Orange Vale Water Company Customers Slash Usage By 43 Percent

ORANGEVALE (CBS13) — On a day with dismal conservation numbers in California, one local district stood above most of the rest.

The Orange Vale Water Company saved 43 percent in March 2015 compared to March 2013.

Sprinklers are silent in Orangevale where you'll find plenty of brown lawns and some people with no lawn at all.

Down the street, Shalveen Bains says her family's lawn was dying anyway, so they ripped it out.

"We go to Folsom Lake a lot over the summer and to see the water going down is kinda sad, so we wanted to make a change for it," Bains said.

The water district's 14,000 customers are saving water at higher rates than almost anyone else in the state. A spokesman says it comes down to communication. They've talked at public events about cutting back, and the response has been tremendous without any rate hikes.

"I think most of us have been talking and we're pretty conscientious about cutting back and trying to preserve," said Allyn Davis.

It's a different story for California American Water's Sacramento district. Its 200,000 customers used 19 percent more water this March.

A spokesman says they believe it's weather related, saying it was cooler and rained more in March 2013.

National Weather Service Records show Sacramento averaged 75.8 degrees in March 2015, versus 71.4 two years earlier. This March's 0.16 inches of rain was dwarfed by 2013's 1.59 inches, however more than half of that rain came on the last two days of the month. Still, that 2013 total was barely half the average for the month.

American Water is promising to monitor the numbers closely to comply with the State Water Resource Control Board's mandatory cutbacks.

In talking to some of the water districts, there's been a lot of uncertainty about what the state board would require. But with more clarity, more concrete plans will be coming in the next few weeks to meet those goals.