Santa Ana Officials Dispute Ranking As State's Top Water-Wasting City
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Officials with the city of Santa Ana say they reject the findings of a report that claims residents in the Orange County city are the biggest water wasters in California.
KNX 1070's Mike Landa reports the latest data from the State Water Resources Control Board inaccurately claimed that Santa Ana saw the biggest increase in water usage during May of any city in California.
Santa Ana Officials Dispute Top Water-Waster Ranking
Santa Ana's water resources manager, Nabil Saba, said the July 16 Associated Press report "erroneously stated" that the city increased its water consumption by 65 percent from May 2013 to May 2014.
The report found overall water consumption statewide jumped 1 percent, despite calls from Gov. Jerry Brown for a 20 percent cutback.
Three of the top five water wasting agencies were in Orange County: the city of Santa Ana (64 percent), the city of Garden Grove (32 percent), and the El Toro Water District (20 percent), which services portions of the cities of Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest and all of Laguna Woods.
But Saba said the numbers are wrong - at least as far as Santa Ana is concerned.
"We've done the calculations and based on our records, we are about 1 to 2 percent more in relation to the past three year's average for May," Saba said. "I don't know how the mistake was made, but it is a mathematical error that was reported from the state."
In fact, according to Saba, Santa Ana has the lowest per capita water usage in Orange County at about 107 gallons per day per person.
The Associated Press report focused solely on large water suppliers, which California officials define as those suppliers serving more than 40,000 customers.
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
