Merced County cities miss water-savings goal for December

Despite above-normal rainfall so far this winter, communities across California still face mandatory water-savings standards – and three cities in Merced County used too much water in December.

Merced, Los Banos and Livingston – like many San Joaquin Valley cities – missed the conservation goals set by the state Water Resources Control Board. Only Selma and Kingsburg, in southern Fresno County, hit their marks.

Late Tuesday, the state water board extended the mandatory conservation program through October. But the board signaled it may be more flexible with targets that communities must meet. The water board staff will report in April how the rules might be relaxed while the goals of the program are maintained.

The December savings in Los Banos was the smallest in Merced County at 3.3 percent compared to the same time in 2013. Since June 2015, when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered mandatory restrictions, Los Banos has cut water use by 24 percent, 4 percentage points off its goal of 28 percent.

Livingston did not meet either its monthly or cumulative goals. The city used 19.7 percent less water in December and has a cumulative savings of 17.6 percent. The city’s overall goal is to cut water use by 32 percent.

In the city of Merced, the conservation efforts saved 23.4 percent, which missed the monthly target of 36 percent. But, Merced is meeting its cumulative goal with a savings of 38.8 percent.

Merced residents used an average of 86.7 gallons of water per person per day, while Los Banos residents averaged 67.7 gallons a day and Livingston citizens used 54.8 gallons a day.

Atwater figures were not available in the report.

The most water-miserly Valley residents were in Reedley, where daily consumption in December was estimated at 38.4 gallons. The highest consumption reported in the central San Joaquin Valley was in Madera County, at 115.3 gallons per person per day.

Statewide conservation efforts in December amounted to a reduction of about 18.3 percent compared with two years earlier, a backslide from November’s reduction of 20.4 percent. December also had the lowest water-savings compliance by water suppliers across the state, with only about 60 percent of systems meeting their conservation standards. It was the third consecutive month that California fell short of the mandated statewide reduction of 25 percent.

The release of December’s water consumption and conservation figures coincided with an announcement by the state Department of Water Resources that the Sierra snowpack this year holds more water than average, and far exceeds last year’s meager measurements.

The estimated water content of the snowpack in the central Sierra Nevada on Tuesday was 21.6 inches, or about 116 percent of the historical average for the date. A year ago, the water content was only 4.3 inches, or about 22 percent of the historical average.

In the southern Sierra Nevada, Tuesday’s snowpack water content was estimated at 16.6 inches, compared to 3.9 inches in February 2015.

“Rainfall and the Sierra Nevada snowpack’s water content are both markedly improved this water year, and storage in the state’s major reservoirs also has increased significantly since Jan. 1,” the Department of Water Resources said. “Rainfall ... was 123 percent of the historical average between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31.”

Storms powered by El Niño, a blob of warmer-than-average water in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, have helped build the snowpack to deeper levels than the state has seen in five years, water officials have said. But they warn that after four years of drought, conservation remains necessary to help replenish the state’s reservoirs as well as underground water tables that have been overdrafted by increased pumping by farms and cities.

State water managers are looking to April 1, when the Sierra snowpack is historically at its peak before spring and summer snowmelt feeds rivers and reservoirs. The snowpack on that date will provide a better indicator about the extent to which the drought may be eased this year.

“We’re at halftime,” state water board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus said. “We’re not doing too badly, but we certainly haven’t won the game yet.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Merced County cities miss water-savings goal for December."