California is in the midst of an historic drought. According to UCLA researchers we are now in the longest drought in 1,200 years. Conserving our precious water resources should be top of mind - but it isn't.
Last July, Governor Newsom called for a 15% reduction in water use across the board but we have collectively failed to achieve this and there is no visible effort to encourage or require more conservation in the face of a deepening and extreme drought.
Locally, we need to step up our efforts to minimally reach the conservation threshold called for by the Governor.
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In the City of San Mateo, served by California Water Service, residents and businesses have reduced consumption by only 6.4% since Newsom’s request was issued compared to the same period the previous year.
In Belmont, served by the MidPeninsula Water District, residents and businesses have reduced water consumption by 9.8% during the same period.
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Meanwhile, reservoir levels are falling and the once robust Sierra Nevada snowpack that was bolstered by large storms in November and December went from 168% of normal to now 58% of its historical average.
While we have had a few small rain storms in the past two weeks, they are inadequate to restore supplies and the wet season is coming to an end.
Conservation must now be a priority and all of our communities must focus immediate efforts to increase the awareness and accessibility to the tools and knowledge that are readily available.
Soon, both the cities of San Mateo and Belmont will declare April 2022 as Water Conservation Month in an effort to help encourage local residents and businesses to increase conservation and offer direct access to those tools and knowledge.
For San Mateo residents, California Water Services offers a free and readily available tool kit for their water customers. These kits include water-saving plumbing retrofit fixtures and are available at no charge.
Each kit includes:two high-efficiency showerheads; one hose nozzle; two bathroom faucet aerators; toilet leak tablets; and one kitchen faucet aerator. Kits can be requested online at: www.calwater.com/conservation/conservation-kits/
For Belmont customers, the Mid-Peninsula Water District offers similar kits that include toilet leak tablets; shower head; bathroom faucet aerators; kitchen faucet aerator; diverter device; and a toilet tank bank.
The free Water Conservation Kits are available for pickup Monday through Friday at the MPWD office during normal business hours at 3 Dairy Lane, Belmont.
For the more ambitious, the Bay Area Water Service and Conservation Agency, the umbrella agency for the local providers that receive water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, provides subsidies for replacing lawns with drought resistant landscaping and improving irrigation efficiency - also known as the Lawn Be Gone program. To apply for that program visit https://bawsca.org/conserve/rebates/lawn.
As we mark Water Conservation Month in both San Mateo and Belmont we will feature forums on the status of our water supply, host presentations on water conservation tools for local residents and businesses, promote water conservation through our city communications and highlight successful conservation stories.
The current drought will continue indefinitely and we must focus our efforts at all levels of government and the private sector to cope with an ambiguous water future.
The time to conserve is now.
Diane Papan is the Deputy Mayor of the City of San Mateo and Charles Stone is a Belmont City Councilmember.
