Angelenos Reduce Water Usage By 20 Percent. Who's The Conservation Star In Your Neighborhood?

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Angelenos have reduced their daily water consumption by 20 percent since 2014, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Thursday, meeting a goal that was set in response to the California drought.

Garcetti issued Executive Directive No. 5 in October 2014, which challenged residents of the city to cut their water consumption by 20 percent, and his office said the average per person use is down to 104 gallons per day from 131 gallons in 2014.

The announcement was made at an event honoring "Drop Defenders" in the city who have taken significant steps to cut their own water use. One person from each City Council district was honored.

"I challenged Los Angeles to take the lead in conservation because clean, fresh water is a natural resource like no other -- scarce, but available at the turn of a tap and easily wasted if we aren't mindful of how we use it," Garcetti said.

"I am proud of Angelenos for achieving this historic reduction in our water use, and I am especially proud of our Drop Defenders for showing all of us how to make every drop count."

The 20 percent reduction also met the 2017 goal of Garcetti's Sustainable City pLAn, which also aims for a 22.5 percent reduction by 2025.

"Achieving 20 percent per capita water savings is a tremendous achievement for our city," Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General Manager David Wright said.

"The efforts by the Drop Defenders exemplify the actions that have enabled us to reach this impressive goal. But our work is not yet done. We continue to encourage all customers to continue save water, to make water conservation a way of life in our arid region, and to take full advantage of our many rebate programs so they can save both water and money."

The Drop Defenders winners by council district are:

-- CD 1 - Kenneth E. Fandell

-- CD 2 - Te-See Bender-Rouhier

-- CD 3 - Anthony Cruz

-- CD 4 - Mark LaFleur

-- CD 5 - Joanne Reicher-Caro

-- CD 6 - Rueben Davtian

-- CD 7 - Gregory Arthur

-- CD 8 - Tamkin Collins

-- CD 9 - Jose Ante II

-- CD 10 - Peter Ford

-- CD 11 - Isabelle Duvivier

-- CD 12 - Jeremy Li

-- CD 13 - Alison Julian

-- CD 14 - Denise Dimin

-- CD 15 - Christina Medina

City News Service