Can you say the number “20” three times fast?

The “20×2020” water conservation project is the state of California’s grand scale plan to reduce total per capita water use by 20 percent by the year 2020. This is a 20 percent reduction for urban water use in addition to agriculture, which means that it will directly affect every water user in the state. The success of the plan will be gauged by whether or not the daily per capita water use can drop from 192 gallons to 154 gallons in just over one decade. The state and federal authorities behind the plan expect per capita daily water use to be down 10 percent in just over five years (2015) to 173 gallons per day.

One source of water!

The 20×2020 plan was imagined in early 2008, and has been championed by Governor Schwarzenegger for the last year and a half as part of his push to increase water conservation awareness. Other players in the process include the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the CA Energy Commission, the Department of Public Health and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The 20×2020 Water Conservation Plan Draft (as of April 30, 2009) describes some of the long-term goals of the plan as: “improving an understanding of the variation in water use across California, promoting legislative initiatives that incentivize water agencies to promote water conservation, and creating evaluation and enforcement mechanisms to assure regional and statewide goals are met.”

Some of the plan’s recommendations include:

• [To] require water-efficient landscapes at state-owned properties
• Encourage or mandate conservation water pricing
• Increase the use of recycled water and non-traditional sources of water
• Support landscape irrigation equipment standards
• Accelerate adoption of proven water[-]saving technologies in new businesses
• Provide new or exercise existing enforcement mechanisms to facilitate water conservation (including withholding financial assistance and taking enforcement actions)

On August 18, the governor spoke on water reform issues at a CA Latino Water Coalition press conference. Before ending his speech with a ceremonial “Hasta la vista!” he stated the need for “reliable, high-quality water in the future and [that] we must have a comprehensive water package.” The governor expressed his appreciation for groups that are “keeping the water in the forefront and putting… the spotlight on this very important issue,” and that he plans to push forward lasting water reform which has been in the works for years, specifically with the new 5-bill water conservation and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta package and the 20×2020 plan. “Water is our future and water is our hope,” Schwarzenegger stated.

Now is an excellent time to learn how you can save water on a daily basis with the Cyber-Rain smart sprinkler controller. You can start saving that 20 percent sooner than you may have thought!