Although Gov. Jerry Brown ended the drought state of emergency Friday in most of California, leaders of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power stressed that efforts to conserve water will still be needed.
“This year’s water supply picture looks much more encouraging, but we need to think longer term and continue to make water conservation a way of life,” LADWP General Manager David Wright said.
“With climate change and another record hot year globally, we cannot count on future years to be this generous. We know that another drought will come, we just don’t know when, so we need Angelenos to keep the conservation mindset that has grown stronger in recent years and keep using water efficiently.”
The LADWP said its customers have reduced their per capita water use by 20 percent in less than three years, which met Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Sustainable City plan goal outlined in 2014.
The department also said it has $2.4 billion in investments planned over the next 10 years in water system infrastructure improvements, including a plan to double the amount of stormwater captured at the Tujunga Spreading Grounds
“We are blessed with a lot more rain locally and snow in the Sierras this year,” LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager Richard Harasick said. “But we cannot count on it next year or the year after.”
–City News Service