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Call to reduce water use
During the last drought, Ventura County Waterworks customers answered the call to conserve water and significantly reduced their water use. Most have continued to use water-efficient practices and have made conservation a way of life. Now, as California enters its third year of drought, we are calling on our customers to answer the call again and voluntarily reduce their water use by 15% percent (compare to 2020) to preserve our water supplies and protect our reserves.
What you need to know
Although the Ventura County Waterworks District has the capability to produce some of our own water, we also rely on imported water to meet the needs of our customers. This imported water supply comes from the State Water Project (SWP) and is delivered to our Districts via Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and Calleguas Municipal Water (Calleguas). Unfortunately, conditions on the State Water Project are unlike anything seen before and its reservoirs are at historically low levels despite recent storms. Recently, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR), who oversees the SWP, announced plans to decrease its water deliveries provided through the SWP and declared an initial zero allocation for the start of the year (click here for more information: DWR/SWP-December-Allocation). In anticipation of this announcement, MWD had already declared a drought emergency for its service areas and called on member agencies dependent on SWP to increase their conservation methods and reduce their use of SWP limited supplies.
Time to act now
The recent announcement from DWR means that we need to act now and do our part to reduce our water use and conserve water. The actions we take now will help preserve our water supplies for the future should drought conditions persists thru 2022. That is why effective immediately we are asking our customers to help us reach our goal of 15% percent reduction by implementing the following voluntary outdoor watering schedules for all customer classifications except agriculture.
The voluntary measures we initiate now will reduce the likelihood of implementing mandatory measures in the future. Additionally, we would like to remind customers of our permanent water conservation measures which include but are not limited to:
- No landscape watering during or within forty-eight (48) hours after measurable rainfall.
- Limited landscape irrigation is allowed between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.
- No hardscape washdown such as sidewalks, walkways, driveways, patios, and parking lots except when necessary to protect health and safety.
- No outdoor runoff to waste except when necessary to protect health and safety.
