Angelenos should pat themselves on the back, according to the latest numbers released by the Department of Water and Power. LA recorded the lowest amount of water use in 18 years during the time period of July through November. The difference? DWP believes it could be the mandatory water rationing rules set in place at the beginning of the summer.
Here are some of the city’s water rules from the Web site of the DWP:
- Sprinklers can be used on Mondays and Thursdays before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
- Sprinklers must not run for more than 15 minutes per watering area.
- Except for health and safety purposes, water may not be used to wash hard surfaces, such as sidewalks, driveways or parking areas.
- Runoff into streets and gutters due to excessive watering is not allowed.
- Washing your car is allowed only if you use a shut-off nozzle.
- Restaurants can only serve water to customers if the customer requests.
All violations of the rules set by the DWP are subject to fines, and officials have already issued hundreds of citations to individuals and organizations that have violated these restrictions, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Water usage is down in LA overall by 18.4 percent, according to the DWP, and the decrease in use is highlighted in the following areas:
29% cut in usage by government customers
23% for residents of single-family homes
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15% for commercial customers
12% for residents in multi-dwelling complexes
“It used to be that we could say that Angelenos use the same amount of water today as they did 25 years ago, despite a million more customers," said DWP Interim General Manager S. David Freeman in a statement. "With this extraordinary conservation, we can now say Los Angeles uses less water today than we did 25 years ago. This is a truly a remarkable accomplishment by our customers."
Angelenos, let's not flush all that hard work go down the drain.
