Fresno Improving In Saving Water

An accomplishment in Fresno, the city is the second in California to have saved the most water since July 2013. In April Governor Jerry Brown ordered the state to conserve water by 25%. Fresno is already saving 17% of water but there’s still more to be done. In the city, 46% of water is used for outdoor irrigation. Now the main focus is making sure residents only water twice a week.

"If we can get to that level of commitment from the community, I think we can meet the government’s executive order," said Public Utilities Director Thomas Esqueda.

For Fresno, that order means a 28% reduction by February. The proposed plan includes enhancing education and outreach, enforcement on outdoor water restrictions, implementing mandatory prohibitions like watering medians, reducing water pressure, promoting water conservation rebates, modifying water bills and working with public school systems.

"We have to anticipate that it’s not going to rain and so what can we do to be ahead of the curve, lets go after the outside watering," Esqueda said.

Fresno has already reduced total water use by about six billion gallons of water since July of 2013 but a graph shows residents are still using the most water on days they’re not supposed to water outside: Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The city has a list of the top 3,000 residential water use offenders, so far this year almost 700 households have gotten a $ 45 fine. Last year more than 17,000 residents got a notice or fine for excessive water use.

"We know how to be good stewards of the water, we just have to translate that to the urban environment," Esqueda said.

City leaders say the water issue is a community concern so they will be looking at all water meter data for industrial and commercial accounts to make sure everyone is following the regulations.