Good news! People are capable of conserving and scaling back when they have to and want to.
From SFGate:
The region’s widespread reductions in water use in June, which were as high as 40 percent in the Contra Costa Water District when compared to the same month in 2013, marked a vast improvement over previous months for most of the area’s big water suppliers.According to water data reported by local suppliers, the city of San Francisco saw its consumption drop 19.5 percent in June over the same month in 2013 — the year used as a baseline by the state to track conservation.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District, meanwhile, which serves much of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, recorded a 31 percent decline. The San Jose Water Company, serving much of the South Bay, saw a 35 percent drop.
I was alerted to these encouraging numbers by Tyrone Jue, a spokesperson for SFPUC, who posted this note on our NextDoor neighborhood board: Our SF water use is down 19% in June 2015 as compared to our June 2013 baseline. We are beating our 8% goal set by the State! That percentage is amazing given that it comes on top of our extremely low water use in SF.The news is all a credit to each of you doing your part. So in thanks of our budding Next Door relationship I wanted to be open and honest by letting you peek into my mind of what I was really thinking when i made the following comment to the SF Chronicle....
“You have to be living under a rock not to know how bad of a drought we’re in right now.”
Keep up the great work everyone and keep looking for new ways to save. Every extra drop saved gets put into our water piggy bank for the future.
And let's continue spreading the positive encouragement and news to our neighbors!
So, I am doing my part to spread the positive encouragement and news. However, it's worth spreading not only to my neighbors but to people across the country and the world (especially rich developed nations), for this news serves as a great reminder that we humans are perfectly capable of living more modestly and still be perfectly functioning and happy.