BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Last rainy season was one of our wettest on record. That’s according to the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service forecasters said our rainy season is from November to May.
NWS records show that 7.8 inches of water dropped on Bakersfield. That ranks second only to 2010-11’s rainy season of 9.66 inches. Meanwhile the 2017-18 rainy season saw just less than 4 inches of rain at 3.95 inches.
Despite being one of the wettest seasons, California Water Service, or Cal Water, officials are saying conservation should be on Californians’ minds.
Cal Water special projects manager, Susan Cordone, said, “It is important to continue to practice conservation. One wet winter does not make it, allow us to go back to our old ways of using water just as we wish.”
Cordone said here in Bakersfield people have done a great job conserving water after our six-year drought. And we should try to continue those efforts.
“Through our customers’ the participation and our conservation programs we’ve saved over five million gallons of water over the course of 2018,” said Cordone.
To conserve more water Cordone said home and business owners should check their plumbing for leaks.
“Walk around your home or office and look at every area that is using water,” said Cordone. “You’ve got your faucets, you’ve got your bathrooms, you’ve got your irrigation systems.”
Cordone says if you find a leak to fix it as soon as possible. She says a leak with five drips a minute will waste over 200 gallons of water in a year.
To help reduce leaks and improve water efficiencies Cal Water offers their customers a water conservation kit. In it is: two high-efficiency showerheads, one hose nozzle, three faucet aerators, and toilet leak tablets. And that kit interests a Cal Water customer like Denise Martin.
“Extremely interested,” said Martin, “because the kitchen sink actually, we were just talking about how it needs one of the aerators. And one of those in there. And the bathroom, because I have two sinks in my bathroom.
For single mom like Martin, wasting water means wasting money she could be spending on other things.
“I’ve got school clothes to buy and other bills to pay. So saving money is always good,” said Martin.
Cordone said Cal Water offers larger rebates to incentivize their customers to invest in more water efficient appliances.
“Cal Water rebates are available to commercial, industrial, single-family residential and multi-family,” said Cordone. “Everyone just needs to go on the Cal Water website and take a look at the devices that we offer, and make sure you purchase and seek your device from the qualified product list, that’s super important. As well as keeping the receipt, filling out an application, submitting it and a checks on its way to you.”
Cal Water officials said this last rainy season brought a lot of water to Kern County. Last year California got nearly twice the average for snowfall and in July the Kern River was flowing 10 times higher than it did during the drought. But officials also said with the constant potential of drought happening, now isn’t the time to waste water, but to save it. And each customer making small changes leads to big savings in our water supply.
“One wet winter does not solve the problem,” said Cordone. “We all have to continue to conserve. It definitely needs to be a way of life for us in California.”
If you would like to pick up one of your own water conservation kits, go to the Cal Water office 3725 South H Street. And when you’re updating those old appliances, sinks and toilets, Cal Water officials said to check to see how much water they conserve.
