The Sacramento metropolitan region has so neglected water conservation that it now ranks as one of the world's most extravagant consumers of water, a Bee review has found.
Throughout California, urban water agencies have generally failed to make good on conservation promises made during the state's last major water fight.
No concentration of residents and businesses, however, uses as much as Sacramento: 25 percent more per capita on a daily basis than Las Vegas, and nearly 50 percent more than Los Angeles. Those cities have cut use despite massive growth.
Even excluding large industrial and agricultural users, the Bee's review of an array of water statistics found per-capita consumption here is greater than the U.S. daily average. It's also higher than urban use in Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and a host of other developed nations.
Experts said the high rate of water consumption leaves California vulnerable to the current drought, declared this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In progress reports obtained by The Bee, only one of the capital region's urban water agencies reported progress on all 16 conservation goals they promised to meet in a 2000 agreement. None completed every task, and collectively they fulfilled only about half the goals they agreed to meet by the end of 2006.
The 16 conservation tasks agreed to by members of the Sacramento Water Forum came from a truce between water agencies and environmental groups.
Environmentalists agreed not to fight planned Sacramento and American river diversions if agencies promised to conserve.
The promises included water audits of homes and businesses, landscape standards for commercial development, water meters and low-flow toilets, public education and other programs.
Specific conservation target numbers were not included, and no penalties were put in place.
The findings call into question Schwarzenegger's reliance on local water agencies to voluntarily achieve his 20 percent conservation goal. The governor this month declared a statewide drought – the first time since 1991 – but with no immediate conservation orders.
The conservation data also conflict with California's reputation as environmentally progressive, and with Sacramento's desire to become a "green" city.
"Are people making the best effort? Some of them definitely have some catching up to do," said Tom Gohring, executive director of the Sacramento Water Forum, a consortium of water agencies. "I'd really love it if people who talk about sustainability would talk about the same thing in regard to water conservation."
Rivers pay a price
The cost in water volume of this neglect is hard to quantify.
But in one example that can be measured, the 15 Sacramento-area agencies collectively failed to install, via rebate programs, 26,214 low-flow toilets in commercial and industrial buildings (there was no residential goal).
Estimating conservatively, if each toilet saved 2 gallons per flush and was flushed twice a day, the region could have saved 118 acre-feet of water annually. That's enough to serve 240 average homes for a year, or to flood Capitol Park to a depth of 3 feet.
"The impacts of the drought are going to be worse than they would have been if we had improved our efficiency more over the last decade," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland think tank. "There would be more water in our reservoirs, and demand would be lower. I think it's sad."
The consequences are particularly relevant this year, amid collapse of the Central Valley fall-run chinook salmon population. Many of those fish spawn in the American River, source for most of the region's tap water.
Habitat for salmon, steelhead and other fish – as well as recreation – would improve if Sacramento diverted less river water.
It also would alleviate an ecosystem collapse in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where nine fish species are declining.
Instead, several Sacramento-area water districts are laying plans to divert more river flows to keep up with demand. Environmentalists are unhappy that conservation has been neglected.
Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.
