Los Osos CSD customers save 40 million gallons of water year-over-year

The Los Osos Community Services District’s water customers reduced water use by 20.6 percent overall from Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, saving more than 40 million gallons of water compared with the year-earlier period.

Under Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency drought order guidelines, Los Osos was required to cut its water use by 20 percent over 2013 consumption. Between January and November 2015, Los Osos CSD customers reduced water use 29.78 percent compared with 2013.

“To put the 2015 savings in perspective, 40 million gallons of water would fill enough gallon-sized jugs to stretch from Los Osos to New York, plus 500 miles farther,” the district said in a statement. “If you compare 2015 to 2013 (65 million gallons saved), the jugs would stretch from Los Osos to Japan, and then some.”

The district’s goal for residential water use is 50 gallons per person per day. Currently, customers are using about 65 gallons of water per person per day.

The community is facing an advancing flow of seawater encroachment, which has been worsened by years of drought and basin overdraft. A Los Osos Basin Management Committee has been formed to deal with water conservation.

For more information about Los Osos water issues, go to www.SaveLosOsosWater.org and Facebook.com/SaveLosOsosWater.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Los Osos CSD customers save 40 million gallons of water year-over-year."