U.S. Water News Online
ALBUQUERQUE -- Water conservation efforts and education are paying off here.
The city, which has grown by 120,000 residents in the last 20 years, used less water last year than had been consumed in a year since 1985.
The city also estimates that per-person water use is down to 177 gallons daily, according to figures that were released. That's just short of Albuquerque's 10-year goal, which was to have reached 175 gallons per-person.
"We can do even better, but Albuquerqueans deserve a big, big pat on the back," Mayor Martin Chavez said.
City officials say last year's conservation effort was helped by unusually wet and cool weather. Albuquerque last year received 11.8 inches of precipitation compared with the usual 8 inches.
Overall, in 2004, the utility pumped about 32.6 billion gallons of water, the lowest amount since 1985. Water use peaked in 1995 when conservation was just getting started at 40.3 billion gallons.
Chavez said he plans to announce a series of new conservation measures in coming weeks aimed at cutting the per-person water use.
City Councilor Eric Griego, a likely candidate for mayor, said Chavez has been guilty in the past of "painting an overly rosy picture of where we are."
The utility is still pumping more water out of the aquifer than is being replenished and should do more to get city use down to 150 gallons a person daily, he said.
"We still have a long way to go, given that we're in a drought," Griego said.
Albuquerque launched its conservation program in 1995 after federal studies showed that the city's underground water supply was being depleted. The city-county water utility serves about 482,000 people.
The utility expects by 2007 to start diverting river water to help supply its customers. But the diversion will be limited to half of what the city wants unless water use is cut to 175 gallons daily. That condition was set by the state engineer.
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