Residents Warned to Ease Up on Faucets
Summer heat means mandatory and voluntary water restrictions across the U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO -- July 6, 2007— -- Cities and counties across the USA are adopting mandatory or voluntary water restrictions, with the likelihood of tougher measures if drought in many regions persists and conservation efforts fall short.
One of the broadest compulsory orders is a 15% cutback imposed last month on a water agency that serves 750,000 customers in Northern California. The agency draws from the Russian River, which the state said could drop low enough to harm a fall salmon run.
Other places under some form of mandatory restrictions: Santa Cruz, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.; Hawaii's Big Island and Maui; Florida's Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties; and the entire state of Georgia. Typically these are bans or cutbacks on outdoor watering, such as Georgia's odd-even system that allows homeowners to water lawns on certain days according to their street address. The bans also often prohibit washing cars and filling swimming pools and hot tubs.
"Clearly in the West and in the Southeast, there are a lot of conservation efforts going on — but also even in some parts of the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest," says Jack Hoffbuhr of the American Water Works Association, a trade group.
Some communities that charge more for higher water use "are bumping those rates up even higher," Hoffbuhr says.
Drought-plagued areas in the desert Southwest such as Phoenix and Las Vegas are trying to limit new lawns that have to be irrigated. "We describe ourselves as being in a permanent drought," says Steve Olson of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association.
Much of Georgia's Cobb County conserves indoor water use through low-flow toilets and showers and water-efficient appliances. But outdoor use is more than 50% of consumption in parts of the country.
"The bad news is the savings we see indoors are being squandered outdoors," says Amy Vickers, a water conservation consultant in Amherst, Mass.
She says voluntary cuts are largely ineffective and can lead to more water use.
"It's a great oxymoron: voluntary restrictions," Vickers says. "I think the reason is that scarcity begets scarcity, and when people hear drought, for some it signals a false idea that they should water more."
