Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
When it comes to the drought in California, we've got some good news and some bad news.
Good news first: Reporters at the Sacramento Bee have been crunching the numbers and they've found that California is on track to meet a state mandate to reduce water consumption.
Urban water agencies have responded to a 2009 state law that requires them to reduce per-capita water consumption 20 percent by 2020, compared with use at the start of the century. Now it looks like most agencies are on track to reach that goal.
But...
Now the bad news: It's possible the state's continued population growth may outstrip conservation efforts anyways. That's according to SacBee's data that shows that, by 2030, California’s population is expected to reach an estimated 44 million people. That means a big surge in water demand statewide, even as people continue to use less water; and despite the state's best efforts, demand could outstrip supply.
Newsha Ajami is a director of urban water policy at Water in the West, a research group at Stanford University. She told Take Two that these projections should be considered very cautiously, especially since big cities all across the state are just now beginning to implement long-term conservation strategies.
Curious about how well your city conserved water last year? Click here to see whether water consumption rose or fell in your area between December 2013 and December 2014.