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Villaraigosa Announces Record Breaking Water & Energy Savings
Photo by dano via Flickr
Photo by dano via Flickr
For the second month in a row, Los Angeles as a whole--residents, businesses, government--have reduced water usage to record breaking levels, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today. Major strides in energy savings have also been made this year.
Water use in July was reduced by more than 17% overall from 2008. single-family residential properties decreased usage by 20.1% multi-family residential properties by 8.3%, commercial properties by 17.1%, industrial properties by 21.8% and government properties decreased usage by 34.4%.
In June of this year, water use was down by 11% when compared to June 2008, making it the lowest demand in 32 years.
"With the water shortage that we are facing, we must reduce our reliance on imported water," Villaraigosa said. "I am very encouraged that Angelenos have reduced their water consumption, especially during these summer months." Last night, NBC4 aired a story that exposed water violations at Villaraigosa's city-owned mansion.
In terms of energy savings, the city has broken a record of saving 318 gigawatt-hours--equivalent to removing 53,000 households from the grid--for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, which ended June 30th. The Department of Water and Power credit their own programs, such a compact fluorescent light giveaway to each household in the city, a low-income refrigerator exchange and other measures. The previous record was in the 2001-2002 fiscal year when 164.2 GWh of energy was saved.
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