U.S. Water News Online
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Despite a surge in population, Tucson Water customers have used significantly less water over the past year.
From Jan. 1 through April 30, the 225,600 homes and businesses in the city utility's service area used 10.471 billion gallons, down 7 percent from those months last year.
About 197,000 customers are single-family homes, with the rest being apartments, condominiums, businesses and industries.
In all 2006, the customers used 37.3 billion gallons, down 5.3 percent from the total for 2005. That decline came after a severe dry spell triggered a significant increase in water use in 2006's first four months compared with a year earlier.
Tucson Water officials and a University of Arizona water researcher say public awareness of the drought is a major factor in the recent drop in water use.
A 2006 survey found that 53 percent of 2,235 respondents said they reduced their lawn size, stopped watering their yards, gathered rainwater or otherwise changed their water-slurping ways to counteract the drought.
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