Conservation Management

Located in an arid region of western Riverside County in America’s great desert southwest, EMWD and its customers rely heavily on water imported hundreds of miles from the Colorado River and from northern California. While desert areas like ours are not all void of significant underground aquifers that can sustain large populations, the area served by Eastern boasts only enough groundwater to meet about 25% of its needs.

EMWD imports the remaining 75% of the water it serves by taking advantage of the facilities and water sources available to The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), of which EMWD is one of 26 member agencies.

In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, Eastern imported about 77,016 acre feet of water through MWD’s distribution complex to serve to Eastern customers. 18,512 acre feet came from groundwater wells within the district.

An acre foot is just what the name implies: enough water to cover one acre of ground to a depth of one foot. In practical terms, picture a football field covered with 12 inches of water. That’s approximately 325,900 gallons, enough to serve the needs of two typical family households for a year.

With population in its 555-square mile service area expected to double from its current 501,000 by the 2015-2020 time-frame, EMWD needs to stretch available water supplies. The district’s conservation program is one tool it uses to accomplish the task of making each acre foot of water go further.

Most Californians remember the drought of the late 1980s-early 1990s. But rather than being the exception, periods of drought have historically been normal in California. There is no reason to believe the future will be any different. The California climate goes through periods of unusually high rain and snowfall, and through periods of extremely little precipitation. Those extremes are the norm; truly “normal” years in terms of precipitation are rare. In general, the areas served by EMWD receives 10 to 12 inches of rainfall per year - that’s less rain than in tombstone, Arizona!

Despite all this, sufficient precipitation generally falls on California to meet the state's needs in terms of quantity, but it is usually not distributed well to meet 21st century society's needs. Roughly two-thirds of the precipitation falls in the northern part of the state, while about two-thirds of the population and the water demand are in the southern part.

The District's conservation programs have a significant impact on water use throughout the region. Typical customers today are using less water than they did in the past, and that means a slower increase in demand placed on the distribution system of EMWD and its neighboring water agencies. That, in turn, means lower construction and system maintenance costs and less water imported from outside sources. Ultimately, customers are able to get the water they need at the best possible rates.

To learn more about the commercial landscaping and water budget provisions, send email to: conservation@emwd.org.