The latest water conservation statistics show the people of Montecito are among the best in the state when it comes to taking the drought seriously.
Numbers released this week by the State Department of Water Resources show Californians, as a whole, cut year-over-year water usage this past December by roughly 22 percent. However, in Montecito that number hit nearly 64.19 percent—the second highest rate in California according to a tool from Southern California Public Radio.
The California water district with the biggest drop in water usage was the San Diego County town of Valley Center at 67.98 percent, according to Southern California Public Radio.
Montecito Water District Manager Thomas Mosby says this time last year the situation was not nearly as promising, but a combination of education and rate penalties helped the community turn it around.
"We literally were looking at running out of water by the end of July," said Mosby. "The community stepped up, did what they had to do, they let all the lawns go, they were on board to conserve as much water as possible to get us through this drought."
Mosby says the outlook for 2015 and even 2016 is looking much better as the district just purchased 2300 acre feet of water for about $1.2 million dollars. He says that's enough to last through next year, if current conservation levels remain in place.
While Montecito's conservation efforts as a percentage of December 2013's usage are impressive, the gallons per capita per day (gpcd) tell a slightly different story in terms of the resident's water frugality.
According to a water usage map provided by the Pacific Institute, in December Montecito residents used water at a rate of 90 gpcd, while other Central Coast communities came in far lower. For example, San Luis Obispo residents used half that rate. Goleta residents were at 37 gpcd and King City residents were at a low of 36 gpcd.
Residents in Pismo Beach are using 103 gpcd, the highest in the KCBX listening area of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and southern Monterey Counties.
