California’s north-south water rivalry revved up Wednesday, a day after a state survey showed that while most of the drought-ravaged state modestly reduced its water consumption, coastal Southern California is headed in the wrong direction.
It increased its water use by 8 percent in May compared with the average of the three previous Mays.
But Michelle Vargas, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the city uses 17 percent less water now than it did in 2009, before its current conservation law took effect, and now uses only 129 gallons per capita per day — substantially less than the state average of 196. “This has been a way of life in the city of Los Angeles,” she said.
Santa Ana said the state’s numbers are just plain wrong. They showed Santa Ana’s water production up 63.6 percent in May compared to an average of the three previous Mays. But Nabil Saba, the city’s water resources manager, provided figures Wednesday showing the increase actually is only 10 percent.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_26162697/california-drought-blame-la-not-so-fast-socal