Santa Clara County Water Use drops by 7%

SANTA CLARA COUNTY – People living in Santa Clara County have made conservation a priority. The numbers are encouraging.

• Water use during January to August this year has decreased by seven percent compared with 2004, the year when the county experienced similar levels of rainfall.
• The district’s Water-Wise House Call Program has seen a 178 percent spike.
• The Residential High-Efficiency Toilet Rebate Program shows a 282 percent increase.
• The district’s Water Conservation Hotline is getting double the number of calls.

Taking shorter showers and only doing laundry with a full load are helpful. However, changing out old appliances and replacing inefficient sprinklers will have even larger and long term effects.

We have programs to save you water and energy:

• Water-Wise House Call Program: A trained technician visits your home and surveys your sprinklers, showerheads, toilets etc. to show you where you can conserve.
• Residential High-Efficiency Toilet Rebate Program: We offer up to $125 in savings for replacing old, inefficient toilets.
• Landscape Rebate Program: Residents can receive up to $1,000 and Commercial, industrial and institutional properties can receive up to $10,000 by replacing thirsty irrigated turf grass with low water-using plants from our Approved Plant List, or by installing permeable hardscape.
• There are many more rebate offers. Call the Water Conservation Hotline at (408) 265-2607, ext. 2554 for more information.

Conservation Tips:

• Nearly a thousand gallons of water a month are saved by watering the lawn early mornings and no more than three times a week in the summer.
• A high-efficiency clothes washer can save up to 8,500 gallons of water and $75 in energy costs per year.
• Installing low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators save up to 35,000 gallons of water a year for the average family of four.
• Check your irrigation system on a monthly basis to ensure it is watering properly, especially valves, sprinkler heads, and drip emitters.

Conservation will help the overall water supply in Silicon Valley. We’ve had an unusually dry year and we need to prepare in case 2008 is also dry. In addition, the water district expects to receive about 20-30 percent less water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which delivers about half of our water supply. A U.S. District Court ruled last week that pumping in the delta would be reduced to protect the endangered delta smelt fish. We need people to conserve now, so we’ll have more water for the future.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District manages wholesale drinking water resources and provides stewardship for the county's five watersheds, including 10 reservoirs, more than 800 miles of streams and groundwater basins. The water district also provides flood protection throughout Santa Clara County.