Why is this a Climate Smart indicator? 

• Support the State’s Water Supply Strategy, which aims to reduce annual water demand in towns and cities to at least 500 thousand acre feet by 2030.

• Reducing water usage helps ensure that we have a reliable water supply.   

• In Santa Clara County, over half our water comes from far away sources such as the Sierra Nevada and the Sacramento Delta. If we use less water, we can import less, keeping more water in streams, rivers and lakes.   

• Reducing water usage reduces energy used for pumping and treating water. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions.  

• Reducing residential water usage can help lower water bills. 

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator? 

Completed 

• Publish Water Shortage Contingency Plan (June 2021) 

• Declare a 15% water shortage and restrict outdoor watering to two days per week (11/30/21) 

• Evaluate Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technologies to allow residents to access real-time water usage data 

• Amend the City’s water efficient landscape ordinance to require drought-tolerant landscape design for new and rehabilitated landscapes and to make it easier for the City to declare water shortages and implement water conservation standards (adopted 5/3/22)

• Complete AMI pilot study and evaluate pilot results (2022)

• The Do-It-Yourself home energy and water savings toolkit can be checked out at a San Jose library and help residents save energy and water use in their home

In Progress/Ongoing 

• Maintain the City’s Water Efficiency webpage and provide water efficient messaging in five languages

• Support legislative and regulatory items that further the City’s water conservation efforts

• Promote the Valley Water free online shopping cart feature in which San José residents can order water saving devices and literature to be sent directly to them at no cost

• Work with Valley Water and local water retailers to increase outreach efforts to San José residents with ways to save water and avoid a water shortage in San José 

• Work with partners to develop water budgets for commercial irrigation customers and inform them about their water usage 

• Offer water conservation online resources to eligible irrigation customers to allow access to historical water use, landscape maps and irrigation recommendations for sites 

• Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which encourage reducing water use

• The Building Performance Ordinance’s Beyond Benchmarking component requires covered buildings that do not meet water efficiency standards to perform an audit, undertake retrocommissioning, or make water efficiency upgrades (2023-present)

• Select a consultant, secure funding and begin implementation of the AMI Project (expected launch in Fall 2025)

• Develop a set of recommendations for a Model Water Efficient New Development Ordinance (MWENDO), which would regulate water efficiency specifications for new buildings and complement existing Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) for landscaping

Evaluating 

• Develop new municipal codes that further residential water conservation efforts 

• Collaborate with neighboring jurisdictions to explore direct potable water reuse to augment the potable water supply for San José Municipal Water customers 

About the data