The Valencia Water Co. is offering customers a “personal drought report” in an effort to meet Gov. Jerry Brown’s water-reduction goals.
Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox.
VWC customers should expect to receive a computer analysis show how much water they would have to save in order to meet Brown’s call for conservation.
“Our goal with this customized report is to give customers real numbers to work with in order to answer the governor’s call to save water,” said Keith Abercrombie, general manager for the Valencia Water Company. “We hope to show customers – in terms of actual gallons – what a 20 percent reduction really means.”
For most single-family households, a 20-percent reduction means saving between 500 and 725 gallons a week.
The average shower puts out five to seven gallons per minute, and the average bathtub uses 28-36 gallons, according to a Washington state water website.
The reports also intend to provide specific ways customers can reduce their weekly or monthly usage levels, officials said.
One of the examples given in a VWC news release announcing the reports noted reducing irrigation times, taking shorter showers, using only full loads for laundry and dishes, turning off the faucet when washing hands or brushing teeth and installing a weather-based irrigation controller could save about 700 gallons each week.
Repairing leaks also can help save a significant amount of water, according to the news release. About 10 percent of all homes have leaks that waste at least 90 gallons or more a day.
A single leaking toilet can waste between 200 and 6,000 gallons a day, and replacing a worn toilet flapper costs $5 and takes about five minutes.
A statement from the VWC also touted the award-winning Water SMART (Saving Money And Resources Today) Allocation program for customers, which offers monthly allocations for the amount of water they should be using both indoors and outdoors, automatically adjusting for weather conditions.
A customer’s water allocations, historic usage and their personal drought progress reports soon will be accessible online.
“California is experiencing a historic drought with no end in sight,” said Matt Dickens, Valencia’s resource conservation manager. “We need to save water now – not only to get us through this year, but likely for 2015, as well.”
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.
[node:title]
Article: [node:title]
Source: Santa Clarita News
Author: [node:author]