General Manager Robert Eranio briefed the Board January 23 on what he called “phenomenal” conservation performance by shareholders. In October through December water production was 15.6% below our conservation goal (despite two massive water leaks by customers in October). Customer leaks are down from 33,000 gpd to 21,000 gpd, apparently due to President Frank Mezzatesta’s new early leak detection and action program. At the lower leak rate, annual system demand will be 1.8% lower.
Five shareholders have received turf removal rebates, and seven more have approved projects. These 12 projects will reduce system demand by 0.5% and earn them about $80,000 from Calleguas and Metropolitan Water District rebate programs.
We had 11.3 inches of rain by January 16, which got us most of the way to our annual average of 14.7 inches. However, we need about 18.5 inches of local rain annually and a longer rainy season to balance the system by reducing irrigation demand and increasing recharge. Because we rarely get 18.5 inches annually, our groundwater basin allocations exceed “sustainable yield” by about 10%. Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency is pursuing plans to try to close this gap by increasing recharge and reducing demand.
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