Water Use Down 5% in LA, Are You Conserving Water?

Residents, businesses and government have all lowered their water use over the past year, but the industrial sector has increased use by 22%, says the Mayor's Office today. Here's out the reduction breaks down citywide in Los Angeles:

• Apartments: down 4.3%
• Single-Family Homes: down 7%
• Commercial Businesses: down 5.4%
• Government Sector: down 11.4%
• Industrial Sector: up 22%
• Overall, the city is down 5.1%.

Some of the water usage cuts can be attributed to programs that enforce homeowners and restaurants. New ordinances effect the time people can use sprinkles and in restaurants it is illegal to serve water if you didn't ask for it (though, we notice plenty of restaurants that still serve water automatically, even after we inform them).

One thing we've been practicing lately is the whole "if it's yellow, mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" concept. Gross-sounding or not, it's saving water. The hardest part is untraining yourself to automatically flush.

Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr