Water Use in Los Angeles, California: Consumption Patterns, Ecosystem Response and Impact on Regional Water Budgets

Abstract:

The City of Los Angeles relies heavily on external water sources, primarily the Eastern Sierra, Northern California and the Colorado River, and approximately 90% of the City’s water supply is snowpack dependent. In recent years, water conservation measures have been implemented in response to regional drought, which include a tiered pricing structure and watering restrictions. As a result of implemented conservation policies, Los Angeles reported the lowest water consumption per capita per day in 2011 among cities over 1 million people in the U.S. This presentation will highlight our ongoing work to better understand the coupling between humans, ecosystems and water across the City of Los Angeles, especially during the recent drought period. Our work is unique in that we integrate social, ecological, and hydrologic data, including ten years of residential water consumption data for the entire city of Los Angeles, extensive groundwater well data, socio-economic information and remote sensing to evaluate relationships as well as spatial and temporal patterns. Developed statistical models demonstrated that Single-Family Residential (SFR) water use across the City is primarily driven by household income, landscape greenness, water rates and water volume allocation,^, with higher consumption rates in the northern, warmer and more affluent parts, and lower consumption rates in the less affluent neighborhoods near Downtown. Landscape use also varies greatly across the city, averaging 50% of total SFR. Our evaluation of conservation efforts shows that the combination of mandatory watering restrictions and price increase led to a water reduction of 23%, while voluntary restrictions led to only a 6% reduction in water use. Relationships of water use to ecosystems (greenness) and groundwater variability were also evaluated and will be highlighted. Our ultimate goal is to improve predictions of human-water interactions in order to drive policy change and guide future demand strategies under uncertain climate variability and a growing urban population.