California American Water Ventura County Customers Achieve 27 Percent Conservation in June

NEWBURY PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California American Water announced today that customers in its Ventura County service territory reduced water use by 27 percent in June, the first official month of the State Water Resource Control Boards’ drought mandate. The company’s goal is a 32-percent reduction compared to 2013 usage.

“Our customers made significant, noteworthy strides toward this challenging goal,” said Rick Saldivar, California American Water’s Operations Manager. “I applaud and thank them for their effort. That said, we fell short of our mandate by a little more than 5 percent, and we’ll need our customers to redouble their conservation efforts to avoid the next stage of our drought contingency plan.”

To help customers meet the 32-percent mandate, the company offers a suite of conservation tools. Rebates are available to help offset the cost of turf removal and replacement, in addition to rotating sprinkler heads, pool covers and many other water saving devices. Information about rebates and how to apply is available on the Company’s website www.californiaamwater.com under the Conservation and Rebate page.

California American Water is taking numerous steps to help California achieve its conservation goals and mitigate the state’s drought emergency. Creating sustainable water supply benefits homeowners, businesses and the environment, as well as future generations of water users.

Recently, the company contracted with WaterSmart to help customers better understand their water usage by providing them access to a leading behavioral water efficiency platform, which helps water utilities engage customers, improve operational efficiency and save money. As part of the offering, California American Water customers in Ventura County have begun to receive WaterSmart’s Home Water Reports. Each report details their home’s water use and compares the use to homes and households of similar size. Once customers understand their use and how it compares to others, they often realize they can conserve additional water.

California American Water will be contacting its top 100 residential water customers this month to offer conservation assistance. Company representatives also will be knocking on doors in numerous neighborhoods, offering homeowners free water audits and helpful conservation tips.

“We will be walking the streets, knocking on about 8,000 doors to offer customers free water audits and discuss our conservation target,” Saldivar said. “Our goal continues to be achieving our 32 percent conservation mandate while in stage 2 of the plan, but we also realize that the biggest opportunity to save water occurs during the warm summer months, and we will need to act quickly if we see that we’re falling behind the target.”

Currently customers are in stage 2 of the 5-stage plan. A move to stage 3 would trigger drought surcharges for all monthly water usage beyond 1,200 cubic feet (CCF), or 8,976 gallons.

“In stage 2, the only penalties are for behavioral violations, such as watering beyond the two-day limit or hosing down your driveway,” Saldivar said. “In stage 3, actual usage surcharges begin.”

According to Saldivar, customers would not have individual water budgets in stage 3 of the plan. Instead, the 12 CCF threshold would be based on average winter usage in California American Water’s Ventura County service territory.

California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), provides high quality and reliable water and/or wastewater service to approximately 600,000 people. California American Water’s Ventura County service district includes approximately 28,000 households and businesses and serves the cities of Camarillo, a portion of Thousand Oaks, and the community of Newbury Park as well as unincorporated portions of Ventura County.

Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs 6,400 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 15 million people in 47 states and Ontario, Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.