost to leaks.
San Diego began a successful Water Purification Demonstration Project, testing the feasibility and cost of IPR as an option to boost the supply in the San Vicente Dam. The demonstration project purifies one million gallons of recycled water per day. A decision will be made in the near future whether to go ahead with a full blown project.
A Rain Barrel Harvesting program started by the City of San Diego offers rebates to residents to help conserve what rain does fall in the region, or a possibility of 625 gallons per inch on a 1,000 ft2 rooftop.
Photo: Outdoor Outreach
Water Quality
How are we doing?
San Diego County’s total number of closures and advisories increased from 2010 to 2011. One cause of increased beach closures in San Diego is the September electricity blackout that caused two sewage pumps to fail and contaminate a lagoon and river that feed into the ocean. Despite the higher closures and advisories, 97 percent of San Diego’s beaches earned A or B marks during dry weather from Heal the Bay, although only 76 percent did during wet weather. San Diego’s water quality monitoring continues to suffer setbacks due to inefficient testing methods and inaccurate or unavailable data.
Why is it important?
- Local beaches improve the quality of life of San Diegans and draw tourists from around the globe. In 2011 alone, 31 million tourists spent $7.5 billion dollars at San Diego’s businesses.
- Activities upstream generate pollutants that flow into our creeks, rivers, bays, and oceans through irrigation and storm water runoff, threatening the health of local residents that swim in contaminated waters as well as the health of our natural areas.
- Current methods of beach bacterial testing require long incubation periods with the result that beaches with harmful levels of bacteria often remain open while the contamination is present and then closed after the short-lived sources of contamination have already dispersed.
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.)
Ideas for Change
Business Leaders
- Favor porous paving materials in parking lots and on walkways in order to improve water filtration and decrease wet weather and irrigation runoff.
- Consider green landscaping such as tree boxes, rain gardens, and green roofs, in order to decrease the amount of pollutants entering storm drains.
Policy Makers
- Establish uniform water quality testing standards and encourage the use of rapid bacteria testing methods so that San Diegans receive up-to-date accurate information on water quality at local beaches.
- Support funding for the maintenance and rebuilding of old and deteriorating water and wastewater infrastructure, in order to minimize sewage overflow and water contamination.
- Encourage implementation of low impact development (LID) or ‘green’ infrastructure, to retain and filter storm water and decrease the volume of runoff that enters the sewer systems.
- Improve cross-border watershed management efforts in order to improve wastewater and sanitation infrastructure in the Cali-Baja region and prevent pollutants from reaching the Tijuana River and ultimately San Diego’s oceans.
Residents
- Minimize the amount of harmful pollutants that enter storm drains by decreasing fertilizer and pesticide use, properly disposing of pet waste, using commercial carwashes, and not overwatering landscaping.
- Capture storm water in a cistern for irrigation reuse and turn rain downspout onto the lawn in order to maximize natural water filtration.
Bright Spot
WHAT: UCSD
WHO: The roof of the Charles David Keeling Apartments at UC San Diego contains a 4,000 + plant garden that absorbs and naturally filters rainwater and reuses its own irrigation water on-site, in addition to supporting biodiversity and acting as natural insulation.
FOR MORE: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/25/ucsd-building-has-green-roof/\