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California's water conservation targets have been revised, which is good news for many SoCal providers

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Stock Photo by Peter Prehn via Flickr Creative Commons
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Under standards posted Thursday afternoon, the water districts that provide water around California have new conservation targets. The revised standards follow news that the state narrowly missed Gov. Jerry Brown's conservation mandate of 25 percent over the nine months ending February 2016.

The conservation targets were revised as the Water Board considered information about climate, population and local water use submitted by districts. They're good news for districts such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city of Long Beach, which conserved water over the past nine months but just barely missed their conservation targets.

In fact, in the South Coast region, which includes much of greater L.A. and San Diego, dozens of suppliers who missed their targets during the nine-month period would have met the new targets.

The comparisons are hypothetical, as mandatory conservation didn't kick in until June last year. The newly-announced targets apply to water use beginning on March 1 of this year, and they could revised again.

Still, the comparisons show many districts that could benefit from the changes.

Seventy-two districts that missed their target would have met their new standard, had it been in place. Forty-three of those were in the South Coast region; those are below.

Water District Original conservation target (percent) New conservation target (percent) Water saved, June - February (percent)
Alhambra City of 24 22 23.04
Azusa City of 20 18 19.99
Big Bear City Community Services District 16 13 13.34
California Water Service Company Dominguez 16 15 15.53
California-American Water Company Los Angeles District 28 26 27.23
Carlsbad Municipal Water District 28 20 22.15
Castaic Lake Water Agency Santa Clarita Water Division 32 28 28.06
Cerritos City of 28 21 21.32
East Valley Water District 28 22 24.24
Golden State Water Company Artesia 16 9 15.44
Golden State Water Company Cowan Heights 36 29 32.08
Golden State Water Company San Dimas 28 26 27.77
Golden State Water Company Southwest 12 9 11.21
Hemet City of 32 14 19.64
Irvine Ranch Water District 16 8 14.99
Long Beach City of 16 9 15.23
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power 16 14 15.67
Lynwood City of 16 10 11.22
Manhattan Beach City of 20 18 18.83
Monte Vista Water District 24 22 22.21
Montebello Land and Water Company 16 9 15.91
Newhall County Water District 28 25 26.65
Oceanside City of 20 12 19.67
Olivenhain Municipal Water District 32 24 25.80
Ontario City of 24 20 20.18
Orange City of 28 21 26.23
Pico Water District 24 18 20.37
Poway City of 32 24 31.11
Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District 32 24 28.52
Rubidoux Community Service District 28 20 20.83
San Bernardino City of 28 25 25.30
San Bernardino County Service Area 70J 28 24 25.35
San Gabriel Valley Fontana Water Company 28 26 27.06
Santa Fe Irrigation District 36 28 32.73
Santa Margarita Water District 24 23 23.70
South Gate City of 12 8 11.11
South Pasadena City of 28 26 27.75
Suburban Water Systems San Jose Hills 24 22 22.71
Tustin City of 28 21 25.47
Valley Center Municipal Water District 36 28 35.18
Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8 28 26 27.46
Westminster City of 20 13 18.10
Whittier City of 20 17 19.60

You can look up water use over the past several months using KPCC's water use tool.

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